H2AD - Innovative and scalable biotechnology using Microbial Fuel Cell and Anaerobic Digestion for the treatment of micro-scale industrial and agriculture effluents to recover energy from waste

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Lindhurst Innovation Engineering (LIE) have developed H2AD - a novel micro-scale technology for the rapid and safe disposal of organic effluent. A hybrid of microbial fuel cells (MFC) and conventional anaerobic digestion (AD), H2AD is based on a patented bioreactor and electrode architecture. H2AD enables a 10x reduction in the time required to reduce the organic content of waste, and recover the energy via conversion to a hydrogen/methane rich biogas. Effluent disposal has been identified by LIE as a key restriction on the productivity and profitability of the EU agri-food and drink processing industry (a-FDPI), which is the largest EU manufacturing industry but includes 271,000 micro and small enterprises (µSE). No viable micro-scale technology currently exists for disposal of effluents from µSE, or is able to recover energy from these waste volumes. However, currently at TRL6/7 through extensive testing on cattle slurry, H2AD can also directly address the challenge of waste management in the a-FDPI, recovering some of the 288TWh of potential energy lost in effluent from the EU a-FDPI annually. The overall aim of the Phase 2 project is to undertake the experimental development and field trials required to confirm predicted H2AD performance/payback for new feedstocks, derived from the a-FDPI. LIE seek to prove commercial viability for efficient removal of organic content from key process waste streams; slurry; and post-AD liquors, with biogas utilisation strategies for optimum payback. The project seeks to develop sensing for automated/remote control of system operation and optimised biogas yields through process performance. Strong collaboration with EU industrial and academic bodies directly open opportunities for the placement of 600 units in the a-FDPI, as well as a further 14,000 applications in primary agriculture and waste management, in line with LIE’s commercial strategy for H2AD to address the €34 billion global market for waste-to-energy equipment.