Carbon Circle Selected to Represent Ireland at European BISC-E Competition
Ireland’s representatives for the Bio-based Innovation Student Challenge Europe (BISC-E) have been announced, with first prize awarded to Carbon Circle in the Irish final.
The awards, coordinated this year by Munster Technological University, BiOrbic Ireland’s National Bioeconomy Research Centre, Department of Agriculture Food and Marine, were judged by Conor McGovern of Department of Climate Energy and Environment, Jennifer Savage of BioConnect and Seán Douglas of BiOrbic.
Carbon Circle is a modular cascading biorefinery platform that converts digestate from anaerobic digestion into high-value bio-based products, including biofertilisers and hydrochar. Led by team captain Shon Shiju, the University College Cork and Maynooth University project aims to tackle the environmental challenges associated with conventional digestate management, such as water eutrophication and greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions. By developing a circular approach to digestate use, the team hopes to reduce waste and create more sustainable bio-based solutions.
Caption: First, second and third prize recipients of the Irish National Prize of the Bio-based Innovation Student Challenge Europe (BISC-E).
The Bio-based Innovation Student Challenge Europe is a Europe-wide competition designed to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in the bioeconomy sector. It challenges students to develop new bio-based products and processes while promoting awareness of the transition to a more sustainable, circular economy.
As Ireland’s national winners, Carbon Circle will now go on to represent the country at the European finals in the Autumn, competing against teams from 18 other countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Slovenia. Ireland has previously enjoyed strong success in the competition, with several teams achieving high placings at European level.
Second and third prize was awarded to Duck Biorefinery and PlasmaFresh respectively.
