A new kind of biofuel, produced from the by-products of whisky and beer, could create a £55 million market in Scotland alone, its creators have claimed.
Celtic Renewables Ltd, a spin-out of Edinburgh's Napier University, is pioneering the commercial production of biobutanol, a high-value "clean" fuel capable of directly replacing petrol. The process, which was pioneered by Professor Martin Tangney, director of Napier's biofuel research centre, can also produce valuable acetone, ethenol and animal feed.
Mark Simmers, chief executive of Celtic, said that the product offered huge environmental benefits as well as a new source of revenue for distillers from material previously fit only for low-grade animal feed. Simmers said: "[Commercialisation] is still at a nascent stage but we are pretty certain it works – you can drain your car of petrol and start it with this sulphur-free alternative."
Celtic Renewables, designated a high-growth start-up by Scottish Enterprise, was spun out of Napier in June 2011, and has since received £200,000 of investment from angel investor and distillery owner Donald Houston, plus a £70,000 Smart Award.
The cash is funding commercial trials, culminating in the creation of 10,000 litres of biobutenol at the Centre for Process Innovation in Middlesbrough later this year.
Simmers said: "Not only does the product transform a low-value by-product, but it gets round the food v fuel debate."
Celtic is currently engaged in talks with the whisky industry, and also with HMRC about the duty implications of a new fuel.
Shaun Millican, technology and life science partner at accountant Johnston Carmichael, said: "We are working closely with Celtic Renewables at this critical stage in their development, advising on key issues that affect spin-out businesses including maximising available tax reliefs for potential investors and also helping get them in front of potential strategic partners."
The research project was funded by the Scottish Enterprise's "proof of concept" programme and has generated significant intellectual property value, now the subject of two patent applications. Celtic has secured an exclusive license agreement with the university to exploit the IP, with an option to buy it outright which will be exercised in late 2012.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article