About EBRI- Bringing Bioenergy to the West Midlands.

The European Bioenergy Research Institute (EBRI) is responsible for the development of innovative, practical and efficient “bioenergy from waste” reactors. EBRI is interested in working with UK companies and local authorities who want to avail themselves of the benefits that “bioenergy from waste” solutions provide. We are also looking for investors, academic partners and West Midlands based SMEs to become involved in this high growth market place.

EBRI is based at Aston University in Birmingham city centre. The Institute was launched in June 2008 and has grown rapidly. Since its launch EBRI’s initiatives have been producing great results, with many of them being reported in local and national media. In January 2012, a new bioenergy reactor will be installed at Harper Adams University College in Newport, Shropshire. This will increase the efficiency of their already successful anaerobic digester and provide a demonstrator for future projects.

A new £16.5m building, housing staff and engineering laboratories, is being constructed for the Institute on the Aston University campus. It will be powered by a bioenergy reactor housed at the rear of the Institute. This working installation will be used as a demonstrator of the long term usage of bioenergy from algae and waste such as sewage, sludge and agricultural waste. It also provides a test site for processing new types of waste and experimenting with processing conditions to optimise the reactor efficiency.

EBRI is committed to enabling knowledge transfer across the West Midlands region and ensuring that the work generated stays within the region. EBRI has received European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) to develop bioenergy throughout the UK to the benefit of end user organisations and the companies involved in delivering the services and machinery required to construct, manage and run an installation.

The EBRI team is constantly developing new techniques to produce efficient, green bioenergy from different types of waste. Work includes investigating a range of alternative fuels including:

Wood waste (i.e. chippings) and leaves
Energy grass
Sewage
Residues from Agricultural Waste
Residues from Industrial Waste (including plastics)
Household waste
Algae

All of these fuels can be used for the production of heating, power, synthetic natural gas and biochar (a form of charcoal). The biochar can then be used as fertiliser, in the production of bio-hydrogen which can be used to fuel hydrogen-powered vehicles or even in the food industry. It can also be used as a coke substitute in a co-firing power station.

The team is determined, though a combination of research and collaboration, to bring the benefits of bioenergy to companies, local authorities and investors across the UK. You can meet the team here or contact us for more information.