Andrew Czyzewski

Research project could make Wales a bio-refining hub

News

A new research and demonstration facility could establish Wales as a major centre for bio-refining.

The BEACON programme will turn locally grown crops into commercial products, including fuels, plastic composites, pharmaceuticals and textiles — in essence, any products that are traditionally made from oil.

A key part of the project will be to work with a variety of industrial partners, the target being 200 businesses over the course of the project, which runs until June 2015.

‘We’re trying to demonstrate the commercial potential here,’ said Dr Steven Fish of Aberystwyth University. ’Technically it can be done, but the finances have got to add up. If it’s not competitive, it doesn’t matter how good the science is, it won’t go any further.’

BEACON, which has a total budget of £20m, is headed by the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth, in collaboration with Bangor and Swansea universities.

It will bring together geneticists, microbiologists and agriculture experts to work on a variety of feedstocks, including crops such as rye grass, miscanthus, oats and artichokes.

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