ENERGY FROM WASTE TECHNOLOGY INVENTED IN NOTTINGHAM UP FOR NATIONAL AWARD

Four research students who met during the coronavirus pandemic have designed an innovative system that generates renewable electricity from wastewater – and now they’ve been shortlisted for a national award.

The team met in 2020 as PhD researchers at the University of Nottingham through the Young Entrepreneur Scheme. Now, their early-stage cleantech startup, Pipeline Organics, is harnessing the untapped chemical potential found in waste to power clean, sustainable industries around the globe.

This is made possible through the development of higher efficiency biofuel cell technology which they have designed to retrofit into existing infrastructure and immediately start generating continuous renewable electricity. A fully operational product is expected to launch in 2024.

The quartet comprises Nottinghamshire residents Andrew Raslan, Arielle Torres, Eric Lehder and Keyvan Jodeiri. Collectively, they have been selected as finalists in the Engineers in Business Champion of Champions competition.

Arielle, Chief Executive Officer of Pipeline Organics, said: “Global energy consumption has exponentially increased over the last 50 years which has inadvertently accelerated climate change. Interestingly, nearly a quarter (23.4%) of all Greenhouse Gas emissions in 2021 originated from industry with the primary contributor being energy generation processes. Therefore, it is clear we urgently need new technologies that can reliably generate clean, renewable energy at scale to meet growing power demands. That is where we come in.”

On 3 November, Arielle and the team will pitch their technology against nine other teams of student innovators at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London. A sum of £16,000 is up for grabs, providing vital seed money to help the winners develop their innovation.

Winners will also receive mentoring from business leaders who are members of the Sainsbury Management Fellows network, plus CV packages from PurpleCV and entrepreneurial books from Cambridge University Press and Double your Price, a book by David Falzani MBE, which covers how pricing works with practical insights, tools and actionable guidance.
The event, hosted by TV presenter and engineer Rob Bell, is the culmination of a year of enterprise competitions held across UK universities, with thousands of undergraduate and graduates taking part.

Each year, Engineers in Business Fellowship champions business education for engineers and supports universities by giving them grants to award prizes to engineering students who develop ideas that can make a positive impact on society.

After participating in the University of Nottingham Ingenuity programme and looking ahead to the final, Arielle said: “Engineers are some of the world’s best problem-solvers. We are trained to apply logical thinking with highly technical skills to bring innovative, game-changing solutions to the world. However, to successfully turn these incredible ideas into real-world products and services you will likely need a sustainable business to facilitate wide-scale distribution. So, if you’re an engineer who wants to change the world with your ideas, I encourage you to become an entrepreneur.”