As a postgraduate student, Dr Miloud Ouadi investigated the production of new biofuels from paper industry waste. His ultimate goal was to turn his research into commercial success. Just five years later, and thanks to TEP, that is what he’s done.
Miloud’s company, Susteen Technologies UK, is now converting Birmingham waste into sustainable energy – biodiesel and biohydrogen – using a new-design thermo-catalytic reforming (TCR) reactor based at TEP.
The development of the energy park has been crucial to the commercial deployment of the work, he says.
‘TEP has helped to create an environment where all stakeholders with similar interests in bioenergy systems can come together in one place to showcase their technologies. It provides access to the right facilities, space and people to encourage learning in order to develop bioenergy systems further.
‘Being a tenant at TEP allows me to gain easy access to these stakeholders and facilities that would otherwise be very difficult.’
Miloud, who is also a researcher at both the University of Birmingham and Fraunhofer UMSICHT in Germany, says his company’s move to TEP comes at a time when bioenergy investment and development ‘is essential to tackle climate change and reduce Birmingham’s waste problems. This environment has allowed and encouraged international collaboration between the University of Birmingham and industrial partners for the development and implementation of many new projects that all have similar aims to convert Birmingham’s waste into sustainable biofuels.
‘Demonstrating such promising technologies in one dedicated site means that these technologies can easily be rolled out into other cities around the UK and into other countries, which will become especially important to sustain the UK economy and create jobs after Brexit.’
‘Global warming is becoming extremely problematic, causing wild fires, droughts and flooding, and this devastation to human health and quality of life is forecast to increase in forthcoming years if global temperatures continue to rise,’ he says. ‘The cause of this is due to the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), which produce greenhouse gases mainly in the form of CO2. Elevated, uncontrolled CO2 levels could be reduced by burning carbon-neutral fuels instead of fossil fuels. Achieving this goal is the overarching aim of TEP and, if successful, could potentially benefit billions of people from the impact of climate change.’
Find out more about Dr Ouadi’s work at TEP by watching the video below.