Posted 10 April 2014
UCD spin-out, OxyMem announced overall winner at the 2014 Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards
University College Dublin spin-out company, OxyMem Ltd has been announced as the overall winner of the ‘Innovation of the Year’ Award at the 2014 Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards.
Co-founded in 2013 by Professor Eoin Casey and Dr Eoin Syron as a spin-out from the UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, OxyMem Ltd has developed a breakthrough technology for wastewater aeration.
Pictured far right, overall winner at the 2014 Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards: Wayne Byrne, CEO, OxyMem and ProfessorEoin Casey, UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, co-founder, OxyMem
Until now wastewater aeration has been a very energy intensive process which has relied on ‘forced’ or ‘bubble aeration’ to deliver oxygen to the bacteria that breakdown the wastewater. Pumping and treating wastewater typically accounts for up to 2.5% of all electrical power produced in a developed country and the aeration process comprises, on average, of 60% of this energy.
Thomas Hunter McGowan, CEO, InterTradeIreland; Professor Eoin Casey, UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, co-founder, OxyMem; Wayne Byrne, CEO, OxyMem; An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD and Liam Kavanagh, Irish Times
OxyMem’s patented technology does not rely on a bubble to deliver oxygen to the bacteria. Instead it uses a gas permeable membrane to deliver oxygen directly to the micro-organisms resulting in up to 99% oxygen transfer efficiency, as no oxygen is lost to atmosphere. The company’s ‘bubbleless’ aeration system is typically four times more energy efficient than best in class solutions available today.
OxyMem currently employs 12 people and is in the process of closing a €2 million funding round and plans to increase staff numbers to 35 by the end of the year.
"The Government wants to support innovation & research to drive job creation and assist in attracting foreign investment,” said An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD at the award ceremony.
“That's why the Government's Action Plan for Jobs has specific targets in this regard. These awards show that Irish companies can be leaders in their field and innovators like the award winners will play a part in the country's economic recovery. I would like to congratulate the team at OxyMem on their win and commend The Irish Times and InterTradeIreland for their commitment to supporting Irish businesses."
Wayne Byrne CEO, Oxymem Ltd said, “Looking to the future, we have major plans to revolutionise the wastewater treatment market globally. We have a turnover of €50 million within five years in our sights and receiving the overall ‘Innovation of the Year Award’ strengthens our position as pioneers in the wastewater industry and in the attainment of an energy and carbon neutral wastewater treatment plant."
Pictured at awards:
Professor Brian Glennon & Dr Mark Barrett, UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, co-founders, APC Ltd; Prof Andrew J Deeks, President of UCD; Professor Eoin Casey, UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, co-founder, OxyMem; Prof Ciaran O'Hogartaigh, Dean of Business, UCD; Wayne Byrne, CEO, OxyMem; Dr Francois Pichot, NovaUCD, Grainne Barron, CEO, Viddyad, UCD Smurfit School MBA Alumnus and Prof Frank Roche, UCD School of Business
Professor Orla Feely, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact said, “I would like to congratulate Professor Eoin Casey and Dr Eoin Syron, the co-founder of OxyMem Ltd, on winning the prestigious overall ‘Innovation of the Year’ Award.”
“OxyMem’s breakthrough technology for wastewater aeration has resulted from several years of research by Professor Casey and Dr Syron in UCD’s School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering and underlines UCD’s expertise in this research area. In addition I would like to congratulate Professor Brian Glennon and Dr Mark Barrett, also from UCD’s School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, and the co-founders of APC Ltd, on winning the Bioscience category award.”
“One of UCD’s key innovation themes is to grow and support new high-tech and innovative companies, such as OxyMem Ltd and APC Ltd, which are commercialising UCD research outputs and which have a global impact. By winning these awards OxyMem and APC are demonstrating the quality of spin-out companies emerging from UCD and the hard work and dedication of our research community in commercialising their research outputs with the support of our technology transfer and enterprise development team at NovaUCD.”
“I would also like to acknowledge the success of Dr Barbara Murphy, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, founder of Equilume Ltd, on being shortlisted for these awards,” she added.
OxyMem Ltd has developed a breakthrough technology for wastewater aeration. Up to now the aeration process has relied on ‘forced’, or ‘bubble aeration’ to deliver oxygen to the bacteria that breakdown the wastewater. OxyMem doesn’t rely on a bubble to deliver oxygen, instead it uses a gas permeable membrane to deliver oxygen directly to the microorganisms.
APC Ltd, the Applied Process Company, developed its engineering-driven platform technologies ACHIEVETM and BioACHIEVETM to troubleshoot and resolve research and manufacturing issues for chemical and biopharmaceutical compounds, and to improve the design of these entities. These innovative platform technologies reduce the time, costs and risk for the development and supply of new and existing drugs to the market place and the patient.
At NovaUCD, the hub for new ventures and entrepreneurs at University College Dublin, we nurture and support new high-tech and knowledge-intensive companies as part of UCD’s innovation mission. At NovaUCD we provide purpose-built, state-of-the-art incubation facilities, alongside a comprehensive business support programme for our client companies such as APC Ltd, Equilume Ltd and OxyMem Ltd. NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx.
(Produced by UCD University Relations)
