Update on IrBEA’s visit in January to the Bio360 Expo in Nantes

The Bio360 Expo running in January this year was an event focused on bioenergy, renewable carbon and the bioeconomy held this January. For the first time, IrBEA helped secure an Irish Pavilion at this prestigious event in Nantes, France. We hosted Irish companies Arigna Fuels and Celignis Biomass Lab, along with European Partners, Blinc Inc., who coordinates the Interreg NW European projects of THREE C Creating The Circular Carbon Economy and more recently, CASCADE project, both of which the Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA) has been a partner in.

It was imperative for IrBEA to have a presence at this event and promote the bioenergy sector in Ireland to delegates from around the world. We made numerous contacts and garnered interest from companies both in Europe and globally, who were interested in bioenergy developments in Ireland.

Conor Layden, Commercial Director at Arigna Fuels Ltd delivered an excellent presentation on the company’s transition from smokeless coal to biochar for biocoal. Following his presentation, there was a notable surge in visitors to the Irish pavilion stand, eager to discuss Arigna Fuels journey with Conor.

Dan Hayes, CEO of Celignis Biomass Lab, also delivered a powerful presentation on the panel for Sustainable Aviation Fuels. Celignis an Irish company in Limerick Ireland, specializes in providing analytical services for the biomass and biofuel industries, assisting clients in understanding the composition of their biomass feedstocks, crucial for efficient conversion processes such as biofuel production.

Tim Scholze chairman at blinc eG, is the German partner who presented on the panel, ‘Biochar Horizons: exploring new frontiers.’ Tim gave a comprehensive update on the different Interreg NWE projects: Prograss, Combine, REDIRECT, THREE C and now CASCADE, these projects have helped build a robust circular biochar industry across Europe.

During the event, we had the opportunity to meet with journalists from Bioenergy International – Alan Sherrard and Dorota Natucka-Persson who took pictures and discussed future articles profiling Irish businesses. Additionally, we engaged with Fiona McAteer from LeBruin, a corporate finance company that has already invested in the sector and was at Bio360 Expo seeking to network with other innovative businesses. We will be touch with everyone who came to the Irish Pavilion and to IrBEA’s trade stand. If you want to follow up with us, please do not hesitate to contact Teresa O’Brien at teresaobrien@irbea.org and Stephen McCormack at stephenmccormack@irbea.org.