Celtic Renewables were recognised at this year’s annual Rushlight Awards for their pioneering working in making advanced biofuel from the vast by-products of the whisky industry, taking home 2 accolades including the prestigious Rushlight Clean Energy Award.
The Edinburgh based company won the Rushlight Bioenergy Award, given for the most significant achievement towards the exploitation of sustainable biomass as a source of renewable energy. The company was also chosen from amongst the category winners, and took the overall Rushlight Clean Energy Award for the most significant achievement towards the exploitation and adoption of sustainable energy.
Now in their 8th year, the RSA-accredited Rushlight Awards are a celebration and a promotion of new technology, innovation and best practice across the whole environment spectrum for organisations throughout UK and Ireland. Each year, the international Rushlight Awards brings together the leading organisations from these isles which are developing new clean technologies and innovations. Supported by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the judging panel is drawn from leading experts in their chosen field from across the UK and Ireland.
The high profile awards ceremony, held in London College of Surgeons, featured leading figures from government, industry and academia across the renewable energy and climate change sector.
Celtic Renewables is widely regarded as one of the leading start-up companies in the UK biofuel sector, producing biobutanol as an advanced biofuel and a direct replacement for petrol. The company Founder, Professor Martin Tangney, said “We are deeply honoured for such international recognition. Winning our category is fantastic but to be overall winners for clean technology shows just how important the development of advanced biofuel is to the entire energy sector.”
The company has been running pilot scale trials at the flagship EU testing facility Bio-Base Europe Pilot Plant in Belgium and is now developing plans for the construction of its first commercial demonstration facility to process Scotland’s abundant whisky production residues into advanced sustainable biofuel. Less than 10% of the output from a distillery is whisky, with the rest being process residues. Celtic Renewable CEO, Mark Simmers commented, “Such international endorsement of our process is tremendous, as we set about the huge task of building our first demonstration facility”