MANUREFINERY 12-Month Meeting in Naples
Celignis's Oscar and Fernando are today attending the 12-month review meeting of our CBE-JU research project MANUREFINERY. The event is taking place at the facility of project partner ENCO in Naples, Italy.
MANUREFINERY, entitled "Smart modular mobile biorefining of manure to zero-waste maximising resource recovery for feed and fertiliser bioingredients in rural areas" is one of the 7 ongoing CBE-JU projects that Celignis is currently involved in. Click here to read more about these projects.
Celignis Hosts EnXylaScope Meeting
Today we welcomed our partners from the EnXylaScope project to Limerick for the final in-person meeting of the project. The event is being held at the Limerick Strand Hotel and will include a tour of Celignis's Bioprocess and Analytical facilities.
EnXylaScope has been a hugely successful project, leading to multiple innovations in enzyme discovery and biomass processing, with Celignis making impactful developments in technologies for xylan extraction and modification. The project's success has led to a number of follow-on projects (BIONEER and PROMOFER) that involve demonstration of these technologies at higher TRL levels.
Lalitha Presents our EnXylaScope Work at EUBCE 2025
Lalitha is today presenting the outputs of our EnXylaScope project at the 34th European Biomass Conference & Exhibition (EUBCE) which is being held in Valencia, Spain.
The presentation, entitled "EnXylaScope: Unleashing xylan's potential with enzymes for a scope of consumer products", will provide a wide-ranging overview of the project which is now in its 4th year.
Celignis Tops 50,000 Samples!
Today we registered sample number 50,000 on our internal LIMS system. Over the years we have analysed every kind of biomass sample imagineable and we look forward to achieving further milestones in the future as we continue to grow and expand our operations.
Dileep Joins the Celignis Team
Today the Celignis family welcomed Dileep Raveendran-Nair to the fold. Dileep is a Mechanical Engineer with over 11 years of hands-on experience in biofuel, biochar, and bioproduct process engineering. His career has focused on the operation, maintenance, and optimization of large-scale bioprocess and bioenergy systems, integrating engineering precision with biotechnological innovation to advance sustainable industrial application.
At Celignis he will play a key-role ("Mechanical Engineer for Scaled-up Bioprocesses") in the development of our bioprocessing capabilities as we increase the Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) of our bioprocessing facility to TRL7 and cubic-metre reactors.
Dileep will be involved in the development and implementation of Bioprocess Development Services for our clients and in the scaled-up bioprocessing activities in our numerous ongoing research projects. Additionally, Dileep will take the lead in Celignis's Biochar Production services for our clients.
€1.6m Funding Success for Celignis in 2024 CBE-JU Calls
We are delighted to announce that Celignis has been successful in 4 project proposals submitted for funding to the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) programme.
These projects will provide funding of 1.6m EUR to Celignis over the next few years and build upon the 3 projects (worth 1.5m EUR) we secured last year and the 4 previous CBE/BBI projects that Celignis participated in.
Details on the projects are provided below:
WoodVALOR - This RIA project concerns the valorisation of contaminated/post-consumer wood waste (WW) via: (i) thermal conversion to biochar; and (ii) fractionation followed by conversions to paints & coatings ingredients. Celignis is involved in the chemo-enzymatic fractionation of decontaminated wood (DW) to sequentially extract/purify lignin and hemicellulose, and in developing hemicellulose-based emulsifiers/stabilizers and binder monomers for industrial formulations. Additionally, Celignis is involved in metals/mineral recovery from decontamination wastewater using biochar produced in the project.
SOLRESS - This Innovation Action (TRL6) project concens the development of an integrated biorefinery to make a portfolio of bio-based solvents from 2G sugars and furans obtained from spent coffee grounds and woody biomass. Celignis's activities include (i) Design and optimisation of a high-cell-density, two-stage Clostridial process for butanol from hydrolysates; (ii) in-situ solvent recovery via membrane/ extractive set-ups; (iii) enzymatic hydrolysis of both feedstocks.
BIOS MATER - Also an Innovation Action (IA) project, BIOS MATER targets the development and demonstration of bio-based construction products (e.g., wall panels, flooring tiles, sandwich structures). Celignis leads materials development: chemo-enzymatic extraction and fractionation of lignin/xylan/cellulose from agri/forest residues, followed by advanced chemical modification of xylan and lignin (mixed-molecule grafting, acylation and silylation) to tailor hydrophobicity, flow/rheology (via DP control), mechanical strength, and fire resistance for injection-moulding/3D-printing.
LIGNOFUN - This IA project funnels lignin streams into high-value aromatics. Celignis leads WP4, putting crude low molecular weight (LMW) lignin through integrated membrane and solvent fractionation into fractions for bioactivity screening (antioxidant, UV-absorbance, antimicrobial, emulsion stabilization), followed by enzymatic/chemical grafting (e.g., sugars, fatty acids) to tune solubility/surface functionality and stability.
Celignis is a Full Industry Member of the Biobased Industries Consortium (BIC), which helps to steer the focus of research for the CBE-JU programme.
Click here to read about all of our current research projects and here to read about our completed research projects.
New Publication from a Celignis Bioprocess Development Project
We are please to announce the publication of a peer-reviewed scientific article based on some of the research outputs of a Bioprocess Development Service (BDS) project undertaken by Celignis.
The article, entitled "Process development for efficient pectin extraction from tobacco residues and its characterisation" details the results of experiments targeting the optimised extraction of pectin from the laminae of a number of different varieties of tobacco plants. These tobacco-derived pectins were found to have a medium molecular weight and low methoxy content and our findings indicated that this feedstock could be suitable for the production of pectin with dietary applications.
Click here to view the publication.
Kick-Off Meeting for CBE-JU MANUREFINERY Project
Celignis personnel are today attending the kick-off meeting of the CBE-JU project MANUREFINERY at the facilities of the project's coordinator (ITA) in Zaragoza, Spain.
MANUREFINERY concerns the development of a small, decentralised, modular biorefinery concept for farms that converts manure and ammonia emissions into seven marketable bio-ingredients (animal-feed proteins, caproic acid, and fertiliser salts/ashes). The solution integrates fixed/mobile units across three valorisation lines (gas, liquid, solid) and a digital twin for optimisation and scale-up, targeting TRL6-7 validation on four EU demo farms.
Celignis has a number of key roles in the project, including:
- Comprehensive analysis of the feedstocks and products of the process.
- Technoeconomic analysis for the three valorisation lines.
- Development of an extraction technology for grass.
Kick-Off Meeting for CBE-JU PROMOFER Project
PROMOFER, is an Innovation Action project funded by the CBE-JU, under topic HORIZON-JU-CBE-2023-IA-03 (Improve Fermentation Processes (Including Downstream Purification) To Final Bio-Based Products).
This project started in June 2024 with Celignis, an SME partner and full industry BIC member, playing a pivotal role in the project. Our core activities include undertaking the pre-treatment and hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass at scaled-up (TRL7, 1 m3) volumes. The resulting sugars are then provided to other partners for downstream fermentations.
Today Celignis's CIO Lalitha is attending the kick-off meeting of the project, at coordinator AIMPLAS's headquarters in Valencia, Spain.
Kick-Off Meeting for CBE-JU BIONEER Project
Lalitha is attending the kick-off meeting of our CBE-JU project BIONEER, located at the coordinator's (SINTEF) premises in Trondheim, Norway.
BIONEER has the title "Scaled-up Production of Next-Generation Carbohydrate-Derived Building Blocks to Enhance the Competitiveness of a Sustainable European Chemicals Industry". It is a 4-year Innovation Action project with 7.5m EUR of funding provided by the CBE-JU.
Celignis plays a key role in BIONEER, being responsible for the scaled-up (TRL7) production of platform chemicals.
New Analysis Package for Bromoform in Seaweed
Bromoform is a naturally-occurring halogenated compound found at elevated levels in certain red seaweeds—most notably species of Asparagopsis. In ruminant nutrition research, bromoform has become a focal point because it inhibits the final step of methanogenesis in the rumen (the methyl-coenzyme M reductase pathway).
When present at appropriate levels, seaweeds rich in bromoform can markedly reduce enteric methane emissions—an opportunity with implications for climate targets and for low-carbon animal production systems.
Our new package (P173) package quantifies bromoform in seaweed and seaweed-derived materials (e.g. extracts, residues etc.). Please get in touch with us for further details on this new package.
New Publication from our VAMOS Project
Today a new publication, covering results obtained in the VAMOS project, funded by the CBE-JU, has been published online.
This publication includes results of Celignis's analyses of project-dervived samples and also covers the use of the waste pulp for the production of composites.
Details of the paper are provided below:
Herrera, N., Ordóñez, D. F., Gaduan, A. N., Singkronart, K., Hayes, D., Puri, D., Lee, K.-Y. (2024) Valorisation of waste pulp from materials recovery facility rejects for composite applications, Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing 180: 108108
Click here to view the full publication.
Celignis Exhibiting at North American Biochar Conference 2024
We are today exhibiting at the 2024 North American Biochar Conference, taking place at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Centre in Sacramento, California.
Feel free to visit our desk where Lalitha and Dan will be happy to discuss the biochar services offered by Celignis.
Also, feel free to download the biochar flyer and Celignis brochure that we are displaying at the event.
€1.5m Funding Success in CBE-JU
We are pleased to announce that three of the proposals involving Celignis, submitted to the CBE-JU programme for funding collaborative biomass research in Europe, were successful. These projects will provide an additional funding of €1.5m to Celignis and build on our achievements in other CBE and EU projects. In particular, the projects are all at enhanced TRLs (6/7) and will use our existing Celignis Bioprocess infrastructure and will also fund further development of our bioprocessing capacities and the Bioprocess Development Services we offer our clients.
Details on the funded projects are provided below:
BIONEER - This project was funded under CBE-JU topic IA-06 and focuses on the TRL 6/7 production of biobased platform chemicals. Celignis's activities in the project focus on scaling up the work undertaken in our ongoing CBE-JU RIA project PERFECOAT and the Cluster 6 Horizon Europe project EnxylaScope.
PROMOFER - This project was funded under CBE-JU topic IA-03 and focuses on scaling up improved fermentation processes. Celignis's activities in the project are focused on the TRL7 (1m3 reactor) production of fermentable carbohydrates from lignocellulosic feedstocks.
MANUREFINERY - This project was funded under CBE-JU topic IA-01 and focuses on demonstrating small scale biorefining in rural areas. Celignis will be responsible for undertaking technoeconomic analyses of the integrated processes for valorising agricultural side-streams.
Celignis is a Full Industry Member of the Biobased Industries Consortium (BIC), which helps to steer the focus of research for the CBE-JU programme. On Feb 8th Celignis's Dan Hayes, Lalitha Gottumukkala, and Oscar Bedzo will be attending a BIC networking event in Brussels where we will discuss collaborations in the research programme topics recently announced for 2024.
Celignis to Exhibit and Present at Major Biochar Event
On Feb 12-15 we'll be exhibiting at the 2024 North American Biochar Conference, taking place at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Centre in Sacramento, California.
We're looking forward to interacting with the 1000+ expected attendees, outlining our extensive range of analytical and application testing services for biochar.
Celignis CIO Lalitha Gottumukkala will also be a member of the expert panel focused on developing improved laboratory methods for biochar characterisation.
Click here to register for the event.
Celignis Attending BIC Event on Feb 8
The Circular Bioeconomy Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE-JU) is an organisation that funds biomass research in Europe at various Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). Since 2016 Celignis has been an active participant in a number of projects funded by the CBE-JU.
The Biobased Industries Consortium (BIC) is the steering committee that helps to steer the focus of research for the CBE-JU programme. In 2023 Celignis joined the BIC as a Full Industry Member and participated in several proposals submitted for different research topics in the CBE-JU's 2023 Work Programme.
On Feb 8th Celignis's Dan Hayes, Lalitha Gottumukkala, and Oscar Bedzo will be attending a BIC networking event in Brussels where we will discuss potential collaborations in the research programme topics recently announced for 2024.
If you are also attending that event then please get in touch with us, either through the Celignis website or via the event's networking platform, so that we can discuss potential synergies in proposals for the 2024 topics.
We're Hiring - Business Administration & Client Relationship Manager
Situated in Limerick, Ireland, Celignis currently operates at two centres, Celignis Analytical and Celignis Bioprocess, actively engaging in a variety of private and public bioeconomy projects. As we continue to expand, we're looking to strengthen our team of 14 with a Business Administration and Client Relationship Manager who can bring a blend of enthusiasm and expertise.
This position will involve working closely with senior management, fostering existing and new client relationships, and ensuring successful delivery of our services, playing a key role in our ongoing growth and success.
Click here for more details about the position.
Celignis to Sponsor and Present at Major Biochar Event
We are pleased to announce that, on May 3rd, Celignis will be presenting and exhibiting at the National Biochar and Carbon Products Conference 2023, which is taking place in Carrick-on-Shannon in County Leitrm, Ireland.
This conference is being organised under the auspices of the Interreg Northwest Europe-funded THREE C Project, entitled 'Creating and sustaining Charcoal value chains to promote a Circular Carbon economy in NWE Europe'.
The conference will highlight both Irish stakeholders who are currently working in the biochar and carbon products sector, but also partners from the THREE C project (covering Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium, France and Wales, as well as Ireland) who have interesting stories and products to share.
Celignis, along with Arigna Fuels, is the main sponsor of the event and several members of the Celignis team will be present at our exhibition stand where we will be happy to discuss our wide range of analytical and bioprocess development services for biochar stakeholders. The event coincides with the launch of the Celignis Biochar Hub, a section of our website that goes into great detail (15 web pages and 22,000 words) on our range of services.
Celignis CEO Dan Hayes will also be presenting at the event, with a presentation entitled 'Expanding the Market for Biochar with Analysis, Application Testing, and Upgrading'.
Click here to register for the event.
If you are unable to make it you can use the links below to access some information on our services for the biochar sector and please contact us if you would like to receive a copy of our presentation.
Celignis Biochar Trifold
Celignis Brochure 
Employee Spotlight - Piotr
Piotr is Celignis's Orders and Data Manager, having joined that role in 2021. He is a highly ambitious and talented individual and plays a significant role in data processing, data evaluation, and chemometrics. Piotr takes precision and accuracy very seriously and has a keen eye on big sets of data. He is also particularly active in Celignis's chromatography department, undertaking quality control of chromatograms and results.
Click here to see his responses to some questions about his work at Celignis.
New Article on Biochar Analysis
Click here to read about the different analysis packages that Celignis offers for the evaluation on biochars. These analyses cover properties relevant to a wide variety of applications, including soil amendment, carbon sequestration, bioenergy, and biomaterials.
Special Offer on TGA Analysis
To celebrate the arrival of our thermogravimetric (TGA) equipment, we are offering, for a limited time period, two TGA analyses for the price of one. Click here to read more about TGA analyses at Celignis and to see the various packages on offer.
To avail of this special offer please mention the code (TGA-AUGUST) in an email or when placing an order via the Celignis Database.
Short Video by Lalitha on EnXylaScope
Celignis recently exhibited at IBioiC's annual conference, held in Glasgow on June 6-7.
During that event Lalitha, Celignis's CIO, gave a short 5 minute presentation on the EnXylaScope collaborative EU research project that Celignis is involved in.
You can view the presentation below or here on YouTube.
CBE-JU Call Opens - See our Pitches for Proposals
Today the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE-JU) released their annual work programme and budget for 2022. There is an indicative budget of 120 million Euros which will fund a total of 12 topics, comprising 5 Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs), 1 Coordinating and Supporting Action (CSA), 4 Demonstration-Scale projects, and 2 Flagships.
Celignis is a partner in 3 ongoing CBE projects: UNRAVEL and PERFECOAT are RIA (Research and Innovation Action) projects, whilst VAMOS is an Innovation Action project. Additionally, Celignis was a partner in the BIOrescue RIA project which was completed in 2019. Click here to read more about our involvements in these projects. They were funded as part of the Biomass Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI-JU) programme. The BBI-JU was the precursor to the CBE-JU for which 2022 will be the first year of operation.
We believe that we can make valuable contributions to projects covering a large number of the topics in the 2022 CBE work programme. These contributions are summarised here and there are also individual Celignis webpages for each of the call topics.
If you are preparing a CBE proposal this year and would like to engage with the Celignis team during the proposal preparation period then feel free to contact us and we will be happy to discuss in more detail how we can potentially contribute to the proposal and consortium. Celignis's Lalitha and Dan have years of experience putting together and writing proposals for EU funding and have also both worked as Expert Evaluators for the BBI-JU and so are very familiar with what is required for an excellent proposal and improved chances of being funded.
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Celignis Exhibiting at World Biogas Expo 2022
We are happy to be exhibiting at The World Biogas Expo 2022, taking place at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, UK, on June 15-16.
We are at stand A501 and eager to talk about our wide range of analytical and bioprocess development services for the anaerobic digestion sector.
Here you can download soft copies of the brochure, AD trifold, and analysis trifold that we are distributing at the event.
Presentation and Exhibition Stand at IBioIC Annual Conference
The IBioIC Annual Conference makes a welcome return to Glasgow. The title of the event is "The Just Transition of Biotechnology - How sustainable development in industrial biotechnology can secure Scotland's path to Net Zero".
We are pleased to be exhibiting at the event, on June 6-7 at the Technology & Innovation Centre in Glasgow, UK. We look forward to discussing our range of analytical and bioprocess development services for bioeconomy stakeholders.
Our CIO Lalithawill also be giving a presentation at the event about our participation in EnXylaScope a collaborative research project funded by the the Horizon Europe programme.
Here you can download soft copies of the brochure, AD trifold, and analysis trifold that we are distributing at the event.
