The Bilexys team with their innovative and cost-effective wastewater treatment technology last night scored $100,000 in commercialisation funding at UQ Business School’s Enterprize competition.
With the technology already in operation at the Fosters’ Yatala Brewery, the Bilexys team is confident their concept – which three years ago was a 50ml laboratory experiment – can be scaled up successfully.
Team member Dr Paul Barrett said the Fosters pilot plant had been in operation for over a year.
“The technology can also be applied to other industries including bio-diesel, organic chemicals, petrochemicals, brewing and beverages, distilling, sugar, and pulp and paper industries,” he said.
Head of the UQ Business School Professor Tim Brailsford said Enterprize Pitch Day was the culmination of months of hard work for the finalists.
“After submitting a concept plan initially, the finalists then have to develop a full business plan, pitch to the judges, and then pitch to an invited audience including much of South East Queensland’s venture capital and early-stage investment community," he said.
Professor Brailsford said Pitch Day was often a nerve-wracking experience for the finalists.
“Pitching your idea to a packed house can be a bit daunting – that’s why we provide free pitch coaching to all finalists,” he said.
“Our coach Barry O’Sullivan has been working with the Enterprize teams for several years now and it’s always pretty clear which teams have worked with Barry.”
“It’s all part of our goal to bring new knowledge to the world by supporting the commercialisation of some of Australia’s most exciting new ideas.”
Enterprize is now in its eighth year.
More information about Bilexys below:
BILEXYS CLEANS UP AT ENTERPRIZE
Bilexys, who won UQ Business School’s $100,000 Enterprise business plan competition, has invented a highly efficient wastewater treatment technology. The technology is a new version of a bio-electrochemical system (BES). BESs use bacteria as catalysts to remove dissolved organics from wastewater.
Bilexys’ team member, Dr Paul Barrett, said the technology had been in development at UQ’s Advanced Wastewater Management Centre for three years and had grown from a 50ml laboratory experiment into a 1000 litre fully functioning pilot plant.
The pilot plant has been operational for over a year and treating wastewater at Fosters’ Yatala Brewery.
He said there were many industries with wastewater characteristics that were highly suitable for the application of Bilexys technology including the biodiesel, organic chemicals, petrochemicals, brewing and beverages, distilling, sugar and pulp and paper industries.
The system is modular meaning it can be retrofitted to existing wastewater treatment plants and modules can be added as needed.
Dr Barrett said the Bilexys’ technology had a number of operational and cost advantages over present technologies used for treating wastewater.
“If you look at wastewater treatment today, it is a very energy intensive,” Dr Barrett said.
“For a country like Australia, about 5 percent of energy use for the whole country is for wastewater treatment.
“Bilexys is able to treat the wastewater as fuel and captures the energy from this fuel to make it a much more efficient and cost-effective process. So, instead of wastewater treatment costing a lot of energy and money to run, Bilexys makes the process significantly more energy efficient and brings revenue back into the business.
“It really represents a paradigm shift in wastewater treatment and we are hoping to revolutionise wastewater treatment.
Dr Barrett said by winning Enterprize the team would be able to take the technology from the pilot stage through to commercialization.
He said the team would use the money to find a CEO with experience in the wastewater industry as well as a manufacturing engineer who could take their technology from a prototype to something that could be manufactured on a commercial scale.
Media: Leanne Wyvill UniQuest (l.wyvill@uniquest.com.au or 3346 7907) or Cathy Stacey UQ Business School (07 3365 6179, 0434 074 372).
