News

OxyMem, a University College Dublin (UCD) spin-out, and a growing Irish cleantech company has been named SME category winner at the US-Ireland Research Innovation Awards 2018, jointly presented by the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland and the Royal Irish Academy.The Irish wastewater start-up was co-founded by Wayne Byrne, Professor Eoin Casey and Dr Eoin Syron as a spin-out from the UCD School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering. For more details see (opens in a new window)here

We recently hosted the 10th International conference on biofilm reactors at University College Dublin. Delegates from 30 countries attended and the programme included keynote speakers, oral and poster presentations, workshops, exhibition and a technical tour to an aerobic granules facility

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More details (opens in a new window)here

UCD has been chosen to host the 10th International Conference on Biofilm Reactors, an event of the International Water Association (IWA). The Chair of the conference will be Eoin Casey. Further details at (opens in a new window)biofilms2017.org.

The Dow Chemical Company has announced its investment in OxyMem Ltd, a University College Dublin (UCD) spin-out company.

The investment will accelerate the commercialisation of OxyMem’s promising wastewater treatment technology, the Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor (MABR). The MABR technology has the potential to bring wastewater treatment closer to energy neutrality by reducing energy consumption for aeration by up to 75 percent. See more here.

University College Dublin President, Professor Andrew J. Deeks, has presented the co-founders of (opens in a new window)OxyMem, a UCD spin-out company producing technology that efficiently treats pollutants in wastewater, with the NovaUCD 2015 Innovation Award. For more information (opens in a new window)see here.

The Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation, Mr Damien English TD, has announced funding of over €11 million to the Energy Systems Integration Partnership Programme (ESIPP), see here.

OxyMem founders, Prof. Eoin Casey and Dr. Eoin Syron took one of only four Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI) Impact Awards which was presented by Damien English TD, Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation at an event held in Dublin. The founding members of OxyMem took the Spin-Out Company Impact Award 2015. The Spin-Out Company Impact Award was established by KTI to recognise a spin-out company from an Irish publicly-funded RPO that has achieved a significant event in the previous year. Further details here

Pictured (l-r) OxyMem co-founders, Dr Eoin Syron and Prof. Eoin Casey, UCD Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, Minister Damien English TD and Dr Alison Campbell, Director, KTI

Further details here

We welcome Professor Michael Semmens (University of Minnesota), who is joining the group as a Fulbright visiting Professor for 6 months from March, 2014.

Further details here.

During the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) annual science summit, a special award for the most impressive image captured as part of a research study in Ireland during 2013 was presented to Rory Heffernan, a University College Dublin PhD student. The awarded was presented to Rory by Seán Sherlock TD, Minister for Research and Innovation.
Further details here.

Rory Heffernan (PhD student) was awarded best oral presentation at the international conference Engineering With Membranes (EWM2013) France

Eoin Casey meets EU Commissioner Maire Geoghegan Quinn during a visit to UCD

Further details here:

Dr Eoin Syron was awarded “Best oral presentation” at the IWA Young Water Professionals UK Conference in Exeter for his presentation, “Bubbleless aeration, the possibility of significant energy reductions in wastewater treatment”.

Dr Eoin Syron has been invited to be a co-chair of the session titled “Novel Biological Technologies for Industrial Wastewater Treatment” at this year’s American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE) Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, USA

Eoin Casey has been awarded a Starting Grant of €1.5m from the European Research Council (ERC), funded under the EU Framework Programme 7, to undertake research into emerging technologies for improving drinking water quality. This five-year programme will investigate the role of biofilms in the fouling of nanofiltration membranes and develop strategies to enhance their removal. The results of the project will advance the understanding of important mechanisms in biofouling development and consequently increase the effectiveness and reliability of nanofiltration design and operation. Ultimately this will have wider implications for the effective treatment of water treatment processes and biofouling control in general. Previous work on nanofiltration biofouling has highlighted the complexity of the microenvironment in which the biofilm is formed. The challenge of this project is to devise an approach that recognises that multiple overlapping mechanisms contribute to biofilm formation. More details here.