By Gomatam Ravi, Chief Technology Officer, GPS Renewables
Over the past decade, India’s bioenergy sector has seen significant progress, and several new technologies have moved from lab research to commercialisation. However, there are still many challenges that exist in the large-scale commercial application of new innovations. The key issue is not the lack of ideas or the technical capability, but the disconnect between academia and industry. Academic institutions are building technology that is relevant to the bioenergy sector, but there is limited industry engagement or feedback on the commercial viability. At the same time, the industry has a need for innovative solutions that can address the pain points in bioenergy production.
Industry-academia collaboration: Why does it matter?
Several research institutions in India are developing lab-scale processes to improve the digestion of lignocellulosic feedstocks, create more productive energy crops for higher gas yields and valorise digestate by products from the anaerobic digestion process. These new technologies have a strong relevance for the bioenergy sector, but what it needs is an evaluation by the industry to assess commercial viability.
We need to create an ecosystem that can move research into commercial-scale deployment. Many global examples have shown how this can be done. China’s genomics programme, driven by large-scale infrastructure centres such as the Beijing Genomics Institute, has successfully translated research investments into globally competitive technologies and impactful agricultural outcomes. A closer industry-academia collaboration through pilot projects and shared initiatives focused on handling diverse substrates and microbial systems can help scale 2G/3G/4G processes.
Examples of lab-to-commercialisation
The bioenergy sector has now actively started scouting for academic collaborations that can translate research into viable commercial outcomes. There are already some examples of real-world deployment. One such initiative is Mumbai’s Haji Ali electric vehicle (EV) charging station, which uses power generated from biogas for charging EVs. This is the first EV charging point in India to operate on green biogas-based power. This is a demonstration of how waste-to-energy solutions can be integrated into mobility infrastructure. Another example is our collaboration with the Agarkar Research Institute to enhance the digestion of lignocellulosic substrates such as rice straw. The process has been tested at a 1,800 litre scale in research and development facilities and is scheduled for implementation at commercial scale in an existing biogas plant within the next six months, with the objective of improving overall biogas yield.
Policy support for lab to large-scale deployment
There is currently significant government policy support to help move innovations from the lab to large-scale deployment. Government departments such as the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council provide grants and loans to support the transition of technologies from laboratory research to pilot plants and commercial-scale deployment. The industry has benefited from grants and loans from these organisations. Higher funding allocations to these bodies by the government, along with wider awareness and communication of available funding among industry stakeholders, will likely speed up the commercialisation of lab-developed technologies in the biogas sector.
At the same time, academic institutions need to recognise the commercial potential of their inventions and actively enable the application of their technologies. India has just started to realise the value of technology transfer. Ather Energy generated over Rs 500 million for IIT Madras through its incubation stake, while IIT Bombay has received a Rs 1 billion donation from the BrowserStack co-founders. These examples indicate the considerable potential for intellectual property (IP) generated within institutions to subsidise further research and strengthen innovation ecosystems. In this area, India is still at an early stage.
Easy access to data is another critical requirement. There is a need for a nationwide, multi-institutional, searchable database of sector-specific technologies developed across Indian research institutes. Such a database should include information on technology readiness levels backed by data and reports, proof-of-concept details, profiles of innovations, and information on existing collaborations and IP. Stanford University alone collects over $60 million annually in royalties, excluding returns from equity ownership in companies that together have generated over $350 billion in revenue.
Bioenergy, by nature, is interdisciplinary. Biologists, engineers, biophysicists, chemists and informatics professionals must work together to open up the possibility of scaling technologies from research environments to commercial operations.
