OxyMem Ltd, an Enterprise Ireland client company, was recently declared winner of the overall ‘Innovation of the Year’ Award at the 2014 Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards. At the awards ceremony held in Dublin, OxyMem Ltd, was also declared the winner of the Energy and the Environment category award. 

OxyMem Ltd, which has developed a breakthrough technology for wastewater aeration, was co-founded in 2013 by Professor Eoin Casey and Dr Eoin Syron as spin-out from UCD’s School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering.

Until now wastewater aeration has been a very energy intensive process which has relied on ‘forced’ or ‘bubble aeration’ to deliver oxygen to the bacteria that breaks down the wastewater. Pumping and treating wastewater typically accounts for up to 2.5% of all electrical power produced in a developed country and the aeration process comprises, on average, of 60% of this energy.

OxyMem’s patented technology does not rely on a bubble to deliver oxygen to the bacteria. Instead it uses a gas permeable membrane to deliver oxygen directly to the micro-organisms resulting in up to 99% oxygen transfer efficiency, as no oxygen is lost to the atmosphere. The company’s ‘bubbleless’ aeration system is typically four times more energy efficient than best in class solutions available today.

OxyMem currently employs 12 people and is in the process of closing a €2 million funding round and plans to increase staff numbers to 35 by the end of the year.

Wayne Byrne CEO, Oxymem Ltd said, “Looking to the future, we have major plans to revolutionise the wastewater treatment market globally. We have a turnover of €50 million within five years in our sights and receiving the overall ‘Innovation of the Year Award’ strengthens our position as pioneers in the wastewater industry and in the attainment of an energy and carbon neutral wastewater treatment plant."

Now in its fifth year The Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards showcase excellence in innovation, across a range of groundbreaking products and services from all sectors and company sizes across the island, North and South. In recent years the overall winners have created innovations as diverse as drug delivery systems and state-of-the art network switching, to anti-allergy pillows and new technologies for cleaning and disinfection.