Our partners from Munster Technological University have successfully installed their new upstream green biorefinery pilot plant at MTU Kerry Campus.
The facility will develop technologies to convert Ireland’s grasslands into a range of valuable biobased products, including high-quality feeds for animals, proteins for human consumption and bioenergy.
“This pilot unit provides us with flexibility to test different Irish green feedstocks and turn them into sustainable protein and biomaterial co-products through a small-scale green biorefinery approach,” explains James Gaffey, Co-director of MTU’s Circular Bioeconomy Research Group (CIRCBIO) and Project Coordinator of Rural BioReFarmeries.
With this new unit, which has been installed thanks to the funding provided by Enterprise Ireland in collaboration with the Centre for Applied Bioscience Research (CABR), James and his team of researchers at CIRCBIO have already started processing, analysing and optimising grass silage; they will move towards fresh green feedstocks in the coming months, as the winter thaw begins.
“This scale-up of MTU’s green biorefinery research activity […] shows our commitment to working with partners across the country and Europe to find solutions that genuinely benefit farmers, the environment and the community. By turning our grasslands into new opportunities, we are helping rural Ireland prosper into the future,” says Hugh McGlynn, VP of Research & Innovation at MTU.
But plans for upscaling green biorefining technologies in Ireland don’t stop there! An additional downstream green biorefinery pilot unit to further develop high value ingredients will be operational from this summer.
According to James, this fully integrated green biorefinery pilot plant will enable further collaborative research projects, and it will also inform the scaling and optimisation of the demonstration scale facility for green biorefinery and anaerobic digestion currently being built at Farm Zero C — a collaborative effort between MTU, University College Dublin and Carbery, as well as the RBRF Project and other aligned initiatives.
The story has been reported by various regional media in Ireland, including Irish Examiner and Agriland.
Original press release was issued by Munster Technological University on 5th January 2026: MTU Launches Green Biorefinery Backed by Grassroots Research to Reduce Carbon Footprint