Founded: 2017
Founders: Agi Brandt-Talbot, Florence Gschwend and Jason Hallett
CEO: Krisztina Kovacs-Schreiner
Lixea is a revolutionary technology that turns the vast global agricultural and wood waste into profitable, sustainable materials and fuels.
A technology licensing company that spun out from Imperial College London in 2017, Lixea’s environmentally friendly waste biomass processing technology uses a unique green solvent called ionic liquid. The novel, patented process takes any type of woody materials that would end up in landfill or would be burnt, including forestry/timber waste, agri residues, such as wheat straw, sugarcane bagasse, rice straw along with metal contaminated construction waste wood and separates its components - cellulose fibres, lignin and valuable molecules from the hemicellulose part. These high-quality materials can be then converted into products, including packaging, fine and bulk biobased chemicals, bioplastics and biofuels using further chemical, biological and/or mechanical processing.
The technology has the potential to serve many different markets and become a platform technology enabling the implementation of a true circular bioeconomy. In the last 4 years, Lixea have engaged with over 150 companies around the world and introduced biobased building blocks in various established and novel material formulations.
Their pilot scale process in Bäckhammar, Sweden has been operational for over 2 years now, producing materials for prototyping and product development at kg scale. Currently, Lixea are working towards the design and building of a 25,000 tonne / year demonstration plant in Central Europe with key industry partners with the anticipation to further expand our operations in South & North America, South Africa, and Asia in the coming years.
Media:
Using wood waste to produce biochemicals: green chemistry for a green future
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/206113/imperial-projects-shortlisted-prestigious-icheme-global
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/222034/european-funding-boost-imperial-clean-tech-spinout
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/260134/lixea-plans-commercial-scale-demo-plant-builds
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/262393/imperial-spinout-awarded-eur-215-million
Women innovators driving discovery and enterprise | Imperial News | Imperial College London