It has been more than a six-year journey for the trio of inventors behind a breakthrough cellulose recycling process. they have created a new thermochemical process known as furafuel that converts waste products such as paper and straw into valuable industrial and pharmaceutical chemicals. the resulting products provide an alternative to petro-chemical based ingredients used in a wide range of products from medicines to agrichemicals, solvents and polymers.
The developers are Tony Duncan, Dr Warwick Raverty and Greg Court. All three have decades of experience in the paper industry. Together, with a small number of co-investors, they formed Circa Group Pty Ltd to develop and market their new process and products. Circa CEO Tony Duncan says the period between developing the process and scaling it up to a commercial level has been a difficult one for the company, as it is for many start-ups.
“What you need is time and financial support to bring an idea through to commercialisation. Governments are generally risk averse, and it can be a challenge to attract independent investors with a new technology, untested in the market place,” he says.
The three founders of the Circa Group had already done the hard work in developing and verifying a new chemical process when they first approached VCAMM for assistance. Through VCAMM, Circa has been able to source seed funding that has allowed it to continue to scale up its Furafuel process from laboratory
tests producing one kilogram of chemicals a day to a larger proof-of-concept assembly line producing 10kgs a day, and are commissioning a pilot plant, which will convert 100kgs a day.
“Often, when you are looking for early stage investors,
the cash to equity trade-off can be crippling, but VCAMM has been very supportive and we were able to negotiate an equity deal that allowed us to stay in charge of the business we founded,” Tony says.
VCAMM has been a shareholder in CIRCA since 2010. It has also provided a new location for CIRCA that includes office and laboratory space at the VCAMM Innovation Centre in Knoxfield.
“Before we were in a small factory by ourselves. It is good to have space in an office that provides support services, and where there are other people around to interact with. It’s also a relief to go back to developing our business instead of worrying about whether there’s a leak in the roof that needs fixing,” Tony says.
Business support provided by VCAMM includes an assessment of the company’s corporate governance processes. Tony says it has put more rigour into business management practices, and this would help give other potential investors more confidence in the soundness of the business. VCAMM Enterprise Development Manager Iain Ralph says the CIRCA technology has some amazing potential particularly given its positive environmental footprint.
The initial focus may have been on a productive use for the 1.5 million tonnes of paper that ends up in Australian landfill each year, but the emerging technology has significant international potential to produce valuable chemicals from a range of other cellulose-based wastes.
VCAMM is also helping Circa to make new investment and market contacts through its extensive networks and Tony says efforts are beginning to pay off. VCAMM introduced Circa to a Victorian manufacturing company looking to diversify and helped broker an agreement between the organisations to allow the manufacture of the first industrial scale unit with minimal investment from both sides. Chinese investors are among those showing the strongest interest in the Furafuel system because it offers a modular, scalable design and the process can be operated by local expertise. This means it can be established where the fuel stocks are located, rather than having to transport fuel stocks to a central location.
It is energy self-sufficient, does not need to generate a strong vacuum, can tolerate variable moisture levels in its feed stocks, and does not use food products as fuel stocks as some biofuels do. The process actually produces water, and also char, which could potentially be used as a soil conditioner.
Business: Circa Group Pty Ltd, Knoxfield, Victoria
Industry: Chemical manufacturing
Summary: A start-up company with a break-through proprietary thermochemical technology adding value to cellulose feedstocks such as waste paper, finds a home base with VCAMM
VCAMM assistance: Office facilities, business development and networking, seed funding. |
