Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 5 July 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Anaerobic Digestion: Discussion

Mr. J.P. Prendergast:

Just to follow on from Mr. McCarthy’s comments, I would not be surprised if in the next ten to 15 years the word “AD” disappears and “biorefinery” appears. That is what you are doing. You will be transitioning to the optimisation of how you will extract from your process. From that point, if you use the continuation of that, it will present an opportunity not just with regard to existing employment, but also with regard to generating a new form of employment. As Mr. McCarthy said, there is a much broader aspect to this to understand. For that reason alone - the implication of what this has - I consider this as a new technology for biorefinery research, where you can extract down the road and generate a whole new economy.