“At present, paper plants either use incineration facilities, or land-filling to dispose of paper sludge,” Murat Balaban, founder and CTO of Episome, told Labiotech.eu. “Nowadays, sustainability is a hot topic in the world and all big companies should have sustainable waste management systems.”
Episome is developing a technology that can process paper sludge into useful products such as biogas, biofuel and fertilizer. The company uses enzymes to break down tough cellulose fibers into smaller sugars, which microbes ferment into the final product.
Episome plans to expand its technology to the industrial scale this year, and is in talks with potential industrial partners to achieve this. The company also aims to raise a Series B round in 2020 to fuel the commercialization of its technology.