The Project

Our innovative design is critical for the future of low-cost green methanol and is a key component in the transition to a circular economy. We utilise methane from biogas, a waste product from wastewater treatment and landfill, that would otherwise be poorly valorised or enter the atmosphere as a harmful greenhouse gas. The Birra Process is ‘carbon negative’ as we take in harmful greenhouse gas pollutants from the atmosphere and convert to reusable energy feedstock for maritime use, petrochemicals and even aviation. 

We convert the methane component of biogas into methanol inside our solar panel sized photocatalytic reactor using our proprietary catalyst and sunlight. Inspired by a protein found in nature that achieves this conversion, Birra’s research and development team are currently optimising our catalyst to facilitate rapid, cost effective and highly selective production of methanol. The catalyst functions similar to its native counterpart, whereby methane is adsorbed to an active site embedded in a larger macrostructure. Light provides the activation energy to generate reactive intermediate species that allow partial oxidation and release of methanol, completing the cycle. The catalyst is incorporated into our reactor allowing for a balance of gas feedstock mass transfer, light delivery and reaction rate, resulting in a low-cost optimum of methanol productivity. Our reactor is effectively a solar panel that produces methanol instead of electricity.