Ireland has officially opened the National Biorefinery Pilot Plant (NBPP) at the National Bioeconomy Campus in Lisheen, Co. Tipperary, as part of a €9.7 million investment in biobased innovation backed by the Irish government and the European Union.
The facility, launched by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon, will provide open-access pilot-scale infrastructure for researchers, start-ups and established companies to test and scale biobased products and processes.
Applications include biomethane and other renewable energy outputs alongside food ingredients, bioplastics, natural pigments and green chemicals.
The launch also encompasses the BioScaleUp Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative, a €5 million programme co-funded through the EU Just Transition Fund, which will demonstrate six biobased technologies at the plant. The NBPP itself received €4.7 million through Enterprise Ireland's Regional Enterprise Development Fund.
Ireland holds substantial biomass resources, including an estimated 49 million tonnes of solid biomass feedstocks on a dry matter basis and around 58 billion cubic metres of liquid biobased feedstocks. The NBPP is designed to help unlock those resources by supporting innovators to move from laboratory scale towards commercial deployment.
Minister Heydon said the facility would take agricultural, food, forestry and other biobased side streams — often regarded as waste — and convert them into higher-value products across a range of sectors.
Project partners include University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork and BiOrbic, Ireland's national bioeconomy research centre. Industry partners include Tirlán, Medite Europe and Amu Green.
The launch forms part of Ireland's preparations to host the Global Bioeconomy Summit in Dublin on 20–21 October 2026, during Ireland's presidency of the EU Council.
Ireland opens €9.7m National Biorefinery Pilot Plant to scale biomass and biomethane innovation
