New biorefinery plant in Munster presents 'new opportunities for rural and regional Ireland'

National Biorefinery Pilot Plant opened by agriculture minister Martin Heydon in Tipperary 

On Thursday, agriculture minister Martin Heydon was performing the official opening of the National Biorefinery Pilot Plant in Lisheen, Co Tipperary. The €4.7m plant is run by the Irish Bioeconomy Foundation and is designed to help researchers, start-ups, SMEs and industry partners test, validate and scale biobased products and processes.

The Government has announced €9.7m in funding for Ireland's National Biorefinery Pilot Plant and the Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative, which will look to scale up biobased technologies.

On Thursday, agriculture minister Martin Heydon was performing the official opening of the National Biorefinery Pilot Plant in Lisheen, Co Tipperary. The €4.7m plant is run by the Irish Bioeconomy Foundation and is designed to help researchers, start-ups, SMEs and industry partners test, validate and scale biobased products and processes.

The facility supports the conversion of renewable biological resources from agriculture, food, and forestry side streams into higher-value products including ingredients, bioactives, chemicals, materials and energy applications.

"This is about turning good ideas into real products, new value chains, and new opportunities for rural and regional Ireland," said Mr Heydon.  The €4.7m plant provides open-access pilot-scale infrastructure to help researchers, start-ups, SMEs and established companies test, validate, and scale biobased products and innovative processes, moving biobased innovation from laboratory scale towards commercial deployment.

Meanwhile, the BioScaleUp Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative, co-funded through the EU Just Transition Fund, will scale six innovative biobased technologies at the National Biorefinery Pilot Plant, showing how renewable biological resources, residues and side streams can be converted into higher-value products. 

The project's partners include UCC, Tipperary County Council, University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Technological University of the Shannon, University of Galway, University College Cork and BiOrbic, Ireland's National Bioeconomy Research Centre funded by Research Ireland, working in partnership with the Irish Bioeconomy Foundation and industry partners including Tirlán, Medite Europe, MyGug, and Amu Green.

The Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine said approximately 49m tonnes of solid biomass feedstocks and around 58bn cubic metres of liquid biobased feedstocks exist in Ireland's land, sea, and organic waste systems. Solid primary feedstocks were dominated by grass, livestock/milk-derived products, energy crops/plants, forestry, and tillage; solid secondary feedstocks were dominated by forestry residues, manure and straw. Liquid feedstocks were mainly from the dairy and drinks industries.

The launch on Thursday forms part of a wider programme of bioeconomy events in 2026. Ireland hosts the Global Bioeconomy Summit 2026 in the Convention Centre Dublin in October, as part of Ireland’s Presidency of the EU Council.