Winners of the Polish Product of the Future Competition announced

SKID – A Modular, Fully Automated Biorefinery

The project SKID – A Modular, Fully Automated Biorefinery for the Complete Valorisation of Spent Coffee Grounds in a Circular Economy Model, submitted by EcoBean Sp. z o.o. and the Warsaw University of Technology, received the Special Award of the President of the Polish Patent Office, as well as an honourable mention in the category Future Product Developed Jointly by a Higher Education and Research Institution and an Entrepreneur. EcoBean is a spin-off company of WUT, which supported the company in developing the technology.

The global coffee industry generates approximately 12 million tonnes of spent coffee grounds (SCG) every year. Currently, these constitute a problematic waste stream, with disposal costs ranging from EUR 60 to EUR 140 per tonne for producers. SKID is an innovative, modular and automated biorefinery that transforms spent coffee grounds into four valuable bio-based raw materials: coffee oil, an antioxidant-rich extract, sugars and lignin. Installed directly at coffee processing facilities, it enables the recovery of almost 100% of the biomass, turning a costly waste product into a source of revenue. The technology can be adapted to different types of coffee grounds, production scales and the requirements of customers in the cosmetics, food and chemical industries.

The breakthrough nature of the SKID biorefinery lies in its cascading chemical process, which makes it possible to recover several different raw material fractions from the same spent coffee grounds within a single technological production line. Unlike competing solutions that recover only individual components, SKID enables the utilisation of almost 100% of the biomass, minimising waste. Its modular architecture, designed to operate directly at production facilities, represents a global innovation. This eliminates the need to transport heavy, wet and mould-prone coffee grounds to centralised processing plants, reducing logistics costs and CO₂ emissions.

CO₂ Capture and Utilisation System

The Special Award for a product in the eco-innovation category went to the project CO₂ Capture and Utilisation System Based on a Hybrid of a Solid Oxide Electrolyser (SOE) and a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC), submitted by Fuel Cell Poland Sp. z o.o., a spin-off company of the Warsaw University of Technology.

The solution enables CO₂ to be captured from industrial flue gases and prepared for use in synthetic methane production. It combines two high-temperature electrochemical modules: an MCFC fuel cell, which separates and concentrates CO₂ while simultaneously generating electricity, and an SOE electrolyser, which produces hydrogen from water vapour. The resulting gases are then supplied to a methanation process. Integrating the two modules allows heat to be used efficiently and reduces the system's demand for external energy. A 50 kW prototype was tested using actual flue gases from a coal-fired boiler, achieving a CO₂ capture rate of approximately 5.4 kg per hour.

The innovation lies in combining CO₂ capture and utilisation with hydrogen production, making synthetic methane generation possible. The system is intended for applications in power plants, cement factories, steelworks, chemical plants and power-to-gas installations. The technology has reached TRL 6. An integrated prototype was commissioned in 2022 at the Łaziska Power Plant as part of the TENNESSEE project. The solution is not yet commercially available and is undergoing further development aimed at improving its durability and efficiency and enabling deployment on a larger scale.

The full list of competition winners is available on the website.