Vuala X1 bio-bin is proving its value in pilot at the Bradfield Centre
The Vuala X1 bio-bin has started a testing programme for 11 sites in Cambridge and London, beginning with the Bradfield Centre on Cambridge Science Park.
Vuala, a 2022 Trinity Bradfield Prize-winner led by Abiel Ma and Anthony Ma, was founded in 2021.
The father-and-son team – Anthony is the CTO and Abiel is the CEO – have developed the one-stop automatic food waste separation technology to make food collection and recycling accessible to organisations and businesses of whatever size.
“We’re producing more X1s for 11 other trials, but this is the first installation,” said Abiel at The Bradfield Centre.
Food waste is placed into the X1 where it is targeted by six micro-organisms mixed with water. The bio-mechanical system’s specialised mechanical design then automatically separates the food from other wastes, turning them into raw material within hours onsite.
The X1 is auto-fed, so no mess, and the slurry tank it produces has three possible uses. One is the production of hydrogen, the second is to produce biogas for energy use, and the third is animal feed for pigs or fish. Minimal training is needed to operate the X1.
The food waste output can be stored for a month without smell, significantly delaying collection frequency.
Vuala has a team of five in Hayes, Middlesex, which is making the first 100 units. The company – ‘highly commended’ for the Cleantech Company of the Year award at the 2023 Cambridge IndependentScience & Technology Awards – was one of the stars of the 2022 Trinity Bradfield Prize, with Abiel the winner of the Hellings’ Prize. Vuala is currently participating in the Accelerate Cambridge programme.
Once the trial at the Bradfield has been completed, the pilot X1 will be deployed to councils including Hounslow and Tower Hamlets, plus the Millennium Hotels & Resorts group.
“They have 170 hotels globally, including 20 in England,” notes Abiel. “We are running tests in five of them.”
Organisations already contributing financially to the project include Homerton Changemakers, Innovate UK (“£13k or £14k”), HSBC, the Greater London Authority “(£20k plus an office”), Octopus Ventures, Bloomberg (“our IP lawyer”), the Combined Authority’s Growth Works (“£20k”), plus a grant from Imperial, and “the last batch from the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund)”.
“Our aim,” continues Abiel, “is to leverage the success of this pilot trial and complete our first commercial installation at the Bradfield Centre. We’ll then kickstart our commercial launch and start taking orders for the Vuala X1.
“We’re also fundraising for £500k, with angel investors already involved – half is already committed. We aim to close the round in the next three months.”
Vuala’s mission is to reduce 100 million tonnes of CO2 in 10 years.
“We are thrilled to be working with Vuala, especially as they were one of the Trinity Bradfield Prize finalists,” said the Bradfield Centre’s general manager, Mark Watson. “From that very evening we wanted to work with them. Having worked in the hospitality sector for over 20 years food waste has been a huge problem and disposing of it in a sustainable way has always been a challenge.
“The results during the pilot have been incredible – 97 per cent of our food waste has been broken down to slurry to produce feed for pigs and fish, bio gas or hydrogen.
“We are currently in discussions to continue our relationship with Vuala to be their first commercial site later in the year.”
