Galway start-up leads the way in greenhouse gas-busting agriculture additives

• Author: Olive Keogh
• Published date: 23 March 2023
• Publication title: Irish Times: Web Edition Articles (Dublin, Ireland)

"The technology underpinning our products is called TMI (temporal methane inhibition) and it prevents microbial production or, in layman's terms, stops the cows from burping," says microbiologist Dr Ruairi Friel, who cofounded GlasPort Bio in 2018 with Prof Vincent O'Flaherty from the University of Galway and agtech veteran Killian O'Briain

"It has been extremely effective in the lab, allowing us to reduce methane emissions and nitrous oxide emissions by 95 per cent. Preventing methane from entering the atmosphere will have a rapid and immediate impact on reducing the effects of climate change. At the moment there is no low or no-emitting way to do this and that's the problem we set out to address."

It took roughly four years for the company to develop its two launch products, GasAbate and RumenGlas, which are chemical additives for stored slurry and animal feed respectively. GasAbate has recently received regulatory approval for sale in Europe and is about to become commercially available. RumenGlas, which has still to complete the regulatory process, will be on the market by 2025. The manufacturing of both products is outsourced in Ireland.

It has been extremely effective in the lab, allowing us to reduce methane emissions and nitrous oxide emissions by 95 per cent.

GlasPort Bio chief executive Dr Ruairi Friel

While GasAbate and RumenGlas tick the emissions reducing boxes, Friel points out that they also have other benefits for farmers and large corporate customers (such as big food companies) that need to manage their sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions.

"It's estimated that between 2-12 per cent of the energy content of feed is lost via the burping of methane. This represents a major economic loss to the farmer," he says. "Animals fed RumenGlas get more energy from their feed and put on weight faster, which is a significant plus for farmers finishing cattle.

"The knock-on benefits from GasAbate are increased nutrients being retained in the...