CleanTech Innovation Showcase Presenting Company Recap: Washington Manufacturing CleanTech Accelerator
By Dana Sulas
CleanTech Alliance Contributor
Jan Allen and Srirup Kumar of Impact Bioenergy discussed the evolution of their startup business at the Washington Manufacturing CleanTech Accelerator. The CleanTech Accelerator hosts several companies along with Impact Bioenergy, including JIKO Power and Tape-It-Easy. The CleanTech Accelerator helps these innovative early-stage and mid-stage startup companies, especially those that target environmental solutions, by providing resources to bridge the gap between prototypes and commercialization.
The Washington Manufacturing CleanTech Accelerator is located in Auburn, Washington, at the Laser Cutting Northwest facility, which provides innovators with resources such as designers and robotic welding machines. As of May 2017, the center is expanding to include new buildings over two additional acres with spaces for manufacturing, offices, and classrooms.
Allen and Kumar went into more detail on Impact Bioenergy’s recent systems, which are portable digesters that convert food and liquid waste into energy and fertilizer. They currently have several systems set up throughout Washington. The HORSE model is set up at Fremont Brewing in Seattle, where the brewery converts its spent yeast into liquid fertilizer. A newer version of the system is set up in Bainbridge under a partnership with Puget Sound Energy and Harbour Public House restaurant. In addition, their most recent deployment was at a small family farm in Carnation while another is planned for a corporate campus in Redmond for later this summer. For 2018, Impact Bioenergy is developing a community scale system to be installed on Vashon Island.