4 Minutes with…Gerard Brandon, CEO, Cellulac

Tell us about your company and it’s role in the Advanced Bioeconomy.
Cellulac has combined a biochemical and fluid dynamic engineering platform that removes 7 MW of energy out of the production of Lactic Acid, PolyLactic Acid, and Ethyl Lactate.
Applications for use include:
(i) as a bio-degradable plastic ingredient;
(ii) food packaging industry; and,
(iii) organic solvents

Tell us about your role and what you are focused on in the next 12 months. 
The next 12 months involves the rolling out of the production after Cellulac entered into a 5 year agreement with Pharmafilter, a Netherlands provider of integrated waste management infrastructure for dealing with complex hospital waste, to provide it up to 3,000 metric tonnes of biodegradeable plastic per annum to produce hospital consumables.

My role also includes the integration of a recent acquisition, Aer-Sustainable Energy Limited, to provide accelerated enzyme-expression protocols, which will enhance our lignocellulose to sugar extraction process.

Already used with our SoniqueFlo cell disruption platform it has enabled our development team to accomplish a revolutionary ~wet extraction’ process for the extraction of oils, proteins and other value-added products from algae. A pilot scale SoniqueFlo rig, with the capability of processing up to 10 tonnes per hour, demonstrating a 10 fold reduction in enzyme consumption.

What do you feel are the most important milestones the industry must achieve in the next 5 years?
Over the last 10 years both the biofuel and biochemicals sector have seen advances, but also many failures, some not going beyond pilot scale. The biorefining industry requires extracting multiple finished products from multiple raw materials. This step is necessary to move the industry on to the next level, hopefully within the next 5 years.

If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about the Advanced Bioeconomy, what would you change?
For the daily reminders of the size of this or that market segment being worth $ billions of dollars over the next 5 years when the reality is that the advanced bioeconomy is fragmented and bears no relation to a glossy 200 page report.

Of all the reasons that influenced you to join the Advanced Bioeconomy industry, what single reason stands out for you as still being compelling and important to you?
That there is not enough time left to make a difference, so I can either sit on the fence reading about climate change, or do something about it.

Where are you from?
Born in UK. Grew up in Ireland and spent the last 20 years working across Europe.

What was your undergraduate major in college, and where did you attend? Why did you choose that school and that pathway?
Mechanical Engineering (three generations) background, Pharmaceutical, medical device into production in chemicals.

Who do you consider your mentors? What have you learned from them?
As an inspiration it would have to be Dr. Michael Smurfit who was the first CEO, Chairman of an Irish multi-national corporation. He built The Smurfit Group which eventually evolved to being Smurfit Kappa the largest paper and packaging company in the world starting off in a simple cardboard box assembly in Dublin, Ireland.

Learning from his life’s achievements is that if no one else is doing it, then it may as well be you.

Mentors can be young too. Elon Musk, just for the fact that he proves that reaching for the moon is just not far enough.

What’s the biggest lesson you ever learned during a period of adversity?
Building a team of great achievers is only as good as the weakest link. Sometimes the weakest link is outside of your control, or not even members of the team, so be careful who you hire as advisors.

What hobbies do you pursue, away from your work in the industry?
I tend to be quite nerdy, or obsessive compulsive, so focusing on work and the industry is a 24/7 occupation. However I used to write source code and would be quite proficient in languages that go way back to cobol and assembly as well as more current C#, C++, php and others.

What are 3 books you’d want to have with you, if you were stranded on a desert island.
A Life Worth Living – Michael Smurfit Autobiography
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
On The Shoulders Of Giants – Stephen Hawking

What books or articles (excluding The Digest) are on your reading list right now, or you just completed and really enjoyed?
A Life Worth Living (Michael Smurfit Autobiography)

What’s your favorite city or place to visit, for a holiday?
I travel a lot in my occupation, but I do like a driving holiday. Have done a 6 week tour of Europe starting in Dublin, Ireland, across Europe to Prague, Czech Republic, down to Italy, across Southern France ending on the island of Ibiza, Spain. Return trip was thru Andorra, France and UK. Next trip is tour of Italy.