Case Studies

Built around an innovative small-scale gasification technology developed in a Belgium university, Xylowatt has been a progressive force in the renewable energy sector for over 10 years.

For decades, the industry had been trying to leverage biomass as a sustainable and renewable decentralized source of energy. Despite the great theoretical potential of transforming biomass into a gas suited for industrial applications, gasification efforts kept producing an unusable gas filled with tar.

After promising developments showed the potential for a tar-free gas, Xylowatt secured funding from venture capitalists and institutional investors to create what has now become an industry standard. This advancement has attracted major industrial partners including Air Liquide, Saint Gobain, Caterpillar, GDF Suez and others — all interested in adding biomass gasification to their renewable energy portfolio.

While the technology that Xylowatt developed was clearly ahead of the curve in performance, its current turnkey-solutions business model was not compelling enough to generate business growth. But despite this lack of success, Xylowatt’s technology was attracting the interest of major industrial players.

Furthermore, the positioning of Xylowatt as a renewable energy one-stop-shop did not seem overly attractive — especially in light of high investment costs and the relatively lower cost of the natural-gas alternative. As a result, Xylowatt was not able to fill its pipeline with promising leads and could not deliver on the level of sales promised to its investors.