A visionary start-up
SUBLIME Energie is a deeptech startup with a technology that is unique in the world: biogas liquefaction, enabling efficient valorization of untapped biomass deposits. Biogas liquefaction is a complex process involving the cooling and compression of biogas at very low temperatures. By pooling biogas production from several farms, SUBLIME Energie reduces investment and operating costs, offering a new way of decarbonizing the agricultural and transport sectors.
A response to the challenges of methanization
Today, over 80% of biomass is owned by farmers, but the development of the methanization sector is hampered by problems of profitability and the location of production sites in relation to consumption sites. Injecting biomethane into gas networks is costly and requires high flow rates, thus excluding small farmers or those far from gas networks. SUBLIME Energie offers a third way of valorizing biogas, adapted to low flow rates, making these positive-impact units profitable.
Thanks to a technology that is unique in the world, SUBLIME Energie offers a solution that democratizes the profitable production of biogas on farms. This virtuous model enables the valorization of unexploited biomass, thus decarbonizing farms that are far from the grid or small in size.
Bruno Adhemar, President and co-founder
Innovative technology for farmers
SUBLIME Energie’s technology is based on an innovative process for liquefying biogas directly on the farm. The company has patented this unique process, bypassing the technical constraints associated with the crystallization of the mixture using a carrier agent that changes its physical characteristics. After a successful initial proof of concept in 2020, the company developed a demonstrator at CEEP to validate liquefaction on a representative flow rate and the separation of methane and CO2. The results are promising, confirming the technical viability of this process.
SUBLIME Énergie today raised €11.5 million from the Révolution Environnementale et Solidaire fund managed by Crédit Mutuel Impact and Mines Paris – PSL.
Environmental and economic impact
By capturing the methane from livestock manure – the result of mixing animal droppings with their bedding, producing a fairly dry effluent that can be handled and stored – SUBLIME Energie reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 85% compared with diesel, with a potential reduction of 270,000 tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030. What’s more, the captured bioCO2 is reused in various industries, contributing to a circular economy. Digestate, a biogas by-product made up of “digested” residues or waste from the methanization of organic waste, replaces fossil fertilizers, further reducing the carbon footprint of farms.
In March 2024, the company raised 11.5 million euros to install a first demonstrator in Plélo, Côtes d’Armor, capable of producing low-carbon fuel by 2025, and develop the first biogas collection network. The equipment will operate under conditions virtually similar to a commercial project, liquefying the biogas produced on site. Commissioning of the first commercial project, which will bring together around ten biogas plants around this innovation, is scheduled for 2025.
A virtuous, resilient model
SUBLIME Energie provides farmers with additional income while reducing the initial costs of methanization. This model also improves the attractiveness of farms for future generations and creates local jobs. The company’s collaborative approach makes it possible to pool equipment and minimize the workload for farmers, while making a significant contribution to the local energy transition.
To find out more: Deeptech at Mines Paris – PSL
Launched in 2019, the Deeptech Plan aims to make France a major player in disruptive innovation on an international scale by making high-tech companies a national priority with a major boost to the public funds dedicated to supporting them. Mines Paris – PSL is working towards this Plan by training experts in Deeptech entrepreneurship and innovation, and supporting its graduates in setting up their own companies.
As early as 2016, to respond to the specificities and current evolutions of the technological entrepreneurship ecosystem, Mines Paris – PSL made a commitment by creating the IHEIE research center (Institut des Hautes Etudes pour l’Innovation et l’Entrepreneuriat), a research, training and project platform dedicated to the challenges of innovation and impact entrepreneurship. This institute enabled the launch of the first Deeptech certification in France in October 2018 with the opening of the Mastère Spécialisé Entrepreneuriat Deeptech et Innovation, which graduated its first class of students in early 2020.
Following on from this, students in the Mastère Spécialisé Entrepreneuriat Deeptech et Innovation at Mines Paris – PSL created the Deeptech Forum in 2023. A unique event dedicated to the scientific, technological and economic challenges of the French Deeptech ecosystem, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, institutions, academics and students.
The 2024 edition will focus on the DeepTech Plan, endowed with 54 billion euros deployed over 5 years, as part of France 2030, and its three axes: Better production; Better living; Better understanding of the world.
Deeptech Forum 2024 “Making a success of the Deeptech Plan: issues and challenges”.
June 26, 2024
The event
