Surrey AI spinout wins £1m Manchester Prize for biogas tech

TL;DR:

  • BiofuelAi, a University of Surrey spinout, has won the government’s £1m Manchester Prize for AI that optimises biogas plants.
  • Its platform builds a digital twin of anaerobic digestion sites; pilots showed revenue up 6–10% and carbon emissions down 28%.
  • The award highlights AI’s growing role in the UK’s energy transition.

A Guildford startup has won the UK government’s £1m Manchester Prize for AI software that helps biogas plants run more efficiently. BiofuelAi, a University of Surrey spinout based at the Surrey Technology Centre, took the award for a decision-support platform that helps anaerobic digestion operators boost energy output while cutting costs and emissions.

Digital twins for a low-data industry

The platform creates a digital twin of a biogas plant, combining mechanistic modelling, machine learning and hybrid AI to give operators real-time insight into the biological processes inside digesters. In pilot trials, sites saw revenue rise 6–10%, profit improve 7–13% and carbon emissions fall 28%. “The biogas industry is one of the least data-driven sectors in energy,” said chief executive Alan Beesley, noting plants are still “largely managed through spreadsheets and operator experience”.

Run by DSIT and delivered by Challenge Works, the Manchester Prize rewards UK-led AI with public benefit. Science Minister Lord Vallance framed the win as “British AI leadership in practice … not AI as an abstract idea, but something that delivers results”. The company, which has drawn more than £1.5m in research funding, is onboarding three further sites and projects its technology could generate over £500m in client value over five years and mitigate around 293,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions a year by 2030.

Looking forward

The award signals where UK industrial policy wants AI to land — applied to hard, unglamorous problems with measurable returns. As ministers tie energy security to squeezing more from domestic resources, optimising existing infrastructure such as biogas plants offers a route to renewable capacity without major new build, if the results hold beyond pilots.

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