REVEIRE Project

A national research project to regenerate the Irish-grown wool industry through sustainability, innovation, and circular bioeconomy principles.

The project aims to transform wool from a low-value by-product into a high-value resource, creating environmental, social, and economic benefits.

The REVEIRE project is coordinated by University College Cork (UCC), with project partners including the Centre for Applied Bioscience Research (CABR) at Munster Technological University (MTU) and Technological University of the Shannon (TUS).

  • Project Title: Regenerative Value Systems for Irish Grown Wool in Ireland (REVEIRE)

  • Project Funding: This project is funded under the EPA Research Programme 2021-2030. The EPA Research Programme is a Government of Ireland initiative funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

  • Project Timeframe: 2025–2028

  • CABR Role in the Project:

    At CABR, REVEIRE will assess innovative, scalable wool-scouring methods, including ultrasound, enzymes and supercritical CO2, within a cascading biorefinery. It will optimise lanolin extraction and valorise wastewater via anaerobic digestion to produce renewable gas and biofertiliser. The work will support feasibility, business model development and socio-economic assessment for local Irish wool processing and is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency.

REVEIRE Project

About the REVEIRE Project

REVEIRE is a collaborative research project led by UCC (project coordinator – Dr Archishman Bose (UCC)), with project partners CABR (MTU and TUS), Ulster University (UU), Teagasc Athenry, and the Irish Grown Wool Council (IGWC).

The project responds to key challenges in the Irish-grown wool sector (such as low wool value and lack of local scouring capacity) by developing regenerative value systems that enable local processing, improve product value, and support evidence-based decision-making.

REVEIRE will provide evidence to inform policy, enable scalable and sustainable scouring and processing, and support the development of new applications for Irish-grown wool across sectors such as packaging, insulation, textiles, and more, as identified in the 2022 Wool Feasibility Study funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Project Aims & Objectives

  • Evaluate the environmental impact of Irish-grown wool, including biodiversity footprint and handprint 

  • Investigate the feasibility and business models for novel, scalable scouring within a cascading biorefinery to enable local scouring across the island of Ireland 

  • Evaluate the socio-economic benefits of processing Irish-grown wool in Ireland, creating value beyond the net-zero goal of doing no harm 

  • Perform Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), integrating environmental, social, and economic indicators to inform the overall sustainability of Irish-grown wool 

  • Inform policy, initiatives, and investments required to regenerate the Irish-grown wool industry 

CABR Role in the Project

At CABR, REVEIRE will assess innovative, scalable wool-scouring methods, including ultrasound, enzymes and supercritical CO2, within a cascading biorefinery. It will optimise lanolin extraction and valorise wastewater via anaerobic digestion to produce renewable gas and biofertiliser. The work will support feasibility, business model development and socio-economic assessment for local Irish wool processing and is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. 

CABR principal investigators involved in the project are Dr Helena McMahon (Circular Bioeconomy (CircBio) Research Group at CABR, MTU), Dr Tim Yeomans (CABR), Dr Yin Zhu (Circular Agriculture and Biotechnology (CircAB) Research Group at CABR, TUS), and Dr Catherine Collins (CircAB at CABR, TUS).  

Ms Ameera Butt (CABR, TUS) is working on the Regenerative Value Systems for Irish Grown Wool in Ireland (REVEIRE) project as part of her PhD studies. Her research is supervised by Dr Yin Zhu and Dr Catherine Collins at CABR, TUS, Dr Archishman Bose at University College Cork (Project Co-ordinator), and Dr Tim Yeomans at CABR (Work Package Leader). 

Principal Investigators

  • Dr Archishman Bose (UCC, MaREI) 
  • Dr Tim Yeomans (CABR) 
  • Dr Helena McMahon (MTU) 
  • Dr Tracy Bradfield (UCC, CUBS) 
  • Dr Richard O’Shea (UCC, MaREI) 
  • Prof Jerry Murphy (UCC, MaREI) 
  • Dr Bernadette Power (UCC, CUBS) 
  • Prof Valeria Andreoni (UCC, CUBS) 
  • Dr Deirdre Hennessy (UCC) 
  • Dr Yin Zhu (TUS) 
  • Dr Catherine Collins (TUS) 
  • Dr Alison Gault (Ulster University) 
  • Dr Tim Keady (Teagasc, Athenry) 
  • Ms Catherine Phibbs (IGWC) 

Contact Details

Project Lead:

Dr Archishman Bose 

Eli Lilly Lecturer, Process and Chemical Engineering 

School of Engineering and Architecture, University College Cork 

Affiliate PI, Environmental Research Institute 

MaREI Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine 

Email: archishman.bose@ucc.ie 

Project Co-Lead:

Dr Tim Yeomans

Centre Manager, CABR

Munster Technological University (MTU)
Email: tim.yeomans@mtu.ie

Project Co-Lead:

Dr Helena McMahon

Co-director, CircBio at CABR 

Munster Technological University (MTU)  

Email: Helena.McMahon@mtu.ie 

Partners

  • University College Cork (UCC)
  • Centre for Applied Bioscience Research (CABR) (Munster Technological University (MTU) / Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest (TUS))
  • Ulster University (UU)
  • Teagasc (Athenry)
  • Irish Grown Wool Council (IGWC)

Funding Acknowledgement

This project is funded under the EPA Research Programme 2021–2030. The EPA Research Programme is a Government of Ireland initiative funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.