This piece was written by Marwan Badirou, who joined BiofuelAi for a four-month placement as part of his engineering degree at CESI, France. By the end of his placement, he had visited a client site with the CEO and CTO, and built templates and tools the team continue to use. Here’s his experience, in his own words.

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During my internship at BiofuelAi, I had the opportunity to discover the world of start-ups and learn more about anaerobic digestion. This experience was very interesting because I could use my scientific knowledge in a professional environment and develop new skills.

One of my main purposes was to create standard templates that could be used by the team. I created an integration template for new clients using PowerPoint. This template helps the team present the important information about the new client in a clear and structured manner. For example, their feedstock, the KPIs they track and the disposition of their digesters. I also created an Excel spreadsheet template to help the product development director integrate new client’s data into the BiofuelAi software. These tools allow the data from the client to be integrated more easily into the software.

During my placement, I also wanted to understand how an anaerobic digester works. I learnt about the different steps of the process and the important factors that can affect its performance. I was able to improve my scientific knowledge in line with what I have studied in process optimisation. Thanks to the new knowledge, I could present an introductory document on anaerobic digesters to the new [marketing] interns.

An important part of my experience was visiting a site for a potential new client with the CEO and the CTO of BiofuelAi.

This visit allowed me to see a real anaerobic digester and understand how the technology works. It was interesting to discover the challenges that companies can have with their installations. My vision of the anaerobic digester is more concrete.

This placement taught me many things. First, I learned how to work in a start-up, where teamwork and organisation are very important. Finally, I gained good scientific knowledge about anaerobic digesters.

Overall, my four months at BiofuelAi were a precious experience. They helped me to develop my professional skills, my scientific knowledge and my English level. They made me realise that the biogas sector and the AI sector are promising fields.

We were lucky to have Marwan for four months, and were especially impressed by his organised approach and willingness to get stuck in. At the end of his placement, he confidently presented his own poster to the team in English, a second language he had been steadily improving during his time with us.

We are always open to hearing from talented people like Marwan. Send your CV to hello@biofuelai.com with a brief outline of who you are and how you’d like to get involved.