Periodic Reporting for period 3 - AgriMax (Agri and food waste valorisation co-ops based on flexible multi-feedstocks biorefinery processing technologies for new high added value applications)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2019-04-01 al 2021-09-30
The unprecedented environmental and societal changes ongoing at global level are generating a number of challenges for assuring the sustainable development of mankind throughout the next decades. Around one third of all the food globally produced is wasted every year, generating 1.3 billion tonnes of residues per year. Food losses occur throughout the whole food value chain from farmers to consumers. The European Strategy for Bioeconomy features actions for ensuring food security, managing natural resources, reducing dependence on non-renewable resources, mitigating and adapting to climate change, creating jobs and maintaining European competitiveness.
Agrimax brings several benefits to the primary production including food loss reduction, natural resources preservation, fossil feedstock replacement, by-product valorisation and environmental impact reduction. Such outcomes have been proven at demonstration scale by the development of two multi-feedstock pilot biorefineries. These convert agricultural and food processing wastes (AFPW) into products that have been validated in operational environment. The two pilot biorefineries have been built in Italy and Spain upgrading and extending the functionalities of already available facilities at the hosting site. These are now used to manufacture the products that in the second half of the project have been validated in their final final applications. The performances of the final products have been validated and the overall environmental impact of the entire value chain has been successfully evaluated according to the LCA standard.
Building upon previous results, many case-scenarios were selected to disclose the potential of a number of new agro-value chains based on residues from tomato, cereal, olive and potato processing. The results of Agrimax leads to the optimum recovery of by-products into biorefineries as well as their use for coatings based on cutin, proteins for food applications, fibres for biocomposites, aromas, phenolic compounds, lycopene and minor carotenoids, advanced cellulose fibres, biopolymers produced by fungi for secondary packaging, building blocks for aromatic biopolymers and compost as well as hydrocompost. These products can be now applied in three markets:
1] Packaging (the project covers biobased solutions for flexible and rigid packaging, active and passive barrier materials, coatings for metal packaging, biocomposites and secondary packaging).
2] Food (additives, ingredients, coatings, microorganisms used in production, enhanced food products will be delivered).
3] Agriculture (bioplastics embedding fertilisers-based solutions for mulching films and pots as well as advanced waste derived biofertilisers with biostimulant and biocontrol properties will be delivered in a cascade approach).
Agrimax has elaborated as well new business models to maximize the impact of the project results. This activity has been performed in collaboration with stakeholders that are engaged also thanks to the development of a Joint Stakeholder Platform opening the pilot biorefineries to external entities.
Agrimax brings several benefits to the primary production including food loss reduction, natural resources preservation, fossil feedstock replacement, by-product valorisation and environmental impact reduction. Such outcomes have been proven at demonstration scale by the development of two multi-feedstock pilot biorefineries. These convert agricultural and food processing wastes (AFPW) into products that have been validated in operational environment. The two pilot biorefineries have been built in Italy and Spain upgrading and extending the functionalities of already available facilities at the hosting site. These are now used to manufacture the products that in the second half of the project have been validated in their final final applications. The performances of the final products have been validated and the overall environmental impact of the entire value chain has been successfully evaluated according to the LCA standard.
Building upon previous results, many case-scenarios were selected to disclose the potential of a number of new agro-value chains based on residues from tomato, cereal, olive and potato processing. The results of Agrimax leads to the optimum recovery of by-products into biorefineries as well as their use for coatings based on cutin, proteins for food applications, fibres for biocomposites, aromas, phenolic compounds, lycopene and minor carotenoids, advanced cellulose fibres, biopolymers produced by fungi for secondary packaging, building blocks for aromatic biopolymers and compost as well as hydrocompost. These products can be now applied in three markets:
1] Packaging (the project covers biobased solutions for flexible and rigid packaging, active and passive barrier materials, coatings for metal packaging, biocomposites and secondary packaging).
2] Food (additives, ingredients, coatings, microorganisms used in production, enhanced food products will be delivered).
3] Agriculture (bioplastics embedding fertilisers-based solutions for mulching films and pots as well as advanced waste derived biofertilisers with biostimulant and biocontrol properties will be delivered in a cascade approach).
Agrimax has elaborated as well new business models to maximize the impact of the project results. This activity has been performed in collaboration with stakeholders that are engaged also thanks to the development of a Joint Stakeholder Platform opening the pilot biorefineries to external entities.
During the first reporting period (ie until M18) the consortium focused its effort mainly in the design of the two pilot biorefineries. The first six months of the project have been used to set the framework for the coherent and effective development of the following activities. In first place the state-of-the-art about agriculture food residues conversion has been reviewed and the availability of raw material has been defined. Market benchmarks and applicable regulations have also been identified and taken in consideration for a successful implementation and market introduction of the project outcomes. From month 6 to month 18 the consortium developed the conceptual design of the pilot plants. Additionally aspects concerning the storability of the different feedstock materials as well as properties of the main products from both pilot plants were evaluated. A Joint Stakeholder Platform was put in place to engage a relevant number of stakeholders and open the biorefineries to potential local users.
During the second reporting period (ie M19-M30) the consortium focused its efforts on the construction and commissioning of the two biorefineries. By the end of the RP2 (M30, March 2019) the Italian Pilot Plant building was completed and the biorefinery was unofficially inaugurated by the project consortium and was ready to commence functional trials. The Spanish Pilot Plant was still under construction at M30 with the works estimated to be completed by M36 (September 2019). At the same time, the consortium started preparing for the optimization of the biorefinery processes and the valorization of their outputs. Finally, the consortium continued with the dissemination and communication activities with the development and release of several videos, launched the first version of the Joint Stakeholder Platform for internal testing within the consortium, and continued working towards a comprehensive exploitation strategy and the elaboration of new circular business models.
During the third reporting period, covering from M31 (01/04/2019) to M60 (30/09/2021) the consortium has focused its efforts mainly in the commissioning of the two pilot biorefineries and the performance of the functional trials to test the new technologies implemented. In parallel, data and information from the pilot trials have been used to continuously improve the valorization yield of by-products and waste streams, to evaluate the derived biocompounds use as food additives, food ingredients or edible coatings, to conduct the environmental LCA and Techno-Economical plants assessments, to define cooperative business models, and to achieve the rest of the Agrimax results. The above activities also allowed to partners working on valorization of pilot outputs and waste streams to receive information and samples regarding pilot outputs and waste streams and proceed with preliminary characterization and material processing activities, the results of which fed into their preparation for scaling up once the pilots operate at full capacity. Importantly, with the exact pilot capabilities and production dates/quantities known with a high degree of certainty, it was possible to create a detailed supply-demand plan where supply was determined by the pilot plants based on their capacities and feedstock availability (i.e. seasonality).
During the second reporting period (ie M19-M30) the consortium focused its efforts on the construction and commissioning of the two biorefineries. By the end of the RP2 (M30, March 2019) the Italian Pilot Plant building was completed and the biorefinery was unofficially inaugurated by the project consortium and was ready to commence functional trials. The Spanish Pilot Plant was still under construction at M30 with the works estimated to be completed by M36 (September 2019). At the same time, the consortium started preparing for the optimization of the biorefinery processes and the valorization of their outputs. Finally, the consortium continued with the dissemination and communication activities with the development and release of several videos, launched the first version of the Joint Stakeholder Platform for internal testing within the consortium, and continued working towards a comprehensive exploitation strategy and the elaboration of new circular business models.
During the third reporting period, covering from M31 (01/04/2019) to M60 (30/09/2021) the consortium has focused its efforts mainly in the commissioning of the two pilot biorefineries and the performance of the functional trials to test the new technologies implemented. In parallel, data and information from the pilot trials have been used to continuously improve the valorization yield of by-products and waste streams, to evaluate the derived biocompounds use as food additives, food ingredients or edible coatings, to conduct the environmental LCA and Techno-Economical plants assessments, to define cooperative business models, and to achieve the rest of the Agrimax results. The above activities also allowed to partners working on valorization of pilot outputs and waste streams to receive information and samples regarding pilot outputs and waste streams and proceed with preliminary characterization and material processing activities, the results of which fed into their preparation for scaling up once the pilots operate at full capacity. Importantly, with the exact pilot capabilities and production dates/quantities known with a high degree of certainty, it was possible to create a detailed supply-demand plan where supply was determined by the pilot plants based on their capacities and feedstock availability (i.e. seasonality).
To foster the transition toward a biobased economy in Europe, AgriMax is developing an innovative generation of flexible and multipurpose biorefineries in which a number of innovative conversion technologies are applied in a cascading approach to obtain several high added value bioproducts. Ultrasound Assisted Extraction, steam explosion, enzymatic treatment and filtration technologies are complement each other to source biocompounds in multiple ways: a) enhancing extraction yield and therefore cost effectiveness, b) providing the opportunity to use eco-friendly solvents (e.g. water) by improvement of their extraction performance, c) enhancing the extraction of heat sensitive components under conditions which would otherwise have low or unacceptable yields. AgriMax will also accelerate the market uptake of the biorefineries products developing a tailored business model and engaging relevant stakeholder by an online stakeholder platform to access the facilities and test the resulting products.