Goals

Develop an innovative process that enables the full exploitation of high value constituents present in the olive, integrating them into original products that are both healthier and "green". The proposed innovative process is very different from the current approaches adopted by the olive oil production industry, as well as the existing waste recovery alternatives. It advocates a "zero waste" approach, in which all the resulting products have commercial value.

The main objectives of the project are: to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of the process and its environmental study; Ensure the absorption of technology and new products by the market, these products being nutritionally, functionally and toxicologically characterized in order to avoid market barriers; Design of the ideal process and its transition from a laboratory pilot scale to a pre-industrial application; Validation in an operational environment; Calculate the financial return from the concrete application of technology and the developed process (patents) to scalable markets; Replication at different scales and countries, starting with the main olive oil producers in the countries represented in the consortium (Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece).

This project is funded by the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program of the European Union in the context of Grant Agreement No. 635597.

The consortium is composed of:

- Contactica S.L. (Spain);

- Isanatur Spain S.L. (Spain);

- Engineering for the Technological Development, S.L (Spain);

- University of Zaragoza (Spain);

- Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain);

- Prometeo SRL (Spain);

- Alma Mater Studiorum-Universita di Bologna (Italy);

- CVR - Center for the Valorization of Waste (Portugal);

- Evangelos Mihopoulos & SIA O.E. (Greece).