The AgriMax project launches online service to connect waste producers and biorefineries
Type of post: NEWS.
The project Agrimax
has launched a new online service which enables crop producers, food processers
and agricultural cooperatives to sell their waste as feedstock for two pilot biorefineries:
one in Spain and one in Italy.
Press release: “New online platform connects crops
and food producers to biorefineries”, 3/3/2020.
Related post: “AgriMax
project – Harnessing the wastes of the European agro-food industry”,
14/11/2016.
Online service registration: http://agromax.iris.cat/#/login.
Figure 1. Interface of the new
online service
In Europe, around 90 million tons of food and
700 million tons of crop are wasted every year. To tackle this growing problem,
the EU-funded Agrimax project has designed and built two flexible,
multi-feedstock biorefineries that convert residues and by-products from
farming and food processing into high-value products which can be used in the
food, packaging, chemical and agricultural sectors.
Pilot
biorefinery 1
|
Pilot
biorefinery 2
|
|
Location
|
Family-run
farm Chiesa (North of Italy).
|
Fruit
producers Indulleida (Southern Spain).
|
Feedstocks
|
Waste
from tomatoes and cereals.
|
Olive and
potato waste.
|
Products
|
Lycopene,
ferulic acid, cutin, hydrocompost and compost.
|
Polyphenols,
fibres, protein and aroma recovery.
|
The new, user-friendly platform will help
ensure that the biorefineries are provided with sufficient waste feedstocks
from local suppliers throughout the year. This will address any seasonal and
regional fluctuations in supply, as well as maximise efficiency and
profitability. It also enables potential end users to order samples of the
biorefinery products for testing.
The online tool was developed by the Spanish
engineering company IRIS. Georgios Chalkias of IRIS explains: “The platform is
a great opportunity to link key stakeholders from across the whole supply
chain. It gives producers an alternative to landfill and animal feed for their
waste and allows end users in the food, packaging, chemical and agricultural
sectors to order high-value compounds to use in a range of biobased products”.