With the start of the new olive growing season, the inaugural meeting of the stakeholders of the project "Integrated Energy and Environmental Utilization of Olive Oil By-products - OLIVENERGY" took place on Friday 25/10/2019 in Patras. The project was launched in April 2019, is implemented under the Action "Supporting research, development and innovation projects in priority areas of RIS3" and is co-funded by the European Union and national resources through the Operational Programme Western Greece 2014-2020 (project code: MIS 5045458).
Mill effluent is the by-product of the olive oil production process. This agricultural activity is of particular social and economic importance for the Region of Western Greece. Huge quantities of waste are produced every olive-growing season and, combined with their characteristics, make mill effluents an intractable problem as they are dangerous to dispose of directly into the environment. In OLIVENERGY, it is proposed to develop a high-speed anaerobic digestion system of olive oil production by-products towards the production of biofuels to partially cover the energy needs of the mill or mill where the plant will be installed. The project will also study physico-chemical methods for the removal of solids from both the raw material and the effluent of the anaerobic plant. The solids will be used together with other agricultural waste to produce compost.
The project is implemented by Green Technologies Ltd, a company based in Patras (www.green-technologies.gr), and the University of Patras, Department of Chemical Engineering, Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, based in Patras (www.lbeet.gr). The meeting was attended by representatives from both institutions and more specifically. Michael Kornaros (Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering), Dr. Panagiota Tsafrakidou (Researcher, Department of Chemical Engineering) and members of the Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering and Environmental Technology.
The project coordinator is Green Technologies Ltd.
