Project description
Smart biorefinery for high-value bioactive compounds
The residual biomass produced in Europe is used for either compost and animal feed or safely disposed of. It is rich in several bioactive compounds that are beneficial for human health and well-being. However, the lack of technology for extracting and preserving the bioactive compounds prevents its use for high-value applications. Polyphenols, for instance, are not exploited sufficiently. The EU-funded PHENOLEXA project will develop a cascade smart biorefinery to procure high-value bioactive compounds and unlock the potential of polyphenol-rich agri-side streams (olive, grape shoots and leaves, chicory and onion residues). The project combines pretreatment of the biomass with benign environmentally friendly green solvent extraction technology. PHENOLEXA will demonstrate the technology and validate the biorefinery’s techno-economic feasibility and environmental sustainability.
Objective
According to Eurostat, the agricultural sector is by far the biggest producer of the residual biomass in Europe, annually generating ca. 400 million tonnes (Mt) of dry agricultural waste. This residual biomass is usually either utilized for low value applications (compost or animal feed) or have to be deactivated to be safely disposed. On the other side, this residual biomass is highly rich in various bioactive compounds (oils, fatty acids, polyphenols, proteins) which could be used to improve the human health and wellbeing but usually lost for high-value applications due to the lack of comprehensive technology to effectively extract and preserve the bioactives. Among the natural bio-based compounds, polyphenols is the biggest class of bioactives with a range of beneficial properties for human health which have not be utilized for their full potential. PHENOLEXA project proposes to unlock the potential of polyphenols-rich agri-side streams (olive, grape shoots and leaves, chicory and onion residues) to procure bioactive compounds of high value via the development of cascade smart biorefinery which combines pretreatment of the biomass with benign environmentally friendly green solvents extraction technology. PHENOLEXA will focus on the processing of several types of agri and biowaste to create a pool of new functional polyphenolic bioactives with the tuned functionality (anticancer, antiviral, anti-oxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory) whereas the remaining fibres and colorants will be utilised in functional foods. PHENOLEXA will demonstrate the technology of the bioactive ingredients procurement at TRL4/5 and will create lab scale prototypes of cosmetic, nutraceutical, pharma and functional food products with their proved efficacy by the end of the project. PHENOLEXA will also validate the techno-economic feasibility and environmental sustainability of the proposed biorefinery.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcolors
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculeslipids
- engineering and technologyenvironmental biotechnologybioremediationcompost
- agricultural sciencesagricultural biotechnologybiomass
- agricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandryanimal feed
Keywords
Programme(s)
- H2020-EU.3.2. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy Main Programme
- H2020-EU.2.1.4. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Biotechnology
- H2020-EU.3.2.6. - Bio-based Industries Joint Technology Initiative (BBI-JTI)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
51010 Tartu
Estonia
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.