Project description
Support to make mines and farms sustainable
The EU is committed to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. One solution is to remove metals from industrial minerals in an ecological and efficient way and give industrial waste a second life. Another issue is the excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides in agriculture. These are harmful to humans and cause soil degradation and weak plants. The aim of the EU-funded BioRevolution project is to address both issues to promote a circular economy to save resources. To this end, BioRevolution will support Slovakia-based EKOLIVE to design and provide innovative biotechnology needed to make mining and farming more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Objective
ekolive is the first and leading provider of a new ecological bioleaching method (InnoBioTech®) for the ecological release of elements and the degradation of organic materials. This innovative technology replaces hazardous mining and processing methods, removes metals from industrial minerals in an ecological and economical way, and gives various industrial wastes a second life. At the same time, ekolive thus eliminates environmental hazards and cleans contaminated sites. In addition, the process creates a biofertilizer from the liquid residue that can completely replace hazardous pesticides, positively influences the taste of crops, and increases plant growth and yield by up to 100% and the dry mass of plants by up to 400% – for safe and healthy food production and sustainable agriculture.
ekolive faces two challenges:
The raw material challenge: The world-leading processing industry in the EU contributes to the transition towards a resource-efficient, sustainable society in line with the EU 2030 Agenda. For this, a sustainable supply of suitable raw materials is essential. However, despite enormous under- or untapped potentials of domestic primary and secondary resources, Europe is heavily dependent on imports – simply because there is a lack of suitable economic and ecological technologies to tap them.
The challenges for a transition to sustainable agriculture – namely the reduction of the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These are not only dangerous to humans in many ways, but are also the cause of soil degradation, killed soil microflora, unhealthy and weak plants, contaminated food and drinking water.
To answer these challenges, to promote the circular economy and to save resources, innovative, economically viable and environmentally friendly techniques are required. ekolive is the first to offer a corresponding biotechnology that can be used to make both mining and agriculture more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processesdrinking water treatment processes
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturesustainable agriculture
- engineering and technologyenvironmental biotechnologybioremediationbioleaching
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.3.2 - European innovation ecosystems Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-AG-LS - HORIZON Lump Sum GrantCoordinator
040 13 Kosice
Slovakia
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.