Descripción del proyecto
Protección de las explotaciones agrarias contra la sequía
El clima afecta a la agricultura. Debido al cambio climático, un número creciente de lugares son cada vez más secos y tienden a sufrir más sequías. El objetivo urgente del sector agrícola es proteger los recursos naturales y reducir el consumo de agua mediante el aumento de su productividad. En este contexto, el proyecto financiado con fondos europeos Polygreen respaldará un estudio de viabilidad de PolyGreen, un polímero superabsorbente diseñado, para reducir el consumo de agua en la agricultura, que no contiene la cancerígena acrilamida y es biodegradable. Dicho polímero puede absorber un exceso de agua de hasta 200 veces su peso para liberarla durante el período seco, lo cual genera una reducción del 50 % del consumo de agua. La validación y el lanzamiento de PolyGreen permitirá que las agroindustrias consigan sostenibilidad a escala industrial.
Objetivo
PolyGreen is a Superabsorbent Polymer (SAP) specifically designed to reduce water consumption in agriculture, being able to absorb excess water provided by rain or irrigation up to 200 times its weight and slowly release it during dry period, allowing to reduce the need of water by 50%. PolyGreen is the only SAP for agriculture that does not contain acrylamide, which is a carcinogenic material (Group B2 Probable Human Carcinogen) and will be soon banned from agriculture applications; it is completely biodegradable and behaves as an excellent soil improvers; it has a double durability and reduced price with respect to competitors. PolyGreen is a certified technology validated in the field but currently only targeting domestic or high-end applications, due the high price of 8 €/kg and handicraft production. The aim of the initiative is to optimize the production, reach a price of 3€/kg, validate and launch the product on large scale and high-water demanding industrial crops. To this aim NEST needs to: 1) optimize the supply chain and the manufacturing process; 2) validate and certify the application in specific industrial crops and validating the product price; 3) implement a first industrial manufacturing line of 1750 tons/year then scaled up of 5 times; 4) close agreements with investors and technological partners to support the investment. These assumptions will be validated and confirmed during the feasibility study.
SAP market in agriculture applications is estimated to reach a global value of 327.4 million USD by 2023, of which 30% represented by EU market considered as the Total Addressable Market (TAM) equal to 98 million €/year by 2023. PolyGreen targets to enter the mass market of industrial crops market (1 or 2 crops) in 2021 with a production capacity of 1750 tons then expanded to 10.000 tons, reaching the break-even of the 6.8 M€ investment in 2024. The turnover will reach 30 MEuro, EBIT 6.7 M€ and a cumulated cash flow of 7 M€ in 2025.
Ámbito científico
Not validated
Not validated
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineering
- engineering and technologycivil engineeringwater engineeringirrigation
- natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciences
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulture
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagricultureindustrial crops
Programa(s)
Convocatoria de propuestas
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoriaConvocatoria de subcontratación
H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1
Régimen de financiación
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinador
57123 LIVORNO (LI)
Italia
Organización definida por ella misma como pequeña y mediana empresa (pyme) en el momento de la firma del acuerdo de subvención.