R & D / SEVERAL RESEARCH GROUPS

Year: 2021 – 2023

NEEDS OR PROBLEM SOLVED BY THE PROJECT

Given the enormous amount of waste generated in the majority of agricultural processes, it is clear that any high added-value solution for the revalorisation of this type of waste that can be offered to companies within the sector will have a highly positive impact on their profit and loss account. The sustainable extraction of compounds of interest from these waste materials for use in agri-food networks and in the manufacture of new materials for other target sectors such as packaging, biotechnology, textiles, cosmetics, construction and the automotive sectors, among others, will enable companies to embrace the concept of Circular Economy and Environmental Sustainability.

AIMS OF THE PROJECT

The CERVERA AGROMATTER Group comprises five complementary Technology Centres in the fields of agriculture, biotechnology and materials science. Its aims are to establish a network of Technology Centres of scientific and technical excellence in the field of the Circular Economy applied to the development of bio-based materials for technical applications, to gain recognition as R&D centres of reference both nationally and internationally, to bring about growth in R&D projects and technology transfer to the business sector.

The cluster will focus its current and future technological capabilities on the study of agricultural waste and by-products revalorisation in the development of new materials with low environmental impact, easy recyclability and a perfectly defined life cycle for the initially foreseen target applications. The ultimate goal of the CERVERA AGROMATTER Group is the revitalisation of the industrial sectors represented by the technology centres involved through the transfer of technology and technical knowledge, while promoting new business opportunities related to these technologies within the framework of the Initiative.

EXPECTED RESULTS

The consolidation of this Technology Centre Cluster will strengthen technological and research capacities. To this end, the Cluster sets out a series of challenges or objectives to be achieved collectively between 2021-2023. These challenges are set out below based on the particular needs existing in the different stages of the value chain associated with this CERVERA Technology.

• STAGE 1 OF THE AGROMATTER TECHNOLOGY VALUE CHAIN

EXTRACTION, SYNTHESIS AND TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURAL WASTE INTO HIGH ADDED-VALUE BIOMATERIALS.

• • • CHALLENGE 1. Optimisation of sustainable extractive processes of compounds of interest for the development of biodegradable materials with lower environmental impact from agro-food by-products.
    • CHALLENGE 2. Scaling up of extractive processes to industrial level, as a solution to the current waste management in the agri-food industry.
    • CHALLENGE 3. Development of an efficient logistics system which is specific for different types of agricultural waste depending on to its chemical nature, stability, presentation format and the final application foreseen for the waste in question.
    • CHALLENGE 4. Optimisation of the process of obtaining AGROMATTER® textile fibre.
    • CHALLENGE 5. Optimisation of the transformation processes of monomers and other biocomposites to obtain bioplastics with use in fibre melt spinning, cast extrusion and blown film extrusion and injection moulding/thermoforming of containers.

• STAGE 2 OF THE AGROMATTER TECHNOLOGY VALUE CHAIN:

DEVELOPMENT OF AGROMATTER SOLUTIONS FOR TARGET MARKETS.

• • • CHALLENGE 6. Optimisation of the AGROMATTER textile fibre application process in the development of materials such as paper, textile, composite.
    • CHALLENGE 7. Improving the fire performance of bio-based materials derived from the revaluation of organic vegetable matter.
    • CHALLENGE 8. Optimisation of the manufacturing process of bio-based or reinforced plastic materials with first or second-generation agricultural waste with applications in the automotive, packaging and food industry.
    • CHALLENGE 9. Optimisation of the implementation process of active ingredients with functional characteristics in the functionalisation of AGROMATTER materials.

PARTICIPANTS

The five Technology Centres that make up the CERVERA AGROMATTER Group are:

This project is funded by the CDTI (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial), through the Ministry of Science and Innovation, within the framework of aid for Technological Centres of Excellence “Cervera”. CER-20211013

Additional Information

• Year: 2021 – 2023

• Status: In progress

• Entity: CDTI

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