Innovation for the valorisation of olive pomace
Faced with the urgent need to respond to a by-product with zero or negative commercial value, the initiative is conceived as an environment for experimentation, demonstration, and scalability of innovative processes, aimed at obtaining bio-products such as biofertilizers, biostimulants, bioactive compounds, or bioenergy.
The duration of the project is until June 2026.
Objectives
To promote a collaborative innovation project to design and plan a technological and knowledge space that allows agricultural cooperativism to explore and validate new valorisation routes for olive pomace and other agro-industrial by-products.
Participating cooperatives
Agrícola i Secció de Crèdit la Palma, Unió Origen, Cooperativa la Granadella, Agrícola i Secció de Crèdit Terra Alta, Fruits de Ponent d'Alcarràs i Secció de Crèdit, and l’Agrícola de Montbrió del Camp.
Project partners
In addition to the participating cooperatives, the Bioenergy Cluster of Catalonia and the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia act as project coordinators.
Expected results
- Analyze the resources available in the territory (olive pomace and other agro-industrial by-products) to identify their valorisation potential and complementarity in the generation of bio-products.
- Detect and prioritize innovative technologies with high potential for application in areas such as bioenergy, biofertilization, or the extraction of bioactive compounds, taking into account their technological readiness level (TRL) and viability.
- Design the technical requirements of a technological innovation space that allows the development of pilot tests and scalable pre-industrial studies.
- Study the economic viability of different innovation scenarios, including business models adapted to the cooperative reality and oriented towards generating new value streams.
- Define a collaborative and sustainable governance model.
Funding entities
This project receives funding within the framework of the Nuclear Transition Funds (Line 4 of aid for cooperative projects) from the 2025 call of ACCIÓ of the Generalitat de Catalunya.