SUMO

Sustainable use of biomass from oleaginous processing

The aim of the SUMO project, Sustainable Use of bioMass from Oleaginous processing, is to develop different but complementary valorisation routes for the sustainable use of the main oily seeds processing byproducts. The project will assess and develop new options of valorisation of oil sector lignocellulosic byproducts at current biomass processing and consumption sites in the EU and CELAC participating production Regions, characterizing and evaluating the potential uses of biobased residues attending to the differences in the available volumes, infrastructures and market for the products of the proposed valorisation routes.

To achieve these objectives, the consortium will make an inventory and diagnostic of the waste generated by the oilseed processing. The project will develop solutions following the bio-refinery concept giving priority to the more valuable options. Different products will be obtained from a same waste stream: the by-products from oily seeds processing (olive and rape seed). Polyphenols and edible oils will be obtained for human consumption, animal feed and cosmetic applications. The other fractions will be used in biogas production, as materials for combustion and energy production and the left over material will be used for composting or as fertilizer. The proposed solutions will aim to use the energy recovered by themselves and other energy and material complementary sources existing in the nearby. The solutions proposed will be enough flexible and easily scalable to adapt to the by-product generation in the processing plants in each studied Region (6 case studies). The outputs to be produced will depend on the available volumes and the potential market.

Carlos Bald

Project Manager

Objectives

• Conduct an analysis of the current situation of the management of by-products generated by the sectors producing olive oil and rapeseed oil.
• Develop different processes for the recovery of these by leveraging the knowledge and technical skills of the different members of the consortium, from extraction technologies for obtaining valuable compounds for food and cosmetic applications to the production of energy and fertilizers with the resulting fractions.
•  Analyze the possible ways to integrate these technological alternatives in the most efficient way in each of the geographical areas involved in the study.
•  Analyze the technical, economic, legal and environmental feasibility aspects of each of the proposed alternatives.
•  Define the conditions for the implementation of these up-grading alternatives and their possibilities for extrapolation to other regions.
•  To disseminate the project results to sectors and stakeholders in each of the countries and regions participating in the study.

Expected results:

•  The reduction of the environmental impact generated by the Oleaginous Processing sector.
•  An improvement of the competitiveness of the sector through the diversification of their activities and management costs reduction.
•  The promotion of new economic activities by the obtaining of products with application in agronomic, cosmetic, food and feed sectors.
•  The fulfilment and implementation of the environmental regulations in waste management and renewable energies in each participant country.
•  The development of new ad hoc solutions based in the effective and sustainable combination of several valorisation technologies that will be assayed by different partners.

Project Data