NEWPOWER: Valorización integral de residuos agroforestales: Nuevas biorrefinerías multiproducto escalables

Principal Investigator of the project: María Jesús Rodríguez Yoldi

Contact: mjrodyol@unizar.es

Summary:

The main objective of NEWPOWER is to solve the problems associated with the high generation of agricultural and forestry waste, which is accumulating to an increasing extent due to the abandonment of the rural environment, and which causes a large number of fires.

NEWPOWER will create a network of collaboration between public and private organisations in the SUDOE area, seeking the sustainable management of this waste, developing new conversion processes, obtaining renewable energies and new products with high added value, which will imply socio-economic benefits and the creation of qualified jobs.

The innovative character of NEWPOWER is based on the use of agricutural and forestry waste in an integrated manner, reusing it instead of disposing of it. The production of high added-value ingredients will generate benefits for companies in the sector and lead to new lines of business.

The project aims to obtain attractive biofunctional products for use in the food, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and organic farming industries. To achieve the objective it will be necessary to establish a strong transnational cooperation, with each entity contributing its knowledge at different stages. Some will be involved in innovative and ecological processes of extraction of value-added products based on a multi-product biorefinery in a circular economy context, others focused on the characterisation and encapsulation of active compounds of interest, and others on the formulation of functional foods, nutraceuticals, smart packaging, natural phytosanitary products, biofuel production, bioplastics and platform chemicals.

Finally, a technical-economic and enviromental study of all the processes developed in NEWPOWER will be carried out to study their industrial viability. The civil society organisation involved will play a key role in raising awareness and disseminating the results. promoting sustainability, responsible consumption, healthy habits and diets the reduction of waste, in order to achieve the well-being of society as a whole.