Projects

Circular Economy

Circular Economy

In the Planet O-live Academy, the research group led by Prof. Servili of the University of Perugia has the role of helping to rewrite the value chain of processing at the olive mill and give new life to what are currently "production waste," such as vegetation waters, which although considered a by-product are extremely rich in polyphenols.

These virtuous and cutting-edge practices will then be disseminated in the Confagricoltura and Assoprol networks and will form the "Sustainable olive growing Manifesto."

Goal

To valorize the by-products of the mechanical extraction of virgin olive oils (virgin olive pomace, vegetation waters and leaves), which actually contain up to 98% of the bioactive phenolic compounds of the olive fruit, by studying their possible uses and consequent ways of valorization, in order to reduce waste and the resulting environmental impact and find new commercial outlets in other production sectors.

The Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences of the University of Perugia

The Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences of the University of Perugia is, together with the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies - Pisa, a key component of our Planet O-live Academy. Its research team, led by Prof. Servili, is providing the entire supply chain with all the experience and expertise to move together in the direction of environmentally but also economically sustainable olive growing.

In particular, it shares with us the need for a circular economy in which the practice of recovering so-called "waste" products is carried out not only to reduce waste and their environmental impact, but also to bring to light possible different uses for them and study ways of valorizing them. We refer, as mentioned above, to the valorization of by-products of the mechanical extraction of virgin olive oils.

The project with UniPG started from the process of recovering and partially purifying bioactive phenolic compounds contained in vegetation water into industrially usable forms.

Specifically, the study will highlight:

  1. l’The optimization of extraction and partial purification processes of phenolic compounds in terms of applied technologies and potential economic value of the product;
  2. the possible applications in food and cosmetics, from a circular economy perspective.

Next steps

Expand experimentation from the lab scale phase to the pilot scale phase.

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