Agrofood Biomass Comprehensive Valorization (APRIBA)

Food industry in Europe produces about 230 million t/year of waste and by-products. APRIBA is designed to develop processes and methodologies focused on the transformation of by-products and wastes from various sources into added value products. We contribute to the development of a low carbon economy using a cascade approach. Commercial products such as polyunsaturated fatty acids, glycogen or biogas, and new compounds that can be used as antimicrobials, fuel additives, eutectic solvents, polymers and in thermal energy storage materials will be prepared using various components of the biomass. Biotechnology will be one of the crosscutting technologies used in the project. The hydrolysis of proteins and chitin will be performed using biocatalysts, which will lead to peptides and amino sugars. Biocatalysts will also be used to separate fatty acids with different degrees of saturation, to prepare pure glycogen and to synthesize sugar esters. The economic feasibility of the new proposed approaches will also be studied in the framework of the project. The project is committed to being an actor in the Bioeconomy, which aims to carry out a sustainable development through: a)Adding value to wastes from the agro-food industry b)The contribution to a transition into an economy and society involved in the use of low carbon footprint products. c)The contribution to slow down climate change.