GREEN OIL - CONSTRUCTION OF A PILOT PLANT TO TEST SUSTAINABLE PROCESSES OF BIOREFINING. This technological transfer project is targeted at the construction of a pilot plant for the production of biodiesel and fine chemicals (the chemical products for the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries) by refining agricultural biomass.
VEGA in partnership with 23 businesses operating in the Veneto region and led by SAPIO, is the organization in charge of the project and it will host the GREEN OIL laboratory, now under construction.
The scientific and experimental activity sees the involvement of the University of Venice with its Department of Environmental Sciences, of the University of Padua with its Department of Principles and Plants of Chemical Engineering, and of the University of Udine with its Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The project is co-funded by the Veneto region in compliance with the regional law no. 8/2003 as amended, and law no. 5/2007 "Regulations on production chain clustering, on manufacturing districts and interventions for industrial and production development locally".
2008 Notice for competition Measure: 2c Technological transfer for production applications, ref. Metadistretto METAS.
Among the various “environment-friendly” sources of energy special importance is bestowed to biodiesel and pure vegetable oils, which can be used as automotive fuels and in other energy-generating processes.
Some new products (including the fine chemicals for use in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors) can be processed from the same matrixes as oilseed plants and/or agricultural or agroindustrial scraps, thanks to process technologies that have an extremely low environmental impact as the use of supercritical fluids (SCF).
The innovative use of enzymes, some of which are kept in a supercritical environment, can accelerate catalytic reactions and trigger combined extraction/catalysis cycles of the lipid fractions in order to produce high added-value energy breakdown products. One example is the separation and concentration of anti-oxidants (e.g. tocopherols) from vegetable matrixes.
The project includes the construction of a pilot plant in VEGA for the production of biodiesel and fine chemicals (the chemical products for the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries) by refining agricultural biomass. The results of the proposed technological transfer project are:
- to stimulate the upgrade to technologies that will turn petrochemistry into "agrochemistry" using biomass that can be collected on the territory and which would not be otherwise destined to human consumption;
- to optimize production cycles by reducing the environmental impact of their relevant products and processes
- to offer the market energy products and oleochemicals with better characteristics, with improved characteristics, and/or with a lower environmental impact.
The results expected of the GREEN OIL are as follows:
- a pilot plant applying SCF and SPE technologies by fractionation and enrichment of the anti-oxidants (e.g. tocopherols) contained in vegetable oils;
- the analysis of the vegetable matrixes that can yield lipid fractions for the production of biofuels and/or fine chemicals for commercial purposes (e.g. tocopherols);
- to test a process for oil extraction from different vegetable matrixes;
- to test direct transesterification processes in the supercritical phase, without catalysis;
- to test bio-catalysis processes in the supercritical phase for the transesterification of vegetable oils.
The overall cost of the GRREN OIL project amounts to € 664,000.00; the Veneto region contributed € 252,253.60 in compliance with the regional law 8/2003 since it ranked first in the classification of measure 2.c of the 2008 notice of competition. The project was officially started on Dec. 3, 2008 and its term was set at 24 months.
The Temporary Enterprise Association leading the project is so formed:
- Sapio Produzione Idrogeno E Ossigeno Srl
- Apindustria Venezia
- Bluenergycontrol Srl
- Centro Studi L'Uomo L'Ambiente
- Cereal Docks Spa
- Consorzio Marghera Nuova
- eAmbiente Srl (a company based in the VEGA Park)
- Ecoprogetto Venezia Srl
- Elite Ambiente Spa
- Epitech Group Srl
- Eurecna Spa
- Glures Srl (a company based in the VEGA Park)
- Lacus Engineering Srl
- Poweroil Srl
- Progeco Srl
- S.T.C. Engineering Snc
- Seingim Global Service S.R.L.
- Sogesca Srl
- Soluzioni Integrate Srl
- Tecam Srl
- Tecnoservice Snc
- Uniconfort Srl
- Veniceproject Srl
- VEGA Parco Scientifico Tecnologico di Venezia Scarl
