PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Olive oil production is an economic activity of great importance in the Mediterranean region but also has a high environmental impact due to the significant amounts of liquid and solid waste generated during the extraction process. Currently, Europe is the largest producer of olive oil worldwide. Spain remains the main producer of olive oil in Europe with 780 000 tonnes produced in the 2022-23 season, followed by Greece (350 000 tonnes), Italy (235 000 tonnes) and Portugal (125 000 tonnes).
For each litre of olive oil, between 4kg and 6kg of olive pomace (a mixture of olive skins, flesh, stones and water) is generated. In Spain alone, around 6-9 million tonnes of olive pomace are generated every year. Olive pomace is currently managed through olive pomace mills which extract a high percentage of fats, resulting in an olive pomace oil that can be commercialised. The waste produced from this process – dry olive pomace – is typically incinerated. This process is in high energy and water consumption and, therefore, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Furthermore, the existing capacity of pomace mills in Spain, Greece and Portugal is insufficient to manage all the olive pomace generated, often forcing olive production plants to shut down due to storage constraints during good harvest seasons.
At the same time, livestock farming and aquaculture are growing sectors which have a high environmental impact. The current use of meat, soy and fish as feed is not sustainable. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) of insects, however, is much more favourable, as well as their ability to turn lower-value materials into higher quality ingredients such as proteins and lipids, which coincides with the natural nutritional needs of aquaculture, poultry and swine.
The project OLIFECycle project proposes to provide a combined solution to these 2 environmental problems through the transformation of olive pomace, together with other organic waste, into value-added products via insect farming.
OBJECTIVES
The OLIFECycle project’s main objective is to recycle olive pomace into alternative proteins and other value-added products from larval biomass via insect farming. This process will produce high-quality insect protein, insect oil and an organic fertiliser. Insect meal can be used as livestock meal, pet food and feed for aquaculture, and the organic fertiliser can be used for agricultural purposes.
The specific objectives of the OLIFECycle project are to:
- build and operate the first industrial-scale plant dedicated to insect farming using olive pomace, capable of processing 10 000 tonnes/year of organic waste to grow black soldier fly larvae
- provide an alternative source proteins for the pet food and aquaculture industries, as well as an organic fertiliser
- offer a much less environmentally intensive process for the treatment of olive pomace
- obtain certifications according to EU standards for the new products
- demonstrate the effectiveness of insect frass as an organic fertiliser, and obtain the corresponding certification
- demonstrate the antimicrobial and pesticide effect of the insect-based organic fertiliser due to its chitin content
RESULTS
The expected results of the OLIFECycle project are:
- recycling of 8 000 tonnes/year of olive pomace and 2 000 tonnes/year of other organic waste
- growing 1 500 tonnes of black soldier fly larvae annually, which will be processed into 390 tonnes/year of insect meal, 45 tonnes/year of insect oil, and 2 716 tonnes/year of frass as organic fertiliser
- an annual energy saving of 3.7 GWh compared with the energy-intensive drying process for olive pomace
- processing of olive pomace to grow black soldier fly larvae instead of traditional drying methods or composting will lead to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 1 436 tCO2eq/year
- use of 390 tonnes/year of insect meal as an alternative to conventional soy meal imported from Brazil will reduce CO2 emissions by 612 tCO2eq/year
- reduction of water consumption by 1 212 m3/year compared with the conventional processing via pomace mills and composting
- generation of up to 15 new full-time equivalent jobs for the operation of the pilot plant and further research and development activities
- a scaled-up plant treating 80, 000 tonnes/year of olive pomace and 20 000 tonnes/year of other organic waste to produce 3 900 tonnes/year of insect meal, 450 tonnes/year of insect oil and 27 160 tonnes/year of organic fertiliser by 2027