BIKIARIS LAB

Greece is a country, where thanks to the ideal Mediterranean climate, olive trees thrive, and the cultivation of olive trees occupies an important part of the arable land. This results in a large amount of agricultural leftovers, namely small branches, which are left unexploited. In parallel, 300,000-400,000 tons of olive oil are produced yearly, generating important volumes of wastes, such as leaves and pits, which are also dumped without further processing. Additionally, the recent legalization of the culture of hemp by the Greek government has led to an exponential increase of hemp cultivation. However, as for olives, hemps processing produces large quantities of waste, bearing a high organic load, which are disposed of with negative impacts on environment. The aim of OLHE is to exploit the low-value biomass generated by olive and hemp agriculture as well as olive oil production.

The project will be implemented by a consortium of experts combining academic research groups and industrial partners.

• CHIMAR S.A. is a Greek company which specializes in the production of binders & additives and provides state-of-the-art binder technology to wood-based panel industries.

• PharmaGnose S.A. has an expertise in natural products and provide R&D solutions in active molecule or ingredient discovery for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and agro-food industries.

• CRES is the Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving (CRES). It is a national Greek organization which has been appointed to co-ordinate activities in the fields of renewable energy and sustainable development.

• The consortium is completed by two academic research groups, the group of Pr. Chryssafis, of AMDe Lab and the group of Pr. Bikiaris, of the Laboratory of Chemistry and Technology of Polymers and Dyes, which will supply their expertise in the chemical and physicochemical characterization.

In OLHE project, biomass exploitation will be articulated around three axes:

1. The extraction and separation, isolation and identification of active compounds contained in the low-value waste biomass, which can be further used for other applications.

2. The woody wastes, i.e. the olive tree branches and the woody parts of the hemp stems, will be used to completely replace wood in the production of particleboards. Additionally, new plant-based adhesives will be employed to replace traditional ones.

3. Non-woody wastes, i.e. olive tree leaves, olive pits, hemp leaves and seeds, will be ground and used as additives in novel plant-based adhesives for plywood production.

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Duration: 28/02/2020- 27/08/2023

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Publications in international scientific journals

1. Thermal behavior and pyrolysis kinetics of olive stone residue

2. Olive stone as a filler for recycled high-density polyethylene: A promising valorization of solid wastes from olive oil industry

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Posters in scientific conferences