ItalianoCONTEXT
Lombardy is characterised by the presence on its territory of high quantities of organic matrix waste, a consequence of the high number of inhabitants and intense industrial and agricultural activity. The organic waste present refers to the organic fraction of urban waste, sewage sludge and agricultural waste. More effective management of this waste is an inevitable development, but it requires specific skills and technological innovations: those that the BIOMASS HUB partnership intends to provide.
THE PROJECT
BIOMASS HUB is one of the 33 highly innovative projects that won the "Call Hub Research and Innovation" tender of the Lombardy Region.
The project envisages the creation of a biorefinery for the integrated production of biofuels, biomethane, energy, fertilisers and biomaterials. It will ensure strong economic, social and environmental spin-offs through the development of highly innovative technologies, affecting both regional and national policy. The proposed project represents a concrete example of an Integrated Technological HUB, in which public-private subjects with complementary know-how, expertise and technologies work together for the creation and development of highly evolved and competitive technological and biotechnological plants for the valorisation of biomethane and the waste from its production in a circular economy perspective.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
- Experiment with new technologies and materials for the efficient production of energy from biogas and biomethane.
- Identify alternative solutions for the management of organic materials such as biomasses from sewage treatment and digestates produced by urban waste, creating a virtuous platform, a model for the Lombardy region and the national territory in a logic of promoting the circular economy and closing the production cycle, transforming waste into new raw material with added value (zero waste).
- Recover the CO2 produced during the anaerobic digestion of organic waste to produce fertilisers, biomolecules with high added value, bioplastics, biofuels.
- Make a contribution to the energy transition to advanced renewable sources (advanced biofuels) of 10 % (electricity, bio-H2 and bio-CH4) with environmental and health assessment for different scenarios of using biomethane and fertilisers produced from digestate and sludge.
- Drawing up protocols for the use of renewable fertilisers (fertilisers and soil improvers) with a view to sustainable and precision agriculture, aimed at gradually reducing synthetic fertilisers, and consequently the environmental impact of their use and production.
- Draw up a regulatory report for end-of-waste management, production regulation and use of incentives for the system.
THE PARTNERSHIP
- Agromatrici Srl: Project leader
- Università degli Studi di Brescia: Departments of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Molecular and Translational Medicine, Medical-Surgical Specialities, Radiological Sciences and Public Health
- CREA – Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria
- ACQUA E SOLE Srl
- AMGA Legnano SpA
- NANO SENSOR SYSTEMS Srl
- AB Impianti Srl
LE2C, which is responsible for the project's communication activities, together with the Lombardy Green Chemistry Cluster-LGCA, play a major role in providing the right support for R&D activities and supporting/encouraging collaboration between the business world and research centres to support the development of sustainable technologies, new products and services, with the aim of strengthening research, innovation and training for sustainable development.