Project
EXPOL (2004-2007)
Making use of natural products derived from grape pomace that bestow high added value (IDI-2005-289) (CDTI/ADE)
Basic Information
Project duration: 3 years
Total budget: €1.1m
Company participation/investment: Independent Project
Proposition
This project was developed over the course of three key stages or milestones, which include: the development of an extraction and purification process on a laboratory scale; the use of these methods to then design and construct prototypes that will give rise to a pilot plant and finally, enhancing the developed process for pilot scale testing, with the final aim of implementing and scaling up such processes for future industrial use.
Objetive
The present project initially set out with the aim of optimizing the process of extracting polyphenol antioxidants from grape pomace, as well as improving the subsequent clarifying, stabilizing and concentrating processes.
Having achieved the first objective, the project sought to achieve its second aim of developing a pilot plant in which to implement and enhance the developed processes on a laboratory scale, alongside acquiring the data required for these processes to then be used on industrial and production scales.
Method
The project took the form of three key stages, each seeing to the undertaking of various research and development tasks.
Stage 1: Characterization of Raw Materials, SFE testing, laboratory extraction and purification and pomace composting
Stage 2: Characterization of Raw Materials, laboratory extraction and purification, pilot plant extraction and purification (before and during the design of the pilot plant).
Stage 3: Pilot plant extraction and purification: Construction and testing of the pilot plant for the manufacture of polyphenols and other purified compounds of high added value, alongside the study of their economic viability.
Results
The developments made as a result of this project led to the optimization of the process of extracting and purifiying polyphenol antioxidants, as well as defining the most suitable raw materials to use in order to maximize said extraction. Similarly, a pilot plant was also designed, constructed and tested, in which the processes initially developed on a laboratory scale were optimized for future use on an industrial scale.
