3D-STELLAR

The 3D-STELLAR project aims to treat and valorize the toxic OMWW according to the principles of green and sustainable chemistry for a circular economy. Current regulations only authorize the direct spreading of these materials in a small proportion of the volumes generated, and industrialists are looking for other ways to manage this toxic liquid waste. The 3D-STELLAR consortium will explore the possibilities of treating these effluents and proposes to study the means of accelerating their evaporation/drying in order to better transform and valorize them. 3D-STELLAR project is based on two main technologies: 3D-Solar Distillers, which have the advantage of having a low environmental impact to clean water and, flash pyrolysis with thermal shock that does not generate by-products and is very fast. A mobile prototype (semi-pilot) capable of treating the equivalent of a 1 m3 tank will be built and installed in the field to validate the concept described in the 3D-STELLAR project. Our proposal addresses section 2.2 “Farming systems”, A step toward carbon-neutral farms: coupling renewable energy sources with circular farming systems. This project proposes a circular, low-carbon approach to olive oil processing. With the implementation of 3D STELLAR, water will be recycled and harvested using solar energy and the concentrated sludge will be converted into nutritious/value-added products. Thus, Mediterranean farms will benefit from the water for irrigation/reuse, while the remaining sludge will be used directly as fertilizer and/or will be transformed into biochars to amend the soil.