The Agro-Food Research and Technology Institute (IRTA) and the Mafrica company have been awarded the INNOVATION Award at the 1st Night of Bioenergy, an event organized by the Bioenergy Cluster of Catalonia (CBC) . The award recognizes the research project of the two entities focused on the production of biogas from pig slaughterhouse waste.
The meat sector generates large amounts of by-products and waste not intended for human consumption, particularly in the pig sector. In response to this problem, IRTA and Mafrica have collaborated together with an Industrial PhD project to develop a valorization strategy that consists in the creation of a plant that optimizes the generation of biogas with this waste.
Belén Fernandez, researcher of the Sustainability in Biosystems program and responsible for the project, especially thanked the work done by Anna Otero and her colleagues during the Bioenergy Awards 2023 ceremony. The research project has been carried out in collaboration with Mafrica and is oriented towards Environmental Engineering, Bioprocesses and Life Cycle Analysis.
The project seeks not only the valorization of waste, but also its management. The production of biogas as a result of this project would replace a fossil fuel, thus contributing to the decarbonisation of the economy. One of the specific objectives is the implementation of biogas production within the company, with a special emphasis on self-supply of energy and/or energy efficiency.
In addition, the project is oriented towards the search for new valorizable by-products from waste. According to researcher Belén Fernandez, the optimization and/or integration of new technologies together with those currently employed in the company will be one of the key aspects of this research.
This project represents an example of how collaboration between research institutions and industry can lead to practical innovations that benefit both companies and society in general. The Innovation Award at the 1st Night of Bioenergy highlights the importance of these joint efforts in creating sustainable solutions for real problems. The IRTA and Mafrica project is an important step in this direction and can serve as an example for other sectors of the agri-food industry to follow. In fact, the work of IRTA and Mafrica contributes to the global objective of sustainability and the decarbonisation of the economy, an effort that is recognized with this innovation award.
You can consult information about the award on the IRTA website.
