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Acea and CNR’s Water Research Institute (IRSA) signed a strategic partnership launching BIOREF, an experimental platform for the development of new solutions for the treatment of organic waste.

Acea Elabori, the company part of the Acea Group that provides engineering solutions and services, and the Water Research Institute (IRSA) of CNR launched BIOREF, an innovative research project that aims to recover products that generate high added value from the transformation of organic urban waste and sludge, helping to implement circular economy models and significantly reduce waste volumes.

BIOREF studies and develops new organic waste integrated treatment processing methods, aimed at valorizing waste’s potential for medium-long fatty acid chain production. These composts are the raw materials used by the chemical industry to produce polymers and cosmetics, whose market is growing rapidly.

The project, born in 2020 from a memorandum of understanding signed by CNR and Acea, aims to develop new technologies to process the organic part of urban waste and sludge, essential to apply the principles of sustainable bio-economy and in line with the industrial policies of the Acea Group.

“This research project – said Simona Rossetti, Director of the Water Research Institute – aims to valorize organic waste by recovering resources and drastically reducing the impact on the environment. For IRSA, who has been working on innovative waste and sludge treatment technologies for years, this strategic collaboration is a great opportunity to work with a team of experts in this industrial sector such as Acea Elabori, in view of their real application”.

“Bioref - said Alessandro Filippi, Head of the Engineering and Services Business Segment of Acea Spa and Executive Chairman of Acea Elabori - is the result of the joint work of Elabori, part of the Acea Group, and the IRSA-CNR team, to find concrete and sustainable solutions for the innovative management of a crucially important sector such as that of organic urban waste and sludge. In line with the objectives set in the 2030 Agenda and in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), the project will develop models of circular economy and will bring concrete advantages to the entire industrial sector”.

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