OILPULSE

INCREASED VIRGIN OLIVE OIL YIELD AND QUALITY BY COMPLEMENTING EXISTING AND NEW OLIVE OIL MILLS WITH PULSED ELECTRIC FIELD (PEF) TECHNOLOGY

Coordinatore	TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT BERLIN    more  Organization address address: STRASSE DES 17 JUNI 135 city: BERLIN postcode: 10623 contact info Titolo: Ms. Nome: Simone Cognome: Ludwig Email: send email Telefono: +49 30 314 21371 Fax: +49 30 314 21689
Nazionalità Coordinatore	Germany [DE]
Sito del progetto	http://oilpulse.cric-projects.com/
Totale costo	1˙237˙932 €
EC contributo	917˙665 €
Programma	FP7-SME Specific Programme "Capacities": Research for the benefit of SMEs
Code Call	FP7-SME-2008-1
Funding Scheme	BSG-SME
Anno di inizio	2010
Periodo (anno-mese-giorno)	2010-04-01   -   2013-02-28

 Partecipanti

#	participant	country	role	EC contrib. [€]
1	TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT BERLIN  Organization address address: STRASSE DES 17 JUNI 135 city: BERLIN postcode: 10623 contact info Titolo: Ms. Nome: Simone Cognome: Ludwig Email: send email Telefono: +49 30 314 21371 Fax: +49 30 314 21689	DE (BERLIN)	coordinator	67˙667.20
2	ACEITES MALAGON SL  Organization address address: GLORIETA 23 DE JUNIO 4 city: MALAGON postcode: 13420 contact info Titolo: Ms. Nome: Blanca Cognome: Moraleda Email: send email Telefono: +34 926 800024 Fax: +34 926 802015	ES (MALAGON)	participant	267˙896.12
3	HAKKI USTA MAK.SAN.TIC.LTD.STI  Organization address city: AYDIN postcode: 9100 contact info Titolo: Mr. Nome: Kutay Cognome: Dileklen Email: send email Telefono: +90 256 2310 481 Fax: +90 253 2310 483	TR (AYDIN)	participant	260˙430.31
4	D'ADDATO AGROALIMENTARE SNC  Organization address address: STRADA PROVINCIALE 13 BISCEGLIE city: BISCEGLIE postcode: 70052 contact info Titolo: Ms. Nome: Campana Cognome: Monica Email: send email Telefono: +39 080 395 5731 Fax: +39 080 395 5731	IT (BISCEGLIE)	participant	257˙375.38
5	ATEKNEA SOLUTIONS CATALONIA, SA  Organization address address: CALLE VICTOR PRADERA 45 city: CORNELLA DE LLOBREGAT BARCELONA postcode: 8940 contact info Titolo: Mr. Nome: Albert Cognome: Nieto Email: send email Telefono: +34 932 049922 Fax: +34 932 049866	ES (CORNELLA DE LLOBREGAT BARCELONA)	participant	64˙296.00

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Olive oil is a key product of the European agro-alimentary sector, and is increasingly recognised by consumers worldwide as part of a healthy diet due to its elevated oleic acid content, and antioxidant properties. Around 2 million tonnes of olive oil are produced each year in the EU by mainly SME olive producers, cooperatives, mills, refiners, blenders, and distributors, employing some 800,000 people. The EU is world’s major olive oil producer and consumer, but faces increased competition from non-EU Mediterranean and other countries including Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, and the USA, which have large extensions of land suited to high-density cultivation of olives. Olives contain around 17-26% by weight of oil. Virgin olive oil production involves crushing of the olives and separation of the oil from the solid matter and vegetable water, however, current processes suffer from limitations in olive oil yield and quality, and energy usage. OILPULSE will overcome such limitations by complementing existing and new mill equipment with pulsed electric field (PEF) technology - an emerging food technology, which can be used to improve process yield as a less energy and time consuming alternative to thermal or enzymatic treatment. It is being applied to a wide range of food products at pilot plant scale and also for non-thermal commercial food preservation whilst retaining fresh food characteristics. The expected benefits of OILPULSE are: •Increased virgin olive oil yield •Increased virgin olive oil phytonutrient content, to improve consumer health benefits and olive oil shelf life. •Reduction of olive paste temperature during processing, to provide energy savings, and improved oil quality whilst retaining yield. The benefits of the novel OILPULSE technology could also be applied to the mechanical extraction of other edible oils and oils for bio-diesel production.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Olive oil is an important EU product, virgin olive oil in particular. Researchers have devised a new technology that can be introduced into existing olive mills to improve virgin olive oil yields.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Pulsed electric field (PEF) technology uses electric pulses of varying strengths to break down cell membranes. The application of PEF to olive oil extraction offers better yields, improved nutrient content and decreased energy consumption.

OILPULSE was an EU-funded project set up to investigate the feasibility of using PEF for olive oil extraction. The project involved a consortium of small technology companies as well as some European olive mills.

The first stage of the project involved building a small-scale pilot plant to demonstrate the effectiveness of the PEF system. The pilot plant operated for two harvest seasons and demonstrated that the technology preserved oil quality while increasing oil quantity.

Based on these findings, an industrial prototype was developed at a Spanish research institute and installed in a nearby olive mill. After two years of trials, the PEF technology performed better than standard olive mill technology.

Although the research project is complete, the consortium will continue to gather data on the PEF system and hopes to commercialise it by 2014. This innovative technology could not only save costs for the olive oil industry, but may be applicable to other oil extraction industries as well.