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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EVOOLUTION (Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Advanced Sorting Solution)

Teaser

Summary

EVOOLUTION is a sorting solution conceived and designed by Multiscan Technologies. It is intended for the olive oil sector, which lacks the technology for the efficient classification of olives before processing in an oil mill. In one hand, the presence of spoiled or defective olives negatively affects the quality of olive oil; if the resulting oil cannot be categorised as â€œextra virgin olive oil (EVOO)â€, its market value is then highly reduced.
On the other hand, current trends in the olive oil production sector, like super intensive cultivation and mechanical harvesting, make the need of a sorting technology more necessary. In addition, industrial olive oil production relies on continuous processing at high capacities. Both aspects are challenging requirements to achieve selection of the incoming fruit to the mill.
We are addressing the challenges of the olive oil sector with EVOOLUTION, an advanced sorting solution that makes use of state-of-the-art machine vision technologies for efficiently removing unwanted olives before entering the oil mill. Olive oil producers will assure that only high-quality olives are used, resulting in high-quality oils with higher market value.
EVOOLUTION Phase 2 main objective is to develop and validate the first industrial prototype. It is being now tested with the collaboration of important oil producers and marketers. By Q2 2020, EVOOLUTION will reach the market readiness level and Multiscan will take a technological and commercial leap into a sector valued at 6,000 Mâ‚¬.

Work performed

This first reporting period covers the first 12 months of the project (total duration: 24 months).
At technological level, the main characteristics of the first prototype were defined according to the expected performance in terms of selectivity, rejection efficiency, hourly processing capacity, etc. Once designed and built, the vision system was tested with samples of olives supplied by collaborating growers. Finally, it was installed in an oil mill to validate its functioning under real conditions during the harvesting season in the Northern Hemisphere (WP1).
This first testing phase was useful for assessing the necessary upgrades to be integrated in the second prototype, that was built for enhancing the vision system of the equipment. The second prototype was transported to South America, where it is being validated under real conditions during the harvesting and processing season (April - June). The next step is to assess the data gathered during this validation phase and then subject EVOOLUTION to the last upscaling stage (WP2 and WP3).
At pre-commercial level, Multiscan team has focused its efforts in introducing EVOOLUTION to important olive oil producers that are best suited for the integration of EVOOLUTION. We have visited potential clients and received valuable feedback that will contribute to better address their requirements by EVOOLUTION.
EVOOLUTION has been also presented in relevant events such as industrial fairs (OLEOMAQ, World Olive Oil Exhibition and EXPOLIVA fairs) and promoted through publications in specialised media. The second year of the project is expected to be more intense concerning promotion activities.

Final results

Olive oil has scientifically proven health effects, and this leads to a proliferation of premium and high-quality products and brands (more precisely, in Extra Virgin Olive Oil). As stated before, the global olive oil sector is valued at 6,000 million â‚¬. The European Union leads this industry, being responsible for more than 70% of the global olive oil production. Olive oil is crucial in economies of many EU regions from the Mediterranean basin.
In terms of employment and socio-economic impact, EVOOLUTION will be responsible of the direct and indirect creation of job positions in sectors with long-term opportunities, such as technology applied to the agri-food sector. It is expected that EVOOLUTION will result in cumulative profits reaching 17 Mâ‚¬ and the direct creation of 20 new job positions in Multiscan.