PROJECT PHENOILS ENTERS ITS SECOND ANNUITY FOR THE PRODUCTION OF A HEALTHIER EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL. ENERGYPULSE SYSTEMS (EPS) IS A PARTNER OF THIS EUROPEAN PROJECT LED BY ACESUR THAT FACES ITS SECOND YEAR, AFTER HAVING COMPLIED THE OBJECTIVES SET DURING THE FIRST YEAR ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HEALTHIER EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL.
During the year 2020, EPS, together with consortium partners, worked on the Phenoils project, studying the implementation of PEF technology and other in mills for a healthier and more profitable extraction of virgin olive oil. This R&D project has the financial support of EIT Food, the European food innovation community, and it is formed by Acesur (Spain), the CSIC Institute (Spain), the Fraunhofer Technology Center (Germany), the University of Turin (Italy) and by Energy Pulses Systems (Portugal).
After the completion of the first annuity, the consortium managed to successfully complete the tests referred to 2020, selecting the best potential techniques and protocols among those studied and having carried out studies in different varieties of olives (arbequina, manzanilla, hojiblanca, taggiasca and mattea), in different stages of maturation. Using new technologies in development (hydrodynamic cavitation, ultrasound and pulsed electric field technology (PEF), the aim of the project was to increase the presence of compounds such as tocopherols, polyphenols and other bioactive compounds in virgin olive oil that have a proven positive effect on cardiovascular diseases and metabolic syndrome. After the achievement of these results, EIT Food has given the consortium the opportunity to continue developing this project during 2021.
During 2021, with the aim of training and informing potential producers and operators of the international olive sector, after the success achieved in 2020, the tasks related to the educational package will be carried out, with the development of training courses in specialized centers and universities in Italy, Greece and Spain.
After this second annuity, in which the two most efficient technologies will be worked on a pilot scale of great capacity, EPS and all the consortia hope to obtain conclusive results that allow their industrial implementation.