The URJC shows the scientific-technological advances of the BIOTRES project

Raul Garcia Hemonnet

After three years of running the project and after a session dedicated to Public Administrations last December, those responsible for the BIOTRES project at the URJC celebrate a new 'shop', in this case, aimed at scientists inside and outside the university.

In it, through various specialized talks of a technical nature, several researchers from the network will present their work in line with the different objectives of the project. It will be held this coming Thursday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to 18 p.m., electronically, through Microsoft Teams.

"We seek to make a balance to see if the project's objectives have been met and to identify the most interesting findings for a larger-scale implementation," says Juan Antonio Melero, professor in the area of ​​Chemical Engineering and main coordinator of the BIOTRES project.

For this session we have chosen to show the works that are at a more advanced level of development. A paper has been established by objective of the project. All of a very technical theme, such as: catalytic pyrolysis, anaerobic co-digestion, or hydrothermal carbonization, among many others.

With these presentations, the organizers want to highlight that "we have achieved the integration of different technologies (chemical, biotechnological and thermochemical) with the aim of valorizing biowaste from the urban environment to products of interest and bioenergy, developed on a laboratory scale. The next step is, hand in hand with the companies, to see what can be done on a demonstrative and even industrial scale”, points out Juan Antonio Melero.

In this sense, the celebration of a new 'workshop' is planned, within a few months, dedicated, on this occasion to the business fabric. The objective of this next appointment is to see if the technologies that have now been developed on a laboratory scale can grow hand in hand with companies.

The BIOTRES scientific program proposes an integrated biowaste recovery system (lignocellulosic waste and food waste) as an alternative with higher added value than the production of biogas and compost. The technologies contemplated in this program of activities include the integration of chemical, thermochemical and biological transformations.

It is a project co-financed by the Community of Madrid, the European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund.