Right now, olive oil mills throw away huge amounts of water and pulp — it's like squeezing an orange and tossing everything except the juice. EcoPROLIVE figured out how to use the entire olive: the oil, the healthy compounds locked inside (like antioxidants), and even the leftover fiber for baking. They replaced harsh chemical solvents with pressurized CO2 — think of it like decaf coffee processing — to pull out valuable oils cleanly. The result is zero waste, extra revenue streams, and a much greener operation.
Olive oil mills generate massive quantities of wastewater and solid waste that are expensive to dispose of and harmful to the environment. Meanwhile, the olive contains valuable antioxidant compounds (hydroxytyrosol, oleocanthal) and fiber that are simply destroyed or discarded during conventional processing — leaving significant revenue on the table.
The team built prototype machinery for a zero-waste olive processing line using supercritical CO2 extraction and pulsed electric field technology. They produced marketable prototype products including olive oil, functional essential oils rich in antioxidants (20-40 kg batches), and phenol-rich fibre ingredients designed for bakery use.
If you are an olive oil mill dealing with costly wastewater disposal and wasted byproducts — this project developed prototype machinery and a zero-waste process that extracts functional oils rich in hydroxytyrosol and other antioxidants from what you currently throw away. Replication was designed for 504 mills across Spain, Italy, Greece, and Portugal, with an estimated global profit of 63 million euros.
If you are a food ingredient company looking for natural antioxidant sources — this project produced 3,700 tonnes of functional oil containing hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, oleocanthal, and oleuropein, all fully characterized for nutritional, functional, and toxicological safety. These are marketable prototype products ready for integration into supplement and functional food lines.
If you are a bakery company seeking natural fiber-rich ingredients with health benefits — this project developed a phenol-rich fibre ingredient specifically designed for biscuits and bread. The process can yield 44,400 tonnes of this ingredient, adding functional health claims to standard bakery products while sourcing from a sustainable, zero-waste supply chain.
The project received EUR 1,999,500 in EU funding across 9 partners to develop and validate the system. Specific per-mill investment costs are not published in the available data, but the process was designed for scalable replication across different mill sizes and countries. The estimated global profit of 63 million euros across 504 mills suggests strong return potential.
Yes. The project specifically targeted scale-up from lab/pilot plant to preindustrial application (TRL6) and validation in an operational environment (TRL7). Prototype machinery was built and tested, with replication planned for 504 olive oil mills producing 37,000 tonnes of olive oil annually.
The process is partly based on patent WO2013030426, with further developments added during the project. The consortium planned to monetize the technology and process through patents into scalable markets. Licensing arrangements would need to be discussed with the coordinator CONTACTICA SL.
All resulting products — olive oil, functional oils, and fibre ingredients — were fully characterized for nutritional, functional, and toxicological properties specifically to avoid market barriers. This pre-regulatory work was a core project goal to ensure smooth market uptake under EU food safety requirements.
Unlike current approaches that treat olive processing waste as a disposal problem, EcoPROLIVE uses supercritical CO2 extraction instead of n-hexane (a harsh chemical solvent) and adds pulsed electric field technology to improve drying and oil yields. The zero-waste approach means every output has commercial value, eliminating 126,100 tonnes of wastewater.
The project ran from September 2015 to December 2017 and reached TRL7 validation. Prototype machinery and marketable product samples (20-40 kg batches) were produced. Based on available project data, deployment readiness depends on site-specific adaptation and licensing from the consortium.
The consortium of 9 partners across 4 Mediterranean olive-producing countries (Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal) is strategically assembled for market deployment. With 5 industrial partners (56% industry ratio) and 4 SMEs, this is a commercially-driven team rather than an academic exercise. The coordinator CONTACTICA SL is a Spanish SME, and the geographic spread covers the EU's top olive oil producing nations, giving the technology immediate access to the largest markets. The 3 universities and 1 research organization provide the scientific backbone for extraction technologies and product characterization.
CONTACTICA SL (Spain) — coordinator and SME. Use SciTransfer's contact service for a direct introduction.
Want to license EcoPROLIVE's zero-waste processing technology or source their functional olive ingredients? SciTransfer can arrange a direct introduction to the project team.
