OLIWA project (co-funded by the European Union’s PRIMA program) has marked a major milestone in its dissemination strategy by establishing itself as a key scientific attraction at the prestigious Food Science Festival currently taking place in Mantova, Italy.
Addressing an audience of researchers, agribusiness leaders, and citizens, the OLIWA consortium is demonstrating how advanced science and biotechnology can transform a major environmental challenge into a lucrative economic opportunity for the Mediterranean basin: the valorization of olive oil by-products.
Valorizing the Green Gold—And Reshaping Its “Waste”
Olive oil production is the cultural and economic backbone of the Mediterranean, accounting for over 80% of global output. However, the extraction process hides a critical waste footprint: for every 100 kg of olives processed, only 15 to 25 kg of extra-virgin olive oil is extracted. The remaining 75 to 85 kg consists of residual waste: sansa (wet or dry olive pomace), acque di vegetazione (olive mill wastewater), and leaves.
At the heart of OLIWA’s presentations in Mantova, experts revealed the massive scale of this latent resource. In Algeria, for instance, where approximately 80,000 tonnes of olive oil are produced annually, over 485,000 tonnes of by-products are generated. Data showcased from industrial partners—such as the modernization of Ets Ibaliden with advanced Pieralisi 2-phase eco-friendly systems—demonstrates that transitioning away from traditional 3-phase systems dramatically reduces liquid waste while yielding high-quality pomace ripe for bioconversion.
The Star of the Show: The Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens)
The technical highlight capturing the public’s imagination at the festival is OLIWA’s revolutionary approach to bioconversion using insect farming.
Led by research teams from the University of Bouira (UNIBOU) and international experts, the project demonstrates how the larvae of the Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) can be reared directly on substrates formulated with olive pomace. These larvae perform a true circular economy miracle by digesting polyphenol-rich olive waste and upcycling it into four high-value commercial streams:
- Animal Nutrition (In Vivo): Processing larvae into sustainable protein meal and high-quality oils for poultry and aquaculture, offering a resilient alternative to soaring soybean and fishmeal costs.
- Bio-packaging: Extracting essential compounds to develop biodegradable, intelligent food packaging.
- Biofertilizers: Utilizing frass (larval excrement) as a highly efficient organic fertilizer rich in potassium (K) and phosphorus (P) to restore degraded agricultural soils.
- Renewable Energy: Converting ultimate organic residues into biogas, yielding methane outputs of 20-40 m³ per tonne.
A Launchpad for End-User Alliances
Beyond the laboratory achievements, OLIWA’s presence in Mantova serves as a vital platform to solidify its agreements with potential end-users and strategic stakeholders. The festival highlights agribusinesses and industrial entities committed to testing and deploying these bioconversion solutions at scale.
For the OLIWA project, this Italian exhibition validates a core communication objective: proving that Mediterranean farming traditions can be upgraded into cutting-edge, zero-waste business models, protecting regional water security, and building a resilient bioeconomy.