Population growth drives up local demand for food and energy resources and induce a negative impact on the ecosystems due to waste accumulation and greenhouse gas emissions.

Slaughterhouses produce large amounts of solid and liquid waste, containing a high organic load, which constitutes a threat to ecosystems and a risk to human health. Their management is even more challenging as it is complicated by the overconsumption of water. The blood, stomach contents, urine and faeces of the animals and possibly other organic constituents are drained with the cleaning water to the sewage system. Because the slaughterhouse waste (SHW) contains large amounts of fats, proteins, lipids, and organic matter, it becomes a potential source for producing biogas (methane), biohydrogen and other value-added products. The bioenergy produced can support addressing rural population energy needs in rural areas, and energy self-sufficiency for slaughterhouses. In this context, an integrated approach will be developed to overcome these environmental and socio-economic problems and to develop effective strategies to recover and valorize effluent streams for applications mainly in energy production.

The BIOTHEREP project which is mainly within topic 1 and 5 of the call, aims to develop an integrated strategy produce bioenergy from slaughterhouses wastes, and to implement solutions responding concretely to the global and regional objectives of sustainable development in a circular economy aspect. The BIOTHEREP approach combines biochemical (BCC) and thermochemical conversion (TCC) (pyrolysis, gasification) processes to produce renewable energies. The obtained solid digestate from BCC will be processed by a TCC to produce biochar by pyrolysis, and syngas by gasification. The biochar will be used as a precursor for improving CH4 and H2 production, and for in-situ CO2 removal. Syngas (H2, CO) could be used as a fuel to produce thermal energy. This hybrid system outputs are contributing to the bioenergy production, and they are good local and regional alternatives to imported activated carbons and conventional energy sources. The use of the proposed approach will be justified in the context of ensuring economically and environmentally sustainable development both at the regional and international levels. The mechanism for such an assessment will be based on an integrated approach, including a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the internal and external sustainability of the proposed project.

The integrated approach will be developed in collaboration between the eleven R&D institutions from Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Italy, Germany and France, including two private companies from Germany and South Africa. It will be implemented under eight Work Packages (WP) for 24 months. Each partner will be responsible for its own WP or task and could be involved in other WPs led by other partners to ensure synergy between the teams.

• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Mirko Barz (Projektleitung)
• Prof. Dr. Asnakech Laß-Seyoum (Projektleitung)
• Prof. Dr. Volker Wohlgemuth (Projektleitung)

• Dr. Martina Willenbacher (Projektmitarbeiter_in)

Sonstige

• Bioenergie Berlin GmbH (BEB), Berlin, Germany
• Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
• Centre de Développement des Energies Renouvelables (CDER), Alger, Algeria
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS-ICARE), Orleanes, France
• Fountain Green Energy (FGE), Durban, South Africa
• Ibn Tofail University (ITU), Kenitra, Morocco
• Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT), Durban, South Africa
• Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Benguerir, Morocco
• Università degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, Italy
• University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa