Programme: Horizon Europe
Call: HORIZON-CL5-2022-D3-02
Granting authority: European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
Project acronym: TEAPOTS
Project name: agriculTurE wAste PyrOlysis and Thermocomposting for renewable energy in Sustainable agri-food sector

Project summary: TEAPOTS aims to give agri-food players an innovative integrated, modular, and flexible solution to meet local and seasonal energy demand through the valorisation of lignocellulosic and difficult to be treated agricultural waste while producing biochar.
The first valorisation process will employ pyrolysis to extract heat from waste. Heat will be employed by an Organic Rankine Cycle to produce electric energy, which will be employed by a Dry Cooler & Oil-free AWC to cool down cold rooms for storing agri-food products.
The second process will extract heat using a Compost Heat Recovery System to harness hot water from the oxidation of biomass while producing compost. Heat will be used to provide sanitary hot water.
These technologies will be integrated in the TEAPOTS Integrated Solution, TIS, to demonstrate the feasibility of the entire process using all the modules to provide refrigeration. Biochar and compost will be used as plant biostimulants to increase yields and store carbon in soil improving the environmental footprint of the end-user. Feedstocks to be used in the TIS will be mixed to improve energy production and products’ quality. Field and satellite data will be gathered to evaluate biomass growth, while the TIS operational data will be used to evaluate the environmental impact, through LCA analysis, and the overall functionality of the solution. Data will be integrated in a database which will allow the prediction of waste biomass production. This will be used by a Data Driven Decision Support System (DSS) to improve field and waste logistics, which will provide the means to keep the TIS up and running. The prediction system and the DSS will be integrated in the TEAPOTS Digital Platform, which will have an easy-to-use user interface to help end-users in the management of the entire solution. A Multy Actor Approach will be employed to create a network of biomass producers interested in using agricultural waste to improve their environmental impact.

Starting date: 1 January 2024
Ending date: 31 December 2027
Duration: 48 months

Project partners:
    • SMACT Societa Consortile per Azioni (Italy) (Coordinator)
    • UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA (Italy)
    • LABORATORIO IBERICO INTERNACIONAL DE NANOTECNOLOGIA LIN (Portugal)
    • ETHNIKO KENTRO EREVNAS KAI TECHNOLOGIKIS ANAPTYXIS (Greece)
    • UPTOEARTH GMBH (Germany)
    • AGRIMECCANICA S.R.L. (Italy)
    • WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY (Netherlands)
    • STICHTING BIOMEILER (Netherlands)
    • GEOPONIKO PANEPISTIMION ATHINON (Greece)
    • DANFOSS A/S (Denmark)
    • ENTE REGIONALE PER I SERVIZI ALL'AGRICULTURA E ALLE FORESTE (Italy)
    • FENIX TNT SRO (Czechia)
    • DGS SPA (Italy)
    • STAM SRL (Italy)
    • ECO FARM S.R.L. O.P. (Italy)
    • AGROTIKOS SYNETAIRISMOS ELAIOPARAGOGON PALAIOPEL (Greece)

Grant amount: 7.027.319,13 Euro

Grant amount for Università degli Studi di Padova: 642.688,75 Euro

Contact person at Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD):
Prof.ssa Maria Cristina Lavagnolo (mariacristina.lavagnolo@unipd.it), Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering – ICEA

Website: https://www.teapots-project.eu/