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The ETOILE project intends to develop a new integrated process where olive mill waste water from traditional three-phase centrifugation process is purified and at the same time cellulase enzymes are obtained. These enzymes are then used onto the solid olive oil residues, such as olive pulp and husks, to obtain ethanol. The research envisaged will thus provide a viable alternative to the growing bioethanol industry seeking for new cost-effective production processes competitive with oil industry. Project objectives - Production of enzymes from olive mills wastewater
- A cost-effective process for ethanol production from olive mills residues.
- Purification of the olive mills wastewater and valorization of olive mills waste.
 Specific targets: - Development of the thermophilic fermentation process for ethanol production that produces as least 3.6 g/l of bioethanol
- Development of the Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation process that produces as least 15 g/l of bioethanol.
- Olive mill waste water treatment for cellulose enzyme production and/or recycle the enzymes so as to reduce enzyme costs less than 5 cents per liter of ethanol produced. The achievement of this objective will be at month 20 when the Milestone 2 will be reached.
- Development of a pre-treatment process of olive oil residues which is effective, does not require expensive chemicals and/or high pressure expensive equipment and whose cost constitutes less than 50% of the production cost of a liter of bioethanol.
- Ethanol recovery process design and optimization so as to keep fermentation rates high, and allow recycle of enzymes w/o thermal destruction to increase the production rate of ethanol by 20%. .
- Process integration by realisation of the pilot-scale bioethanol production plant that achieves 30-40% reduction of fuel consumption and energy costs. The achievement of this objective will be at month 24 when the final tests are performed on the pilot plant and Milestone 4 : ETOILE technology assessment will be reached.
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