Sustainable and cost-effective production process for the upcycling of olive, grape and nut byproductinto 4 natural and healthy ingredients for nutraceutical and cosmetic applicationss

The UP4HEALTH project demonstrated an integrated biorefinery at a pre-industrial scale for recovering valuable biomolecules from food processing by-products. These biomolecules were converted into natural, healthy, and sustainable products for the nutraceutical and cosmetics sectors. The ingredients met market demands for functional natural products by consumers and bio-based formulations for improved sustainability by the industry.

The project focused on underutilized olive and grape by-products, which are rich in bioactive compounds, presenting a market opportunity. Although existing technologies for ingredient recovery are promising, market availability remains limited. The main challenge involved validating a business model for upgrading diverse food processing by-products at a large scale, addressing logistic and investment bottlenecks.

UP4HEALTH's upcycling process integrated a zero-waste approach using four locally available Mediterranean feedstocks: olive pomace, grape pomace, nut by-products, and olive pits. This process delivered four organic, natural, sustainable, and healthy ingredients:

- Natural fruit water rich in polyphenols

- Polyphenol-rich dietary fiber

- Fruit natural oily extracts

- Prebiotic xylooligosaccharides

These ingredients were incorporated into functional food, nutraceutical supplements, and cosmetics, targeting a niche population. The remaining solid fraction from the hydrolysis of olive pits was used for energy production, following the biorefinery concept where biomass is processed into a range of bio-based products and bioenergy.