Develop an advanced absorbent technology based on a clay eco-aerogel to create a solution for capturing and recovering contaminating oils in aqueous media. The new solution should be compliant with successive applications and allow the recovery of oils for reuse, thus enabling converting a waste that is an environmental liability into an asset with economic potential.
The ECOSORV project aims to develop a functionalized clay eco-aerogel capable of selectively absorbing and recovering fat residues present in an aqueous medium, especially the ones used cooking oils. In addition to making use of the unique properties of aerogels, which enhance exceptional levels of absorption, the new solution will also have properties that guarantee mechanical strength for the compression and extraction of captured fats and thus enable successive reuse, thus reinforcing its environmental and economic value.
Promote greater productivity of materials and minimization of waste flows sent to landfill, enabling the regeneration of resources and associated natural systems and contributing to the transformation, modernization and transition to a circular economy of an important industrial sector in the Portuguese Central Region. The results will be the protocols for the development of ECOSORV materials and associated production technologies as well as small prototype series of different forms of ECOSORV products on a pre-industrial scale.