The LIFE RESTART project was launched in October 2022 (expected end: 31 December 2025) and developed through three different parallel fronts and benefited from a total European co-financing of €1.8 million, used to develop the technologies, set up the production site and conduct research and development activities.
The presence of the UNIME team in the LIFE RESTART project was crucial to define the feasibility of the bio-composites, albeit with a view to a close and fruitful collaboration with all partners for the purpose of integrated development of the entire project.
a) the UNIME team designed, launched and tested the technologies necessary for the treatment of the brewer spent grain and the production of the bio-composites on a laboratory scale, also making use of previous studies preliminary to the LIFE RESTART project. The same UNIME group characterized the threshing from a physical point of view and the bio-composites from a physical-mechanical-rheological and morphological point of view by developing different experimental formulations on a laboratory scale.
( source: https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16212966)
b) the LIFE RESTART project saw the implementation of the first pilot production cycles, designing a specific plant for the processing of brewer spent grain (MTP-Mechanical Treatment Prototype, (see UNIME website: https://ingegneria.unime.it/it/ricerca/laboratori/laboratori-area-industriale-navale).
Thanks to the scientific association of Prof. Visco at the CNR-IPCB in Catania and the collaboration with the UNIPA Engineering Department, bio-pellets were produced on a pilot scale. These allowed the generation of the first batches of bio-composites, which were tested to produce objects in sectors such as floriculture and cosmetics. In this phase, samples were also prepared for biodegradability tests in the soil and physical-mechanical tests of the samples were performed before and after biodegradation in the soil.
c) Since March 2025, thanks to the passionate and innovative work of the UNIME team, these bio-composites of the LIFE RESTART project are now produced in the Zero Factory in Roccavaldina, a Sicilian industrial hub at the forefront of the circular economy.
(see links: LIFE RESTART – Fondazione di Comunità Messina, https://lnkd.in/dK3RUstW )
