The “Technological Development and Innovation” theme has a dual mission:

• Act as an interface between research conducted at the LBE and the industrial world, transposing results obtained in the laboratory to the industrial stage by setting up transfer actions at the pilot stage and then on an industrial scale.
• Responding to requests for applied research/development from economic players: Development of applied research programs in collaboration with private companies, inter-professional structures, research laboratories, etc., with the aim of developing treatment or recovery processes, products or sectors.

The main topics covered are:

• Energy recovery from solid residues by anaerobic digestion: agricultural and agro-industrial residues, fatty waste, plant sludge, etc.
• Physico-chemical pretreatment of waste containing biorefractory, slowly biodegradable organic matter: ozonation, saponification, ultrasound.
• Treatment of small sources of pollution, mainly of agri-food origin: development of the aerobic SBR process.
• Development of innovative anaerobic processes for treating water or solid residues: fixed anaerobic bed, 2-stage methanization.
• Material recovery from food industry by-products (extraction of high value-added molecules prior to bioenergy production).

International relations

Strong international relations have been developed in these areas, particularly with India (Franco-Indian P2R, CEFIPRA project), but also with South Africa, Mexico, the Sultanate of Oman and Tunisia.

Standard analytical services (study of aerobic and anaerobic biodegradability of effluents, measurement of methanogenic potential of solid samples, analysis of wastewater and solid waste, etc.) and customized services are provided by the INRA Transfert Environnement structure housed at the LBE.

Contact : Diana Garcia-Bernet