Two of the challenges to be tackled in order to make urban territory and industrial manufacturing sustainable from an ecological point of view, are the capture and conversion of CO2 in useful compost and the transformation of urban waste into raw materials for agriculture and industry.

The SATURNO platform allows:

• On one hand, the conversion of urban organic waste into raw materials for use in various sectors (industrial chemistry and waste, fuels and cars, agriculture, industrial and concrete biochemistry and biotechnologies)
• On the other hand, the recovery and conversion of CO2 through the development, application and validation of innovative methods.

The SATURNO biorefinery represents a practical example of urban circular economy thanks to the creation of new processes and products, with particular attention to the recovery and re-use of CO2.

The project involves validation of the entire chain through the creation of business plans and assessments of environmental and social impact in order to supply an all-round perspective of the “new economy”, including economic and social issues. This will be flanked by mapping of production waste to understand better (at regional level) the flow of materials and waste of the different production chains to which the SATURNO project could offer an example of replicability.

The SATURNO project aims to develop a circular bioeconomy chain through the creation of new processes and products, with particular attention to the recovery and reuse of carbonic anhydride.

As part of the Saturno project, UPO will be involved in preparing carbon-based materials with high surface area of polymers and in the study of composition and reactivation of cement bonds. For the definition process, the team will work with NMR techniques of multinuclear solid states, x-ray diffraction, vibrational spectroscopes, and cell surface analysis techniques.

UPO is engaged in the conversion of waste plastic and development of materials with a high surface area for capture and conversion of CO2. UPO will analyse plastic parts from FORSU with SS multinuclear NMR and will deal with the conversion of plastic waste in the carbon stages of different porosity, studying cementised products (clinker, cements) from alternative combustible products in the project.

UPO will develop materials with a high surface area for capture and conversion of CO2 for:

1. Exhaust pipe of a petrol engine car 2) methane cogenerator 3) cement works. The synthesis will be graduated for the preparation of some kg of material. UPO will also be engaged in the preparation of materials for the electro-catalytic conversion of CO2.