Enrico Papa's study applied to local entrepreneurship
20 February 2018 - He is a promising young man, just graduated from Industrial Engineering and close to starting the master's degree course in Chemical Engineering for Sustainable Development. Enrico Papa is 23 years old and has committed his thesis project to the creation of a five-year eco-sustainability plan with the involvement of three companies: the idea concerns the commissioning of an energy production plant that allows the reintegration into the production process precisely the 'waste' of the companies themselves. Recycling, saving and reducing pollution therefore.
At the center of the work, of which the eng. Luisa Di Paola she was a speaker, the family business, a confectionery factory in Molise that produces chocolate, sugared almonds and macarons, together with Nutfruit Italia srl, an agricultural enterprise that for some years now – thanks to European Union funds – has been tackling the challenge of cultivating 7 and a half hectares of local almond. Two realities that want to grow with the aim of doubling confectionery production and extending the almond land to 500 hectares by 2023, but with attention to the environment and the local area.
This is where Enrico's thesis comes into play with the participation of Uniconfort, a Venetian company that builds technologically advanced biomass plants because they are able to use biofuels with a relative humidity level of up to 50% such as prunings and almond shells. Vegetable and food waste which, without any need for drying or additional processing, would make it possible to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to zero.
"For a company that consumes 600.000 kw a year for its electricity needs and which would reach one million in the next 5 years - said Enrico Papa - installing the biomass plant represents an investment in terms of economic and environmental savings and community safety. The company aims to create an almond supply chain able not only to satisfy the production needs, but also the energy needs through the installation of a trigeneration plant, thus reducing the costs of electricity, heating and cooling and thus reducing CO2 emissions".
