MCAST has set up a Biomass Pilot Plant and a Biomass Research Centre as part of the CRIM SAFRI research project that has just been completed. This project, part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the Italia-Malta Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2007-2013, focused on the sustainability of small/medium enterprises (SMEs) working predominantly within the building and construction sector. The research project was worth €2,191,647.
The Research Centre, situated at the MCAST Institute of Applied Science, is now supporting local authorities, clusters of SMEs and SMEs to implement sustainable consumption and production strategies which include environmental sustainability and renewable energy exploitation.
The Biomass Pilot Plant, which operates from Eurocraft Joinery Ltd at Ta' Qali, converts construction wood waste, including saw dust and wood shavings, into energy. It is aimed that this energy will be exported into the national energy grid in the future, and should provide Eurocraft Joinery Ltd with a revenue for the waste that has been utilized. This in turn makes the company's operational activities more sustainable and will also reduce the need for it to dispose of its waste materials. The pilot research on biomass conversion has provided new learning into how these companies can become more sustainable by turning their waste into energy, as opposed to disposing of it.
There are eight partners participating in this research project, six of which are Italian partners from the south of Italy. The eight partners are: 1) the Regione Sicilia-Assessorato Regionale Territorio e Ambientale-Urban Department; 2) the University of Palermo-Department of Energy; 3) the Institute of Biomedicine and Molecular Immunology-Alberto Monroy; 4) the Department for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity; 5) the Agrigento Agricultural Chamber of Commerce; 6) the Med.O.R.O. Institute for Research, Work and Territorial Development of the Mediterranean; 7) the Malta Intelligent Energy Management Agency (MIEMA) and 8) MCAST.