This Wednesday, 11 December, an evaluation meeting on the second stage of the Leather ReBioenergia project was held at the Adoberia Bella, headquarters of Leather Cluster Barcelona, just after ACCIÓ approved its support for the initiative.

Leather Cluster Barcelona continues with its firm commitment on the path towards Zero Waste. In this regard, the cluster is driving a number of projects with the aim of achieving the maximum valorisation of organic waste-resources.

In 2019 the cluster launched a project to valorise hair as an ingredient for biofertilisers, and in 2021 the ReGenera project was launched. In 2022 this took shape in the ReGras Pro subproject to obtain oils for biofuel and proteins from fleshings, with an estimated investment of 3.5 million euros to be carried out from 2025 onwards.

Following the promising results of ReBioenergia 2023, since the beginning of April the second part of this project has been under way, dealing with terminal waste which, once the Best Available Techniques of the Circular Economy have been applied, still has no alternative other than landfill, as is the case with sludge from treatment plants or leather offcuts.

In this new stage, the Leather ReBioenergia project seeks to give advanced treatment to terminal waste, promote decarbonisation, channel the best treatment of goods made of leather (coming from Take Back policies), and generate energy not derived from fossil resources.

The advantages of this project include the compostability of leather offcuts and other organic waste, the genetic sequencing of the compost, pyrolysis or gasification as an efficient waste treatment system, the production of synthesis gas and the reduction of energy consumption from fossil sources. It facilitates the elimination of landfill use, the recovery of elements such as chromium and phosphorus, and the use of inert ash in various applications. It also makes it possible to manage other waste from the area not linked to the leather value chain, thus meeting the demand of major fashion brands and other industries with a need for the sustainable treatment of their waste.

Under the direction and coordination of Leather Cluster Barcelona, this second stage of the ReBioenergia project has the participation of the cluster members Adobinve SL, Igualadina de Depuració i Recuperació SL (IDR) and the research group of the University of Lleida (UdL), A3 Leather Innovation Center. Also a partner in the project is the Bioenergy Cluster of Catalonia (CBC), an organisation that brings together the bioenergy business sector and works to promote energy projects that support the country’s transformation towards a competitive and circular economic model.

As has been noted, this project has the support of ACCIÓ, the public agency for the competitiveness of Catalan business attached to the Ministry of Business and Labour of the Generalitat de Catalunya, within the framework of the grants for initiatives to strengthen competitiveness in nuclear transition areas for the entities forming part of the Catalonia Clusters Programme, related, among other things, to the implementation of strategic changes, innovations and new trends in the cluster or in the companies of the sector.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is an environment of competitive cooperation for promoting cross-cutting, transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an accredited entity within the Catalonia Clusters programme and is supported by Acció.