6 June 2025
Antonella Angelini (CNR-IRSA) presented the Bio-Lubridge project at the ISYDES 2025 symposium, held in Bari from June 3 to 6, 2025. ISYDES 2025 was the first international symposium on deep eutectic solvents. Deep eutectic solvents (DES) have emerged over the years as a fascinating and promising research field, offering innovative solutions in a multitude of disciplines. From chemistry to materials science, from engineering to organometallic chemistry, and with a growing expansion in fields such as extraction processes, chemical analysis, medicine, pharmaceuticals, catalysis, and electrochemistry, DES have increasingly attracted the attention of both researchers and industry.
In the “Sub-action B2.4 Extraction of lipids from sewage sludge” the use of the lipids recovery unit under the optimized conditions defined in Sub-action B2.2. provides to one side the lipids to be sent and converted into biolubricants and on the other side a residual sludge having a TS of 45%.
This final sludge still holds potential as a resource, as it contains approximately 11% of lipids and 14% of cellulose.
The poster presented at ISYDES-2025 describes the treatment of this residual sludge using a deep eutectic solvent (DES) easily obtained by mixing choline chloride, aluminum chloride hexahydrate, and Levulinic acid. The goal is twofold: on one hand, to degrade the sludge structure and facilitate the separation of residual lipids; on the other, to extract cellulose and convert it into high-value-added products.
