In Tuscany, approximately 83,000 t/year of crude olive cake are produced as a by-product of the olive oil industry. Part of this by-product is currently conveyed from 450 olive mills to two olive-pomace oil extraction plants where crude pomace oil is produced and dried pomace is used as biomass fuel. The energy potential of the olive pomace produced in Tuscany is assessed and made geographically explicit in the present work. Due to differences in the milling processes currently used in Tuscany, olive pomace characteristics vary in terms of humidity and LHV, which are parameters that can largely influence the quality of biomass. Differences in quality of the biomass obtained through each crushing process were determined and energy potential was allocated to each of the 450 georeferenced oil mills, considering both crushing capacity and type of milling process. Furthermore, qualitative characteristics of the dried pomace produced were identified and energy potential of the biomass was estimated and allocated to the two olive-pomace oil extraction plants according to their actual crushing capacities. In such manner, two alternative utilization scenarios were prospected and their energy potentials , namely, (1) conveying crude olive cake exclusively to the two pomace oil extraction plants located in Tuscany and utilizing the dried pomace as solid fuel, and (2) using the residues at district level, by allocating the pomace produced in all oil mills within the area to a set of selected locations where energy, either for self-consuption or for delivery of heat or electricity, is assumed to be produced.
Utilization of olive pomace for energy purposes in Tuscany: a spatially explicit approach applied to estimating potentials of local bioenergy chains
POLI, DAVIDE;
2010-01-01
Abstract
In Tuscany, approximately 83,000 t/year of crude olive cake are produced as a by-product of the olive oil industry. Part of this by-product is currently conveyed from 450 olive mills to two olive-pomace oil extraction plants where crude pomace oil is produced and dried pomace is used as biomass fuel. The energy potential of the olive pomace produced in Tuscany is assessed and made geographically explicit in the present work. Due to differences in the milling processes currently used in Tuscany, olive pomace characteristics vary in terms of humidity and LHV, which are parameters that can largely influence the quality of biomass. Differences in quality of the biomass obtained through each crushing process were determined and energy potential was allocated to each of the 450 georeferenced oil mills, considering both crushing capacity and type of milling process. Furthermore, qualitative characteristics of the dried pomace produced were identified and energy potential of the biomass was estimated and allocated to the two olive-pomace oil extraction plants according to their actual crushing capacities. In such manner, two alternative utilization scenarios were prospected and their energy potentials , namely, (1) conveying crude olive cake exclusively to the two pomace oil extraction plants located in Tuscany and utilizing the dried pomace as solid fuel, and (2) using the residues at district level, by allocating the pomace produced in all oil mills within the area to a set of selected locations where energy, either for self-consuption or for delivery of heat or electricity, is assumed to be produced.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
