FFW

Liquid and gas Fischer-Tropsch fuel production from olive industry waste: fuel from waste

 Partecipanti

Mappa

 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The overall aim of the project is to use agricultural waste, mainly residues from olive farming and olive oil production, for the generation of ready-to-use fuels, namely synthetic natural gas (SNG) and diesel, which would be primarily used for energy production for oil manufacturing and as transportation fuel for olive farming. The optimization of the project and the possible addition of different agricultural or solid urban residues will lead to the obtaining of surplus fuels, which will be sold for common uses, since the production will meet the standards for natural gas and diesel respectively. The production of these fuels will be based on a synthetic procedure: the Fischer-Tropsch process. All the steps from raw residue to fuel will be considered in this project, including physical and chemical treatments. The main synthetic procedures will be Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, which will produce the liquid fuel, and methanation, which will produce the SNG. The most important advance beyond the state-of-the-art will be the development of a novel catalyst for the Fischer-Tropsch process which will enhance the overall performance of the process from the current values. Apart from that, innovations will be sought in the pretreatment steps, with special interest in the development of membrane purification methods that would facilitate the gas purification required for the overall procedure. The overall expected impacts are fuel production, which would reduce the overall greenhouse gas emissions from the olive industry and introduce an alternative to the use of conventional (fossil) fuels, reduction of waste treatment requirements, application of technology beyond the state-of-the-art, employment creation and technology exportation.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Waste has ceased to be regarded as merely a problem to dispose of. EU-funded researchers are developing new technology to unlock the full potential of olive oil industry waste as a renewable energy resource.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

As our consumer society expands, the consumption of natural resources increases and so does the waste it produces, especially as a by-product of industrial activity. Vital energy resources are becoming scarcer and harder to secure. If the problem gets worse, it could endanger growth and irreversibly harm the environment. But things have started to change.

The EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) has funded research aiming to find innovative ways of using waste as an energy resource. The 'Liquid and gas Fischer-Tropsch fuel production from olive industry waste: Fuel from waste' (http://www.fuelfromwaste.eu/ (FFW)) project is testing innovative technologies to reduce the environmental footprint of the olive oil industry across the Mediterranean basin.

FFW has gathered experts from eight European countries to achieve efficient yet profitable use of olive oil industry residues as raw material to produce synthetic natural gas and liquid biofuels. Biodiesel could fuel tractors and trucks used for gathering and transporting olives and natural gas for heating in olive oil mills.

So far, FFW partners have selected the most proper composition of the olive residue blend and identified the required equipment. The available biomass from olive crop and olive oil production will be pre-treated and then converted to synthetic gas via gasification. The resulting natural gas will then be cleaned prior to conversion to liquid biofuels, via the Fischer-Tropschprocess.

The feasibility of up-scaling this thermochemical process to produce fuel components similar to fossil-derived diesel fuels at commercial levels has also been evaluated. The amount of available pits, pomace and remains from olive tree pruning that can serve as input was estimated through an e-mail survey. At the same time, FFW researchers gathered information about how all stakeholders perceive the new approach.

Reuse of the olive waste can bring both economic and environmental benefits. The FFW technology will allow the olive industry to reduce its dependence on polluting fossil fuels, thereby reducing production costs and lowering its environmental footprint. Reuse of olive industry residues at local scale, rather than landfill disposal, will become a profitable option.