ETOILE

BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION VIA LIGNOCELLULOSIC FERMENTATION OF OLIVE OIL RESIDUES

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Bioethanol has been increasingly becoming the renewable energy source that could reduce the oil dependence of the developed countries. Biorefineries can use the locally grown agriculture to produce ethanol. However, food chain supply is beginning to suffer the effects of the ethanol massive production raising major ethical concerns. Cellulosic ethanol can overcome the environmental risks that accompany the surge of harvest biomass feedstocks and thus can represent a real and pursuable technology for the future. According to the US DOE life-cycle analysis, ethanol from cellulose reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 90% compared to gasoline. Cellulosic biomass is the most abundant biomaterial on earth it is available almost in any country. Vegetal residues (wheat and rice straw, olive oils residues, etc.) can constitute a renewable source of raw materials for cellulosic ethanol production plants. Currently only a few pilot plants are producing bioethanol from lignocellulosic feedstock using an enzymatic hydrolysis process. Olive oil residues can constitute a valuable resource as a low cost feedstock for cellulosic ethanol production. At least 2 million tonnes of cellulose are discarded on the Mediterranean area every year, representing both an environmental problem and a waste of a valuable resource. The ETOILE project intends to develop a new integrated process where olive mill waste water from traditional three-phase centrifugation process is purified and at the same time cellulase enzymes are obtained. These enzymes are then used onto the solid olive oil residues, such as olive pulp and husks, to obtain ethanol. The research envisaged will thus provide a viable alternative to the growing bioethanol industry seeking for new cost-effective production processes competitive with oil industry.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Natural oils powered lamps in antiquity. Millennia later, current technology has found a way to make biofuel from olive oil residues.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Olive oil production has been a tradition in southern Europe for millennia, although it may not have been used for energy per se. Today, there are modern methods for recycling residues and producing bioethanol for energy from this elixir of life.

The EU-funded Etoile (?Bioethanol production via lignocellulosic fermentation of olive oil residues?) project is developing a new process where olive mill wastewater from traditional three-phase centrifugation is purified, yielding valuable enzymes at the same time. These 'cellulase enzymes' are then combined with the olive residues, such as pulp and husks, to obtain ethanol, creating a viable alternative to the growing bioethanol (clean fuel) industry.

The research envisaged will thus provide a viable alternative to the bioethanol industry which is seeking new cost-effective production processes that are competitive with the fuel industry.

To achieve its goals, the project will seek to address many issues such as developing efficient, cost-effective and eco-friendly pretreatment for solid residues of olive oil extraction. It must identify a robust micro-organism that transforms sugars into ethanol quickly and is highly ethanol tolerant.

Cellulase enzymes account for 40% of the ethanol production costs and must be kept down. Ways must also be found to manage the wastewater from olive mills, which is normally highly polluting.

The project team is currently developing a more efficient fermentation process for ethanol. It is exploring ways to treat wastewater from olive mills and recycle the enzymes so as to reduce their costs per litre of ethanol. In addition, researchers are developing a pretreatment process for olive oil residues which does not require expensive chemicals and/or costly high-pressure equipment. This also involves ethanol-recovery process design and optimisation to keep fermentation rates high and increase the production rate of ethanol by 20%. The project has an ambitious objective to develop a pilot-scale bioethanol production plant that can achieve a 30-40% reduction in fuel consumption and energy costs.

The likelihood of success is high and will offer another excellent method to extract ethanol, promote eco-friendly fuel and make use of olive oil residue in all olive-growing European countries, and is likely to spread to other Mediterranean regions such as the Near East and Africa in the future.