Organic waste after wine and olive oil production as raw material for thermal energy generation

Abstract

The olive and grape agro-industrial sectors have a major economic importance in Croatia. Utilization of that kind of waste is legally regulated in the EU, and in the Republic of Croatia with Rulebook of ecological production in plant growing and plant material production it is defined that agricultural waste cannot be reused without prior treatment. Grape marc, as well as olive cake, can be a valuable raw material, and it can be well used in energy generation. In this paper, the energetic potential of organic wastes after wine and olive oil production will be investigated, with the purpose of obtaining thermal energy. By laboratory pelleting of these organic wastes, a product of high density and better volumetric energy value will be produced, which will result in decrease of transport and storing costs, and better combustion quality when producing thermal energy. The quality of such pellets as biofuel cannot be defined without determining their physical and chemical properties, namely combustion characteristics. The energetic potential of wine grape and olive cake will be determined as well as the possibility for its utilization as an energy-generating product in producing thermal energy.

Keywords

• grape marc
• olive cake
• pelleting
• energetic value
• thermal energy