Recovery and use of olive stones: Commodity, environmental and economic assessment

At the present time biomass (together with sunlight) is the most equally distributed and easily exploited energy resource. Of the various types of biomass, that deriving from agricultural by-products is proving to be of growing interest thanks to the ease with which it can be accessed and processed, its energy concentration and the ‘‘ethical’’ acceptability of this fuel (that does not derive from specifically grown crops but from the by-products of the agricultural industries). In addition, a number of potential environmental problems may be resolved. In particular, during the production of olive oil it is possible to recover olive pits as a by-product for energy production for use as fuel in domestic boilers or in large industrial plants for cogeneration. This study evaluates the commodity, environmental and economic aspects linked to different techniques for the pit recovery from olive pulp and olive pomace. The economic and environmental viability of these new ‘‘best practices’’ has been demonstrated both at the level of production (increased income for olive extraction plants) and at the level of environmental sustainability (use of renewable fuels).