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

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.