RESOLIVE · Adaptation of renewable energies technologies for the olive oil industry

The European olive oil sector is nowadays facing several stresses that push towards a new approach to production. Despite worldwide consumption rises; new producer countries enter the markets and increase competition, threatening European producers’ position. Besides, the high polluting character of its residues, poses serious problems to the olive mills, especially in the case of small and medium ones. All the groups involved agree on the need for a more sustainable approach to production, where environmental conditions are taken into consideration without damaging productivity. Even though efforts have been made so far for bringing the results obtained to practice, many local producers associations still lack a clear guidance adapted to their needs in specific fields, resulting in giving up the implementation of these activities after the institutional support is over. The proposing IAGs intend to take an integrated and more proactive approach to the problem: This polluting charge of olive mill waste (OMW) can be taken as an advantage to produce energy: OMW has many uses in renewable energy: it can, for instance, be gasified to obtain hydrogen, digested in an anaerobic process to obtain methane, or directly used in combustion. RESOLIVE will also explore other processes to obtain a valuable outcome from olive mill residues: solar distillation, composting, etc. The main objectives of the proposed project are: - To define the needs for the implementation of renewable energy solutions specific to the olive oil industry and proceed to test in practice their performance. - To create a comprehensive set of guidelines that will advice the associates of olive oil producers’ cooperatives deciding which of the available options for the implementation of renewable energy suits their conditions best. - To summarize the existing knowledge in olive waste valorisation and transfer this knowledge to its end users, supporting them in the further implementation.