EUBCE 2025 - Maria Lourdes MARTÍNEZ-CARTAS - OliPFUEL: Advanced Biofuels Production from Waste Olive Pomace of Olive Oil Industries

OliPFUEL: Advanced Biofuels Production from Waste Olive Pomace of Olive Oil Industries

Short Introductive summary

Olive pomace slurry is a major waste of the olive oil industry. It contains phytotoxic compounds harmful to the environment, making its handling and management difficult. The European Union (EU) is the topmost global producer of olive oil. Consequently, valorising olive pomace has been a pressing challenge for the EU. The OliPFUEL project funded by the EU has developed an integrated biorefining process for converting olive pomace slurry into advanced biofuels, i.e., hydrochar, biodiesel, and bioethanol. The hydrothermal carbonisation was used for the production of hydrochar and sugar-rich hydrolysate. Transesterification of olive pomace oil was performed in the presence of methanol using a KOH catalyst to produce biodiesel. The fermentation of sugar-rich hydrolysate is done by an adapted strain of Hansenula polymorpha for the production of bioethanol. Along with biofuels, the biorefining process also produced glycerol and xylitol as by-products. The OliPFUEL project contributes to EU policies such as the Renewable Energy Directive, the European Green Deal, and the European Bioeconomy Strategy.

A.A. Karim, University of Jaen, Linares, SPAIN
M.L. Martínez Cartas, University of Jaen, Linares, SPAIN
M. Cuevas Aranda, University of Jaen, Linares, SPAIN