Biofuel Potential of Olive (olea europaea) Fruit Biomass Wastes Yaakov Micha Knoll1, Leonid Yarmolinsky2 and Zeev Weisman3
As the worldwide demand for alternative energy sources grows, biofuels originating from biomass can have a significant role. Besides the environmental and political benefits of developing and using biofuels, wastes can be used as feedstock, which may solve more environmental problems. The olive oil industry produces large amounts of wastes. Two types of these wastes - fallen olives left on the ground in orchards, and olive pomace from olive mills - may contain large amounts of residual oil which is not suitable for marketing as edible olive oil, and thus may be utilized for production of biodiesel. In addition, the dry matter from these wastes may contain large amounts of cellulose and hemicellulose, which may be utilized for production of bioethanol. In this study, we aim to examine the potential of these wastes for production of biodiesel and bioethanol. The methods being used for quantitative evaluation of the biodiesel potential include extraction by soxhlet apparatus, and low resolution NMR, a fairly new method which has several advantages. The method being used for qualitative evaluation of the biodiesel potential is Gas Chromatography, in order to characterize the fatty acid profile, known to be correlated with important quality traits of biodiesel, such as viscosity. The methods being used for the evaluation of the bioethanol potential include chemical hydrolyses of the different components of the dry matter, in order to gravimetrically evaluate the amount of available polysaccharides. Preliminary results include a calibration curve showing LR-NMR results correlated to oil content, oil contents of olive pomace samples ranging from 4.2% to 8.3%, fatty acid profiles of oil from olive wastes, and holocellulose contents of olive pomace and of fallen olives of about 52%, out of which 24%-31% is cellulose. Keywords: olive oil, olive pomace, biodiesel, bioethanol, cellulose, hemicellulose, Gas Chromatograph, low resolution NMR, extraction, fatty acids, triglycerides. 1. The Phyto-Lipid Biotechnology Lab, Energy Engineering Unit, The Institutes for Applied Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel 2. The Phyto-Lipid Biotechnology Lab, The Institutes for Applied Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel 3. The Phyto-Lipid Biotechnology Lab, Biotechnology Engineering and Energy Engineering Unit, The Institutes for Applied Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel. Tele/fax +972 8 647-7184; email:
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