Ever wondered how much waste organic material is left over after producing olive oil? Alot apparently, and unfortunately the high levels of polyphenols contained in the waste make the disposal complicated. But can we utilise this waste instead of wasting energy to dispose of it?
Well, scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart have been putting their minds to such matters and have come up with a plan.
As part of the „En-X-Olive“ project, and sponsored by the EU, the scientists have developed a fermentation process that utilises the solid and liquid waste. They were able to produce up to 720 litres of biogas per kilogram of solid waste and between 680-980 litres of biogas per kilogram of organic dry waste from the liquid waste. A typical biogas facility produces 680 litres of biogas per kilogram of organic dry waste from corn silage.
Even the waste can be used as an organic fertilizer.
Read this and other interesting research stories on the Fraunhofer Institute website.