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Bioenergy production from olive oil mill solid wastes and their blends with lignite: thermal characterization, kinetics, thermodynamic analysis, and several scenarios for sustainable practices

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Abstract

Olive oil production is accompanied by the generation of large amount of solid wastes. In order to achieve a sustainable practice for olive mill solid wastes, the combustion of extracted olive pomace, olive stone, and their blends with lignite at different proportions was studied via several methods. Energy content, proximate, ultimate, and thermogravimetric/derivative thermogravimetric analysis (TG/DTG) were performed. Empirical chemical formulas and emission factors were calculated. Reaction kinetic parameters, such as activation energy (E), and pre-exponential factor (A) and thermodynamics parameters, such as Gibbs free energy change (ΔGα), entropy change (ΔSα), enthalpy change (ΔHα), were calculated. Olive oil wastes reveal low ash (< 7%), high gross calorific value (GCV) (~ 21 MJ/kg), and lower activation energy (48.57 and 64.18 kJ/mol respectively) than lignite (70.79 kJ/mol). Maximum potential emissions were also lower. Furthermore, nine case studies with three different scenarios (%wastes into the blends) in three regions (Greece, Europe, and Worldwide) for the estimation of potential energy cover from olive oil solid wastes were developed. Quality characteristics of olive mill solid wastes seem to be appropriate to bioenergy for a sustainable practice. Even in the worst-case scenarios, olive mill solid wastes seem to be promising for waste-to-energy practices via combustion and co-combustion with lignite for small-scale applications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Lemonidou Angeliki and Ntampou Xanthi for their assistance with ultimate analysis.

Funding

This research is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund—ESF) through the Operational Programme «Human Resources Development. Education and Lifelong Learning» in the context of the project “Strengthening Human Resources Research Potential via Doctorate Research” (MIS-5000432), implemented by the State Scholarships Foundation (ΙΚΥ).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100, Xanthi, Greece

    Agapi Vasileiadou & Stamatis Zoras

  2. Department of Mineral Resources Engineering, University of Western Macedonia, 50100, Kozani, Greece

    Agapi Vasileiadou & Andreas Iordanidis

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  1. Agapi Vasileiadou
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  2. Stamatis Zoras
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  3. Andreas Iordanidis
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Correspondence to Agapi Vasileiadou.

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Statement of novelty

Although the sustainable management in well known, until today, fossil fuels have major share in global energy production. In recent years, researches have shown that biomass by-product combustion and/or co-combustion with lignite could enhance the circular economy and sustainable management. The novelty in this research lies on a more comprehensive evaluation compared to other past works (energy content, proximate, ultimate analysis, thermogravimetric and derivative thermogravimetric analysis, empirical chemical formulas, kinetic modelling, thermodynamic analysis) of olive oil mill solid wastes and their blends with lignite for bioenergy production and the examination of several scenarios of potential cover of energy demand, in Greece, in Europe, and worldwide; such scenarios are reported for the first time in the current study.

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Vasileiadou, A., Zoras, S. & Iordanidis, A. Bioenergy production from olive oil mill solid wastes and their blends with lignite: thermal characterization, kinetics, thermodynamic analysis, and several scenarios for sustainable practices. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 13, 5325–5338 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-01518-6

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