Spain, a leading olive oil producer, uses olive stones as fuel

David Jimenez Zamora, a farmer in Spain, barely batted an eyelid when the price of gas and electricity soared due to the energy crisis.

The Spanish man kept the heated pool and hot water flowing for up to 26 guests in his 18th century farmhouse.

What is his secret? Olive stones.

The 48-year old said, "We use the olive pits that we have on our trees to heat up the pool and the underfloor heating systems. We also get hot water."

He said that the store, which held 5,000 kilos, was located in Granada in southern Andalusia.

Two agricultural cooperatives that he is a member of also use olive stones to power machines that produce Spain's famed liquid gold olive oil. The rest of the energy is provided by solar panels.

In Spain's olive growing heartland, pits are used to fuel boilers for homes, small businesses, mills, and even flights. This shows how the agricultural sector and industry can help decarbonise sectors like aviation that are hard to electrify.

In olive-producing nations like Spain and Italy, using stones as biomass has been done for many years. Farmers and industry groups say that the energy shock caused by Russia's invasion in Ukraine, Europe’s push for decarbonisation, and the struggles of the olive oil industry in recent years due to fluctuating prices has sparked a renewed interest in getting the most value from the crop.

The olive oil industry in Spain is a natural partner for companies such as Repsol and Cepsa who are investing heavily to increase their capacity to convert organic waste into biofuels.

GLOBAL LEADERSHIP Spain has been the largest producer of olive oils in the world for the past few years. Andalusia accounts for 80% of this production.

According to the Spanish biomass association Avebiom, in the 10 years up to 2019, Spain accounted for an average of over half of Europe’s olive stone stock.

As a by-product of the olive oil industry, pits make up between 8 and 10 percent of each ton of processed green olives. Avebiom's Pablo Rodero stated that Spain produces approximately 400,000 tons worth of olive pits per year.

Rodero says that a third is refined in order to remove moisture and create a product which can be used to fuel domestic boilers. This produces the highest price - as much as twice as much as non-refined stone. According to the association, the rest is used for producing thermal energy that drives the almazaras (traditional mills) and industrial boilers.

Rodero, a Rodero spokesperson, said that more and more mills are refining stones to sell to domestic consumers.

By 2020, Spain will have 31 companies refining and manufacturing olive stones as biomass.

Pelaez Renovables is one of them. It refines up 25,000 tons per year for domestic and industrial clients, adding between 60-80 euro to each ton.

He added that the past two years were difficult.

Spain's olive harvest was devastated by scorching temperatures. Pelaez explained that with fewer stones available on the market, price spiked. This shook years of stability, and led to a 40% decrease in demand.

Avebiom data shows that last year consumers paid up to 400 Euros per ton for olive pits. This is equivalent to 8 euro cents/kilowatt hours (kWh), including taxes and transport. The price will more than double in 2021.

Stones are still cheaper than diesel, and gas is priced by the government. However, they are more expensive than wood pellets.

Pelaez expects that the price of a ton will drop towards 300 euros in the second quarter.

He said, "I'd be happy with a 5-10% increase per year."

Sara Pizzinato of Greenpeace Spain and Helena Moreno from Greenpeace Spain say that biomass and biofuels shouldn't be used as a primary source of energy when electrification cannot be achieved. Burning biomass has an impact on the environment and releases pollutants.

Moreno stated that the sector was attracting private equity companies eager to industrialize production and make it unsustainable.

Cepsa, an oil company in Andalusia, has even taken the pits into the air. It used them, along with other olive industry wastes, to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which powered over 200 flights from Andalusia’s Seville Airport.

Rodero, and other sources in the industry, said that large companies are focusing on wastes which are cheaper, but equally or even better suited for biofuels. This includes used cooking oil.

Macarena Sánchez, director of Almazaras Federadas de Espana, which represents over 200 mills in Spain, explained that stones and organic wastes are an important source of income for the mills. They can account for as much as a third their revenues.

Rodero said that this is a major change for an industry which in the past did not know how to deal with its waste.

He said, "Now everything has been used." "Olives like pigs, nothing goes to waste." (Reporting and additional reporting by Jon Nazca.) Editing by Aislinn Laing, Alexandra Hudson)

(source: Reuters)