Farmer David Jimenez Zamora didn't stress when gas and electricity prices in Spain soared. He kept the indoor swimming pool in the 18th-century farmhouse, which he rents out to tourists, heated and hot water for 26 guests at the same time, without receiving the terrifying energy bills that plague the Spanish, writes dariknews.bg.
His secret? Olive pits.
“We use olive pits from our trees to heat the pool, the underfloor heating system and get hot water,” says the 48-year-old man.
“It is usually used from September onwards,” he says, standing next to a warehouse of 5,000 kg. bones overlooking a sea of olive trees in the province of Granada, in southern Andalusia.
The olive pits also feed the machines for the production of the famous Spanish olive oil “liquid gold” in two agricultural cooperatives in which he participates. Solar panels cover the rest of their energy needs.
Using the pits to power boilers in homes and small businesses, mills and even flights in Spain's olive-growing heartland shows the role industry and the country's vast agricultural sector can play in helping to decarbonise hard-to-electrify sectors such as aviation.
His secret? Olive pits.
“We use olive pits from our trees to heat the pool, the underfloor heating system and get hot water,” says the 48-year-old man.
“It is usually used from September onwards,” he says, standing next to a warehouse of 5,000 kg. bones overlooking a sea of olive trees in the province of Granada, in southern Andalusia.
The olive pits also feed the machines for the production of the famous Spanish olive oil “liquid gold” in two agricultural cooperatives in which he participates. Solar panels cover the rest of their energy needs.
Using the pits to power boilers in homes and small businesses, mills and even flights in Spain's olive-growing heartland shows the role industry and the country's vast agricultural sector can play in helping to decarbonise hard-to-electrify sectors such as aviation.
Using pits as biomass is not new in olive producing countries such as Spain and Italy. However, the energy shock following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Europe's drive to decarbonise and the olive industry's struggle in recent years with price fluctuations have sparked renewed interest in extracting maximum value from the crop, farmers and industry groups say.
The Spanish olive oil industry is also a natural ally of companies such as Repsol and Cepsa, which are investing heavily in increasing capacity to convert organic waste into biofuels.
Spain is the largest producer of olive oil in the world, producing up to half of the world's production in recent years, 80% of which is in Andalusia.
In the ten years to 2019, the country accounted for more than half of Europe's olive pit stocks on average, according to estimates by the Spanish biomass association Avebiom.
A byproduct of olive oil production, pits make up between 8 and 10% of a tonne of processed olives. On average, Spain produces around 400,000 tonnes of olive pits per year, says Pablo Rodero of Avebiom.
About a third of it is refined to reduce the moisture content and produce a pure product that can power domestic boilers, with the highest price - up to twice that of unrefined pits, according to Rodero. The rest is used to produce heat to drive diamond mills - as traditional mills are known - and in industrial boilers, according to the association. More mills and companies are refining the pits to sell to local consumers, Rodero says.
At the end of last year, there were 31 companies in Spain refining and producing olive pits as biomass, compared to 25 in 2020.
Many of them, such as Pelaez Renovables, are located in Andalusia. Each year it refines up to 25,000 tonnes of pits to sell to residential and industrial customers, with added value of between €60 and €80 per tonne, managing partner Jose Pelaez said.
The Spanish olive oil industry is also a natural ally of companies such as Repsol and Cepsa, which are investing heavily in increasing capacity to convert organic waste into biofuels.
Spain is the largest producer of olive oil in the world, producing up to half of the world's production in recent years, 80% of which is in Andalusia.
In the ten years to 2019, the country accounted for more than half of Europe's olive pit stocks on average, according to estimates by the Spanish biomass association Avebiom.
A byproduct of olive oil production, pits make up between 8 and 10% of a tonne of processed olives. On average, Spain produces around 400,000 tonnes of olive pits per year, says Pablo Rodero of Avebiom.
About a third of it is refined to reduce the moisture content and produce a pure product that can power domestic boilers, with the highest price - up to twice that of unrefined pits, according to Rodero. The rest is used to produce heat to drive diamond mills - as traditional mills are known - and in industrial boilers, according to the association. More mills and companies are refining the pits to sell to local consumers, Rodero says.
At the end of last year, there were 31 companies in Spain refining and producing olive pits as biomass, compared to 25 in 2020.
Many of them, such as Pelaez Renovables, are located in Andalusia. Each year it refines up to 25,000 tonnes of pits to sell to residential and industrial customers, with added value of between €60 and €80 per tonne, managing partner Jose Pelaez said.