Pomace from Olive Oil Production Waste

Hi All,

I was watching a YouTube video on how the Romans reduced the need for deforesting the Mediterranean by using the waste from olive oil production (called pomace) as a fuel source. The source video is here: https://permies.com/forums/posts/insertOnCategory/7. Doing some research, I found that the heat production from pomace is roughly the same for pomace as it is for blackthorn wood. That's about 18.9 MJ/Kg versus 20.5 MJ/Kg for pomace. Note that this is an average and can vary a good bit based on moisture and other factors. There has also been some research done by professional historians. This article (Olive Oil Pressing Waste as a Fuel
Source in Antiquity) appeared in the American Journal of Archaeology in 2015 (Vol. 119, No. 4). It can be found at Academia.edu here: https://www.academia.edu/87278042/Olive_Oil_Pressing_Waste_as_a_Fuel_Source_in_Antiquity.

I'm wondering if anyone here who lives in areas with olive trees and olive oil production uses pomace as fuel and, if so, how do you like it? What are the pros and cons? Can it be used in a rocket mass heater?

Interesting! I'm interested to see what people think.

I confess that burning anything that can be fed to pigs seems like a waste. But it's better than denuding the landscape for fuel.

Douglas,

Interesting. I didn't know it could be fed to pigs. That creates an interesting opposition: Feed it to the pigs or use it for fuel, or (perhaps) do some of both. Certainly, being able to cook and heat your home is important, but so is food production. I hope others comment so that we can get an interesting set of responses and thoughts on this.

If you are feeding pigs, you will have good feedstock for a biodigester-stacking functions.

Lenn Sisson wrote:Interesting. I didn't know it could be fed to pigs.

Haha, don't take that as gospel. I was posing a hypothetical. There isn't much a pig won't eat. But maybe there's a catch.

Edit: There is some research on this subject. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352186424000257

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

Lenn Sisson wrote:Interesting. I didn't know it could be fed to pigs.

Haha, don't take that as gospel. I was posing a hypothetical. There isn't much a pig won't eat. But maybe there's a catch.

Edit: There is some research on this subject. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352186424000257

Douglas, thanks for this.