Physicochemical and Thermal Characterization of Olive Pomace (Biomass)

Seeing the current world energy situation, countries are opting for alternative energy resources, cleaner and more sustainable than fossil fuels, such as biomass. The physicochemical analyses of a biomass before valorization are an essential step to understand its behavior during the energy conversion process. In this context, a series of physicochemical and thermal analyses were performed on olive pomace samples, in order to evaluate the properties of this biomass and to valorize it as a fuel. The ultimate analysis prove that olive pomace constitutes of an important amount of Carbon, Oxygen and Hydrogen (48.2%, 44.3%, and 6.1% respectively) while Nitrogen and Sulphur with small quantities (1.4% and 0% successively). Furthermore, OP samples present a high heating value of 22.5 MJ/kg. Based on thermal analysis, we determine the characteristic combustion parameters. The ignition temperature of samples is about 243 °C while the burnout temperature is 480 °C. in addition, the ignition index D of the studied materiel is 12.8. 10-3 whereas the combustion index S is about 5.95. 10-4. The obtained results prove that olive pomace is a good candidate for exploitation as fuel and can replace fossil fuels.