TITLE:
Possibilities of Creating Zero CO2 Emissions Olive Pomace Plants Due to Energy Use in Crete, Greece
AUTHORS:
John Vourdoubas
KEYWORDS:
Solid Biomass, CO2 Emissions Savings, Crete-Greece, Olive Pomace Plant, Photovoltaics
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Energy Efficiency,
Vol.5 No.3,
August
26,
2016
ABSTRACT: Olive pomace plants
process olive paste, a waste product of olive mills which produces crude olive
kernel oil and olive kernel wood. Olive kernel wood has very good burning
characteristics, high heat content, low cost and it is used as a renewable
solid fuel replacing liquid fuel and heating oil. Part of the produced olive
kernel wood is consumed inside the factory for heat generation and the rest is
sold to heat consumers. It has been estimated that a typical olive pomace plant
located in Crete, Greece consumes 42.86% of the produced olive kernel wood for
its own heat generation, while the remaining 57.14% is sold to various heat
consumers. 99.1% of the energy used in these plants is consumed for heating and
the rest, 0.9%, for lighting and the operation of various electric devices.
Olive pomace plants utilize a renewable solid fuel, which is carbon neutral,
for the production of thermal energy. Therefore their CO2 emissions
regarding energy utilization are due to electricity use. Installation of solar-PV
panels in the plant could generate annually all the electricity needed for its
operation. The current legal framework in Greece through net-metering allows
the offsetting of grid electricity consumed in factories with PV electricity.
The required capital cost of a solar-PV system installed in a typical olive
pomace plant located in Crete, Greece in order to offset the grid electricity
consumed annually has been estimated at 185,832€, the payback period of 5.33
years and the net present value at 555,671€. Since the plant could utilize only
solid biomass for heat generation and could offset the grid electricity
consumption with solar electricity, its total CO2 emissions due to
energy use would be zero contributing positively to climate stabilization.