Location of Biorefineries Based on Olive-Derived Biomass in Andalusia, Spain

Diego Cardoza, Inmaculada Romero, Teresa Martínez, Encarnación Ruiz, Francisco J. Gallego, Juan Carlos López-Linares, Paloma Manzanares and Eulogio Castro
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Diego Cardoza: Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, Campus Las Lagunillas, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain
Inmaculada Romero: Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, Campus Las Lagunillas, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain
Teresa Martínez: Centro Tecnológico Nuevo Jaén, Instituto de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa, Ctra de Madrid Km 332, 23009 Jaén, Spain
Encarnación Ruiz: Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, Campus Las Lagunillas, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain
Francisco J. Gallego: Centre for Advanced Studies in Earth Sciences, Energy and Environment (CEACTEMA), Campus Las Lagunillas, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain
Juan Carlos López-Linares: Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, Campus Las Lagunillas, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain
Paloma Manzanares: Biofuels Unit, Renewable Energies Division, CIEMAT, Avda., Complutense 40, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Eulogio Castro: Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, Campus Las Lagunillas, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: A biorefinery integrated process based on lignocellulosic feedstock is especially interesting in rural areas with a high density of agricultural and agro-industrial wastes, which is the case for olive crop areas and their associated industries. In the region of Andalusia, in the south of Spain, the provinces of Jaén, Córdoba and Seville accumulate more than 70% of the olive wastes generated in Spain. Therefore, the valorisation of these wastes is a matter of interest from both an environmental and a social point of view. The olive biorefinery involves a multi-product process from different raw materials: olive leaves, exhausted olive pomace, olive stones and olive tree pruning residues. Biorefinery processes associated with these wastes would allow their valorisation to produce bioenergy and high value-added renewable products. In this work, using geographic information system tools, the biomass from olive crop fields, mills and olive pomace-extracting industries, where these wastes are generated, was determined and quantified in the study area. In addition, the vulnerability of the territory was evaluated through an environmental and territorial analysis that allowed for the determination of the reception capacity of the study area. Then, information layers corresponding to the availability of the four biomass wastes, and layers corresponding to the environmental fragility of the study area were overlapped and they resulted in an overall map. This made it possible to identify the best areas for the implementation of the biorefineries based on olive-derived biomass. Finally, as an example, three zones were selected for this purpose. These locations corresponded to low fragility areas with a high availability of biomass (more than 300,000 tons/year) in a 30 km radius, which would ensure the biomass supply.

Keywords: olive-derived biomass; biorefinery; geographic information systems, GIS; environmental fragility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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