Bio-oil from olive oil industry wastes: Pyrolysis of olive residue under different conditions

Olive residues were pyrolysed in a fixed bed reactor under different pyrolysis conditions to determine the role of final temperature, sweeping gas flow rate and steam velocity on the product yields and liquid product composition with a heating rate of 7 °C/min. Final temperature range studied was between 400 and 700 °C and the highest liquid product yield was obtained at 500 °C. Liquid product yield increased significantly under nitrogen and steam atmospheres. Liquid products obtained under the most suitable conditions were characterised by elemental analyses, FT-IR and 1H-NMR. In addition, column chromatography was employed and the yields of the sub-fractions were calculated. Gas chromatography was achieved on n-pentane fractions. The results show that it is possible to obtain liquid products similar to petroleum from olive residue if the pyrolysis conditions are chosen accordingly.