Energetic Use of Biomass and Biofuels

Olive oil production is one of the most important activities of the agricultural sector in the Mediterranean region. Considering that olive-groves significantly characterise the landscape and that olive pruning requires large labour input and costs, farmers have to organize the pruning operation assuring economical sustainability. For this reason the energetic use of olive pruning has been adopted in many farms, even if the collection and treatment of the residues could imply additional costs in field operations. Therefore, in order to analyze the pros and cons of different alternatives for olive pruning management, a methodological approach able to take into account both the economical and environmental aspects must be implemented. In this chapter, 35 possible scenarios are illustrated and evaluated: based on the chosen criteria, solutions which present limited fuel consumptions, reduced transports and the biomass use in small- or medium-sized combustion plants, are preferred.