Recycling of residues from the olive cultivation and olive oil production process for manufacturing of ceramic materials. A comprehensive review

ABSTRACT The production of olive oil generates a huge amount of residues which must be adequately handled, which currently represents both an economic cost and an environmental concern. A possible solution which is under study is the use of such residues for manufacturing ceramic materials. Potential advantages include the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, savings in fuel consumption, additional desirable characteristics of the final products and improvement of environmental conditions. This work reviews the scientific literature available dealing with this issue. The approach consists of comparisons of the main factors involved in the production of ceramic materials incorporating olive-derived residues, i.e., type of clay, type of residue, experimental methodology, manufacturing methods and the technical and environmental performance of the finished product. The different experimental strategies are commented, and summarizing tables and figures are presented to show the main results achieved. In addition, incomplete or wrong experimental practices are also critically discussed.