Abstract:
In many European countries, residues from agricultu
ral products represent a
considerable potential for development of bio-energ
y industry. A significant part of these
biomass materials come from the fruit-growing busin
ess, i.e., primary fruit production
and fruit processing plants. The EU directives requ
ire that the disposal of such residues
should be environmentally sustainable. The objectiv
e of this study was to determine
proximate (moisture content, ash, fixed carbon, vol
atile matter), ultimate (carbon,
hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur) and energy values (
higher, lower) of biomass, as well as
the Croatian total energy potential generated after
the pruning (pruned residues) and
processing of plum fruit (stone). Five different pl
um varieties (Bistrica, Cacanska
ljepotica, Cacanska rodna, President, and Stanley),
most commonly grown in the territory
of Croatia, were analyzed and compared. The analyze
d data were compared with the
norm CEN/TS 14961 (2005) for solid biofuels and the
data from the relevant literature.
Both types of investigated biomass proved to be hig
hly valuable sources of energy; and no
significant difference between investigated plum va
rieties were found. Lower heating
value, as one of the fundamental parameters of the
biomass energy efficiency, averaged in
the studied samples: 15.2 MJ kg
-1
for plum pits and 17.12 MJ kg
-1
for pruned biomass,
which classifies plum biomass as a valuable energy
raw material. Also, the calculations
show that the potential production of the biomass a
vailable in Croatia could reach up to
292.13 MJ of renewable "green" energy annually.
Keywords
: Agricultural residues, Biofuels, Pruned residues,
Renewable green energy.
