SANHAJA, Tunisia: In a northern Tunisian olive grove, Yassine Khelifi’s small workshop hums as a large machine turns olive waste into a valuable energy source in a country heavily reliant on imported fuel.
Holding a handful of compacted olive residue — a thick paste left over from oil extraction — Khelifi said: “This is what we need today. How can we turn something worthless into wealth?“
For generations, rural households in Tunisia have burned olive waste for cooking and heating, or used it as animal feed.
The International Olive Council estimated Tunisia will be the world’s third-largest olive oil producer in 2024-2025, with an expected yield of 340,000 tons.
The waste generated by the oil extraction is staggering.
Khelifi, an engineer who grew up in a family of farmers, founded Bioheat in 2022 to tackle the issue. He recalled watching workers in olive mills use the olive residue as fuel.
“I always wondered how this material could burn for so long without going out,” he said. “That’s when I asked myself: ‘Why not turn it into energy?’“
Beyond profit, Khelifi hopes his startup helps “reducing the use of firewood as the country faces deforestation and climate change.”
At his workshop, employees transport truckloads of olive waste, stacking it high before feeding it into the processing machines.
The material is then compacted into cylindrical briquettes and left to dry for a month under the sun and in greenhouses before its packaging and sale.
Khelifi began developing his idea in 2018 after he traveled across Europe searching for a machine to turn the olive paste into long-burning fuel.
Unable to find the right technology, he returned to Tunisia and spent four years experimenting with various motors and mechanical parts.
By 2021, he had developed a machine that produced briquettes with just eight-percent moisture.
He said this amount significantly reduces carbon emissions compared to firewood, which requires months of drying and often retains more than double the amount of moisture.
Bioheat found a market among Tunisian restaurants, guesthouses, and schools in underdeveloped regions, where winter temperatures at times drop below freezing.
But the majority of its production — about 60 percent — is set for exports to France and Canada, Khelifi said.
The company now employs 10 people and is targeting production of 600 tons of briquettes in 2025, he added.
Selim Sahli, 40, who runs a guesthouse, said he replaced traditional firewood with Khelifi’s briquettes for heating and cooking.
“It’s an eco-friendly and cost-effective alternative,” he said. “It’s clean, easy to use, and has reduced my heating costs by a third.”
Mohamed Harrar, the owner of a pizza shop on the outskirts of Tunis, praised the briquettes for reducing smoke emissions, which he said previously irritated his neighbors.
“Besides, this waste carries the soul of Tunisian olives and gives the pizza a special flavour,” he added.
Given Tunisia’s significant olive oil production, waste byproducts pose both a challenge and an opportunity.
Noureddine Nasr, an agricultural and rural development expert, said around 600,000 tons of olive waste is produced annually.
“Harnessing this waste can protect the environment, create jobs, and generate wealth,” he said.
Nasr believes repurposing olive waste could also help alleviate Tunisia’s heavy dependence on imported fuel.
The country imports more than 60 percent of its energy needs, a reliance that widens its trade deficit and strains government subsidies, according to a 2023 World Bank report.
Fuel and gas shortages are common during winter, particularly in Tunisia’s northwestern provinces, where households struggle to keep warm.
Redirecting agricultural waste into alternative energy sources could ease this burden.
Yet for entrepreneurs like Khelifi, launching a startup in Tunisia is fraught with challenges.
“The biggest hurdle was funding,” he said, lamenting high-interest bank loans. “It felt like walking on a road full of potholes.”
But now his goal is “to leave my mark as a key player in Tunisia’s transition to clean energy,” he added. “And hopefully, the world’s, too.”
Tunisian startup turns olive waste into clean energy
https://arab.news/zs4mg
Tunisian startup turns olive waste into clean energy
- For generations, rural households in Tunisia have burned olive waste for cooking and heating, or used it as animal feed
- The International Olive Council estimated Tunisia will be the world’s third-largest olive oil producer in 2024-2025, with an expected yield of 340,000 tons
Children dying from cold as storm batters Gaza, killing 13
- Three children die from exposure as winter rains flood displacement camps
- Wet weather causes war-damaged buildings and walls to collapse, killing 10
GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency on Friday said at least 13 people had died in the last 24 hours, including three children who died from exposure to the cold, as a winter storm batters the territory.
Heavy rain from Storm Byron has flooded tents and temporary shelters across the Gaza Strip since late Wednesday, compounding the suffering of the territory’s residents, nearly all of whom were displaced during more than two years of war.
Gaza’s civil defense agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority, told AFP three children had died from exposure to the cold — two in Gaza City and one in Khan Yunis in the south.
Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City confirmed the deaths of Hadeel Al-Masri, aged nine, and Taim Al-Khawaja, who it said was just several months old.
Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Thursday said eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar had died in the nearby tented encampment of Al-Mawasi due to the cold.
With most of Gaza’s buildings destroyed or damaged, thousands of tents and homemade shelters now line areas cleared of rubble.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said six people died when a house collapsed in the Bir Al-Naja area of the northern Gaza Strip.
Four others died when walls collapsed in multiple separate incidents, he said.
In a statement, the civil defense said its teams had responded to calls from “13 houses that collapsed due to heavy rains and strong winds, mostly in Gaza City and the north.”
Under gloomy skies in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinians used bowls, buckets and hoes to try and remove the water that had pooled around their tents made of plastic sheeting.
Young children, some barefoot and others wearing open sandals, trudged and hopped through ponds of muddy water as the rain continued to fall.
“The mattress has been soaked since this morning, and the children slept in wet bedding last night,” Umm Muhammad Joudah told AFP.
“We don’t have any dry clothes to change into.”
Saif Ayman, a 17-year-old who was on crutches due to a leg injury, said his tent had also been submerged.
“In this tent we have no blankets. There are six of us sleeping on one mattress, and we cover ourselves with our clothes,” he said.
The Hamas-run interior and national security ministry gave a preliminary toll of 14 dead due to the effects of the winter rains since Wednesday.
A ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hamas that took effect in October has partially eased restrictions on goods and aid entering into the Gaza Strip.
But supplies have entered in insufficient quantities, according to the United Nations, and the humanitarian needs are still immense.
The UN’s World Health Organization warned on Friday that thousands of families were “sheltering in low-lying or debris-filled coastal areas with no drainage or protective barriers.”
“Winter conditions, combined with poor water and sanitation, are expected to drive a surge in acute respiratory infections,” it added.
