An innovation in the **energy and environmental care** sector is making its way in Tunisia. They are transforming the byproduct of olives into energy.
A startup uses olive pomace as raw material, turning it into “firewood” or briquettes to generate heat. This is an alternative to the traditional methods in a country highly dependent on **gas and oil imports**.
## Transforming olive byproduct into energy: how it’s done
The work is carried out by the startup Bioheat, founded in 2022. Workers transport the **olive pomace in trucks and introduce it into a mold** that produces cylindrical briquettes.
They are then left to dry **for 30 days** -under the sun and in greenhouses- before packaging them for delivery to customers.
“We extract energy and make money from discarded organic waste,” explained 36-year-old Yassine Khelifi, founder of Bioheat, to the AFP agency.
He lives in the village of Sanhaja in the northern part of the country. “This is what we need today. How can we turn something worthless into wealth?” he explained.
Bioheat, with about ten employees, has found several customers in Tunisia, including restaurants, hoteliers, and some poorly heated schools.
Tunisia’s main product
Tunisia is one of the world’s top five producers of **olive oil**. With **340,000 tons** for the current 2024/2025 season, it generates almost double the amount of “fitoura” waste (600,000 tons this year).
They noticed a shortage of firewood. (Photo: Pixabay).
That’s why Khelifi, who always saw workers in the field using olive pomace, wondered how this material could burn for such a long time without going out.
From that, the idea emerged and materialized years later. Moreover, it **helps reduce the use of firewood as fuel** in a country affected by deforestation and climate change.
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