By Faridat Salifu
A Tunisian engineer has developed a method to convert olive oil production waste into eco-friendly fuel, cutting carbon emissions and reducing deforestation, while creating jobs and boosting exports.
Yassine Khelifi, founder of Bioheat, a small renewable energy company based in northern Tunisia, produces biomass briquets from olive pomace—an oily pulp left over from olive oil extraction.
The innovation addresses a growing environmental concern in Tunisia, where around 600,000 tons of olive waste accumulate annually.
“Olive pomace burns for a long time without going out. That’s when I asked myself: why not turn it into energy?” said Khelifi.
After researching processing techniques during a visit to Europe in 2018, he acquired a machine capable of compressing dried olive waste into briquets.
It took him three years to refine the process, reducing moisture content to 8 percent—comparable to or better than traditional firewood, which typically requires over a year to season.
Bioheat now produces and sells the briquets domestically and internationally, with 60 percent exported.
The company employs 10 people and expects to produce 600 tons of briquets by year-end—equivalent to about one percent of Tunisia’s total annual olive waste.
Customers say the briquets reduce heating costs and produce less smoke. A Tunis-based pizzeria owner who switched from wood to briquets said it improved air quality and added a unique flavor to his food.
Tunisia is the world’s third-largest olive oil producer and heavily dependent on its agro-economy.
With demand for sustainable energy rising, Khelifi’s innovation offers a scalable model for waste-to-energy solutions in agriculture-rich regions.
