Olive pit and olive cake as biomass — imports from Tunisia, Morocco, Spain
If you run procurement at a heating plant with a multi-fuel firebox or at an industrial facility looking to diversify its fuel mix, olive pit and olive cake are worth breaking down into first principles. This is not exotica. It is a stabilised stream from the Mediterranean basin that has been landing regularly in Polish ports for several seasons and rolling on walking-floor trailers to boiler houses from Szczecin to Rzeszów.
At BGT, we import olive pit and olive cake from Tunisia, Morocco and Spain — directly from oil mills, as a by-product of the olive-oil pressing process. Below you have the specifics: how olive pit differs from olive cake, what parameters you actually get on the weighbridge, how much it costs, how the logistics work, and where the pitfalls are that you only find out about after your first unloading if no one warns you beforehand.
No fluff, with numbers — the way you like it.
Olive pit vs olive cake — not the same fuel
On the market both names get thrown around interchangeably, and the difference is fundamental — it translates directly into calorific value, ash and price. If you buy "olive biomass" without specifying the fraction, you are buying a pig in a poke.
Olive pit (hueso de aceituna)
A hard, woody kernel separated from the pulp and washed clean of oil residues. It is the most "clean" fuel in this family — granulometrically uniform (3–8 mm), dry, with low ash content. In Spain they call it hueso de aceituna limpio (clean pit) and sell it as a premium fuel for biomass boilers.
- Calorific value: 19–21 MJ/kg (LHV, at 8–12% moisture)
- Ash: 1–2%
- Moisture: 8–12%
- Bulk density: 650–720 kg/m³
Olive cake (orujillo, grignons)
The pomace — what remains after extracting the oil from the whole olive (pit + pulp + skin). It can be raw (wet, after pressing — so-called alperujo) or dried and solvent-extracted (orujillo). For energy purposes we typically import orujillo — dry, stabilised, with high energy density.
- Calorific value: 17–19 MJ/kg (LHV)
- Ash: 3–5% (higher because of the skin and pulp)
- Moisture: 10–14%
- Bulk density: 500–600 kg/m³
Procurement takeaway: if your boiler has ash constraints — take the pit. If you are counting cost per GJ per tonne and the boiler tolerates more ash (fluidised bed, mechanical grate with de-ashing) — the cake gives you a lower unit cost of energy.
Where it ships from — supply geography
The Mediterranean basin produces over 90% of the world's olive oil, so it is automatically the main source of this type of biomass. We work mainly with three origins.
Spain (Andalusia)
The world's largest olive-oil producer — the Jaén region alone accounts for around 20% of global supply. The oil-mill infrastructure there is industrialised, suppliers have certifications, weighbridges, laboratories. It is the most "European" origin in terms of procedures, but also the most expensive.
Tunisia
Second or third producer worldwide depending on the season. Very competitive FOB Tunis/Sfax prices, good pit quality, but the contract needs to be watched — moisture can be "creatively interpreted", so we only work with oil mills that have a documented history of exporting to the EU.
Morocco
A growing origin — Meknes, Fez, Beni Mellal. Prices similar to Tunisia, logistics via Casablanca or Tanger Med. Quality is improving, but seasonality is more pronounced than in Spain.
Supplementary: Greece (Peloponnese, Crete — excellent quality, prices close to Spanish), Italy (Apulia — little material available for export, mostly local consumption) and Turkey (Aegean — a growing player, but more often exports cake than pit).
Seasonality — when to buy, when not to
The olive harvest in the Mediterranean basin runs from October to February, peaking in November and December. This has a direct impact on biomass availability and price.
| Period | Availability | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| October–February | Very high | Lowest | Fresh material, higher moisture |
| March–May | High | Stable | Optimum time for annual contracts |
| June–August | Medium | Rising | Stocks from oil mills; drought can hit next season's production |
| September | Low | Highest | "Hungry gap" — waiting for the new harvest |
Practical takeaway: negotiate annual contracts with quarterly draw-down in March–April. By then oil mills have closed the season's balance, know their export surplus and are ready to lock in a price.
Watch out for climate anomalies — droughts in Andalusia in 2022–2024 knocked olive-oil production down by more than 40% in some regions, which automatically fed through to biomass availability and pushed prices up by 25–35%. In 2026 the situation has stabilised, but the risk is baked into the market.
Technical parameters — what should be in the contract
There is no sense contracting "olive pit" without a specification. The standard we apply at BGT, and which we suggest as a minimum to write into the contract:
- NCV (LHV) as received: min. 18.0 MJ/kg for pit, min. 16.5 MJ/kg for cake
- Total moisture: max 12% (pit), max 14% (cake)
- Ash in dry matter: max 2.5% (pit), max 5.0% (cake)
- Chlorine content: max 0.1% (critical for superheater corrosion)
- Sulphur content: max 0.15%
- Pit granulometry: 90% of fraction 3–8 mm
- Foreign contaminants: max 1% (stones, plastic film, metal)
In addition — and this is increasingly required by energy off-takers — a KZR INIG or ISCC EU certificate confirming the origin and sustainable character of the biomass. Without it, you will not count the stream as RES in your CO₂ emissions reporting.
Logistics — how it moves to Poland
The standard route we handle looks like this:
- Loading at the oil mill — in bulk into walking-floor trailers (Spain) or into big bags (FIBC) / sea containers (Tunisia, Morocco).
- Transport to the loading port — Algeciras, Valencia, Tunis, Casablanca, Tanger Med.
- Sea leg — bulk carrier to Gdańsk or Gdynia. Transit time: 8–14 days from the western basin, 5–8 days from Tunisia via Sicily.
- Trans-shipment at the port — onto walking-floor trailers or tippers, optionally a short storage buffer in a port warehouse.
- Delivery to the plant — 90 m³ walking-floor trailer (approx. 25 t of pit, approx. 22 t of cake), unloading on the yard or directly into the boiler feed hopper.
For smaller volumes (up to 500 t) the containerised option makes sense — 20-foot containers of approx. 20 t each, delivered by TIR tractor unit to the plant gate. For large volumes (from 3,000 t per year) it pays to arrange a shipping contract with bulk unloading in Gdańsk and walking-floor distribution to recipients across Poland.
Boiler applications — where it works and where it does not
Olive pit and olive cake are not universal fuels. They perform well in specific types of fireboxes:
Fluidised-bed boilers (BFB, CFB)
The natural environment for this biomass. The fluidised bed forgives variable granulometry, handles ash, and high combustion temperatures (800–900°C) extract the full calorific value. Co-firing at 30–40% mass share with coal or wood chips runs without modifications.
Grate boilers (moving, mechanical)
They work, but require attention to two points: ash sintering (the softening temperature of cake ash can drop to 900–1,000°C at high K and Na levels) and feed regularity — pit is free-flowing and runs through hoppers, cake can be less stable.
Pulverised-fuel boilers
Only after milling to pulverised fraction. Rarely done in Poland, more common in Spain and Italy, where it is co-fired with coal in utility-scale power generation.
Small-scale boilers (below 1 MW)
Not recommended without a dedicated agro-biomass burner. The risk of heat-exchanger fouling and corrosion is real.
Comparison with other biomass fuels
Concretely and by cost — how olive pit stacks up against popular alternatives imported to Poland:
| Fuel | NCV (MJ/kg) | Ash (%) | Price EXW PL port (EUR/t) | Cost per GJ (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olive pit | 19–21 | 1–2 | 145–175 | 7.3–8.6 |
| Olive cake (orujillo) | 17–19 | 3–5 | 115–140 | 6.4–7.7 |
| PKS (palm kernel shell) | 17–19 | 3–6 | 155–185 | 8.6–10.3 |
| Sunflower pellets | 16–18 | 3–5 | 135–165 | 8.0–9.7 |
| Forest wood chips A1 | 10–13 | 1–2 | 95–120 | 8.3–10.5 |
| Industrial wood pellets | 17–18 | 0.7–1.5 | 175–210 | 10.0–11.7 |
Conclusions:
- Olive cake is currently one of the cheapest biomass fuels per unit of energy — if your boiler tolerates the ash.
- Olive pit competes directly with PKS — similar calorific value, lower ash, often lower price.
- Compared with wood pellets, olive biomass is 20–30% cheaper per GJ, but requires a different boiler regime.
Prices given as an indication for mid-2026, based on quarterly contracts FCA port Gdańsk/Gdynia. At peak season (November–February) up to 10% lower is possible; in the hungry gap (September) up to 15% higher.
FAQ
Does olive pit require a KZR/ISCC certificate?
If you want to count it as RES in ETS emissions reporting or under the RES tariff scheme — yes. BGT supplies only material with an ISCC EU or KZR INIG certificate, with a full documentary chain from the oil mill. Without a certificate the product is available and about 8–12 EUR/t cheaper, but emissions reporting runs under the fossil-fuel default.
How much do you actually deliver in a single shipment?
A standard walking-floor trailer is 90 m³, which gives around 22–25 t of pit or 18–22 t of cake depending on the bulk density of the batch. A 20' container — approx. 18–20 t. A ship — from 1,500 t (smaller bulker) to 5,000 t (full load).
Can olive pit be mixed with wood chips in a single boiler?
Yes, and this is a common scenario. A 70/30 wood chip/pit blend raises the mix calorific value by around 15%, stabilises combustion in winter (when wood chips are wet) and does not require burner modifications in a grate boiler. We also see good results when co-firing with coal — up to 20% by mass in a fluidised-bed boiler runs without issues.
How long can olive pit be stored?
At moisture up to 12% and in a ventilated warehouse — up to 6–9 months without loss of parameters. Higher moisture (above 14%) leads to self-heating and ignition risk — do not store such material in piles above 4 m high.
Does the delivery include unloading, or is it just to the gate?
The walking-floor standard is gravity unloading on a paved yard or directly into the boiler hopper (if access allows). We unload 20' containers by tipping or by shaking off a vibrating pallet — to be agreed in the contract.
Summary
Olive pit and olive cake are a proven, stabilised fuel for heating plants and industry with multi-fuel fireboxes. Key points to remember:
- Pit = higher calorific value, low ash, higher price — for demanding boilers.
- Cake = lower calorific value, higher ash, best cost per GJ — for fluidised-bed and grate boilers with de-ashing.
- Contract in March–April for the October–September season, with quarterly draw-down.
- Write KZR/ISCC into the contract, together with specific parameters (NCV, ash, moisture, chlorine) and tolerances.
- Walking-floor or container logistics — match to volume and plant infrastructure.
If you want to talk about a specific volume, defined parameters or a trial delivery to test in your boiler — contact the BGT Sales Team. We turn around offers in 48 hours, with a full specification, CIF Gdańsk or DAP plant price, and a laboratory sample for review.
