Specification and evaluation of a new type of de-stoner machine in an olive
oil extraction plant
Roberto Romanielloa, Antonia Tamborrinob and Alessandro Leonea,
a
Department of the Science of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Foggia, Italy.
b
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Bari, Bari.
Correspondence: Roberto Romaniello, Department of the Science of Agriculture, Food and
Environment, University of Foggia, Italy. Via Napoli, 25 – 71100 Foggia, Italy. Tel.: +39
589120. E-mail: roberto.romaniello@unifg.it
Keywords: bioenergy, olive stone, de-stoner, olive oil
Biomass plays an important role as an alternative to the fossil fuel to obtain sustainable
bioenergy, and recently, the growing demand for high quality biomasses has caused millers to
adopt equipment to extract olive stone (OS) during the olive oil extraction process.
The present research concerns the specification and development of a new type of de-stoner
machine: the partial de-stoner machine called “Moliden”. The machine is able to separate the
olive’s stones from pulp, in a variable percentage ranged 0-100. It was tested in an industrial
olive oil extraction plant to determine its performances and, in subsequent experimental tests,
was compared with the other two types of de-stoner machines (total de-stoner and husk destoner). The olive oil and stones quality was assessed. Moreover, an energy consumption
evaluation was made, also in comparison with the other two de-stoner types. The experimental
tests demonstrated the full functionality of the partial de-stoner machine and its goodness in
olive paste and stone production. The olive oil quality resulted high and the stone recovered
resulted to have a lower oil content and finest particle size respect to those obtained by other
machines. This leads to advantages in combustion efficiency, also referred to environmental
pollution. Thus, considering the obtained results, the Moliden can be successfully employed for
olive stone production.