How to convert dead fruit trees into fuel without ruining the planet
In light of increasingly scarce energy resources and a general shift toward eco-friendly energies, one farm in Tunisia saw an opportunity to diversify its activities. It has developed a form of bio-fuel as an alternative to firewood, which many consider to be a major contributor to deforestation and forest degradation.
Tree and forest waste are environmental hazards that can pollute oceans and cause forest and garden fires, especially during the summer months. Yet the Chanouf family managed to turn this waste into an extra source of revenue in a challenging agricultural sector.
Located in Manouba, a suburb city in Tunis, the Chanouf Farm developed an agroforestry waste recycling unit to produce organic charcoal and biomass energy out of pear and olive tree waste. The farm, which had been producing pears and olives since 1995, became the Chanouf Farm-Biofire company in 2015.
It started focusing on using bio-waste to make flammable coal briquettes, wood charcoal and tar as highly efficient and ecological alternatives to firewood.
Read the full article by Sufian Rajab, Assabah via Haaretz.
[Photo by David Stanley | Flickr]
