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Pilot plant system for biodiesel and pellet production from cardoon: technical
and economic feasibility

Article  in  Acta horticulturae · November 2016

DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2016.1147.60

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Pilot plant system for biodiesel and pellet production
from cardoon: technical and economic feasibility
V. Toscano1,a, L. Sollima1, C. Genovese1,2, M.G. Melilli1 and S.A. Raccuia1
1CNR - Institute for Agricultural and Forest Systems in the Mediterranean - U.O.S. di Catania, via Empedocle 58,
95128 Catania, Italy; 2Department DBGES, University of Catania, via Empedocle 58, 95128 Catania, Italy.

Abstract
Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) is an important species as biomass and oilseed
production. It is well adapted to grow with low input management in the
Mediterranean environment. The study is related to use the biomass and grain
production for energetic purpose. The research was carried out in a 3-years period
from 2010 to 2012 in different internal areas of Sicily. The plant material for this
research was collected in various experimental fields, for a total area of 10,000 m2.
Biomass and grain processing was performed into two different pilot systems for
biodiesel and pellet productions. In the three years, regards to the total biomass
production, a total yield of 64 t ha-1 of pellets was obtained. While a 23.3% of oil was
extracted from grains through cold pressing and transesterified with a production of
985 L of biodiesel. The total residual presscake was 3.03 t, and it has a composition of
21.3% of protein and 6.9% of oil, which represents the 5.3% of total seed oil content.
This characteristic confirms the possibility to use cardoon residuals presscake as
feed. Economic balance of the process was performed to determine the economic
suitability. The results show that using biomass and grain for different energetic
purposes, make cardoon a very competitive and sustainable energy crop in
Mediterranean environment and it represents an economic valid alternative for
farmers.

Keywords: Cynara cardunculus, applications, biodiesel, energy crop

INTRODUCTION
Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) is a member of the Asteraceae family and is a
perennial species with annual growth cycle, well adapted to Mediterranean climates that are
characterized by hot and dry summers. It is botanically related to the globe artichoke
(Cynara cardunculus L. subsp. scolymus (L.)), a perennial rosette plant, grown through the
world for its large fleshy heads. The cultivated cardoon is a less important perennial
herbaceous plant and it has been cultivated for many years as a traditional food source in
some parts of the southern Europe, particularly in Italy, followed by France and Spain.
The wild cardoon is a robust thistle with a characteristic rosette of large spiny leaves
and branched flowering stems. Recent studies, on morphological, biological, and productive
characteristics and on intraspecific variability for seed germination under salt and moisture
stresses of Sicilian populations revealed variability among populations (Raccuia et al.,
2004a). Wild cardoon is fully cross compatible and fully interfertile with the globe artichoke
and with the cultivated cardoon, and may be used to improve the globe artichoke genetic
pool (Basnizki and Zohary, 1994; Rottenberg and Zohary, 1996; Raccuia et al., 2004b).
An outline of the main aspects of the cultivation system follows. The establishment of
the plantation is carried out from seed in the first year. Every year the aerial biomass is
harvested at the end of the growth cycle. During that time, the plant canopy dries up and the
fruits become ripe. Later on – when the climate conditions are favourable – some buds of the
plant stock sprout and gradually a leaf rosette is formed. This is the beginning of a new
growth cycle. The main plant stages and their approximate dates in Mediterranean areas

a
E-mail: valeria.toscano@cnr.it

  Acta Hortic. 1147. ISHS 2016. DOI 10.17660/ActaHortic.2016.1147.60

  429
Proc. IX Int. Symp. on Artichoke, Cardoon and Their Wild Relatives
  Eds.: S.M. García and V.P. Cravero
follow: plant sprouting in September-October; winter leaf rosette in November; stem
elongation in April-May; full blossom in June; ripe fruits in July; fully dry aerial biomass in
August. Thanks to this cycle, C. cardunculus L. helps to conserve the fragile agro-systems of
the Mediterranean area, because of the effect of soil erosion control (Raccuia and Melilli,
2007).
Previous research (Raccuia and Mellili, 2004a) showed the different behavior between
cultivated and wild cardoon for biomass production and its partitioning, cultivated cardoon
was characterized for a strong accumulation in leaves, while wild cardoon accumulated
mainly in roots. At the end of the crop annual cycle, the root biomass is about 40-50% and
the aboveground biomass is about 50-60%; the epigeal biomass consists on average of 30%
stalks, 30% leaves and 40% capitula. The aboveground biomass chemical composition
includes about 40% cellulose, 20% hemicellulose, 30% lignin, 10-15% ash and 10%
extractives (Antunes et al., 2000). All these characteristics and its good adaptability to the
Mediterranean climate suggested its potential use for energy purposes. Indeed, C.
cardunculus L. has been recently studied for industrial applications. This plant can be used
as lignocellulosic biomass source for alternative energy production (solid biofuel and
biodiesel), paper pulp and residue pellet combustion for domestic heating.
Considering all these remarks, in the last years we carried out a research with the aim
to evaluate the suitability of cardoons to be grown as a biomass crop under low input
management in the Mediterranean environment.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF CYNARA CARDUNCULUS L.

For industrial applications, C. cardunculus L. is grown in the same way as in its natural
growth pattern that is a perennial field crop in dry farming. The aboveground biomass
produced is harvested once a year, in summer time (Ferná ndez et al., 2006). The labors
needed for the establishment of the crop (only for the first year) are basal dressing before
sowing, soil preparation (subsoiling, ploughing and harrowing), sowing, pre-emergence
herbicide treatment and pest control. In the years following the crop establishment, the
labours needed for the crop are: fertilization restoration, pest control, harvesting and
biomass transport.
C. cardunculus L. plants offer a wide spectrum of different biomass utilizations. The
first proposal is the utilization of the lignocellulosic biomass for alternative energy
production (solid biofuel) by combustion, pyrolysis and gasification (Gonzá lez et al., 2004a;
Ochoa and Fandos, 2004). The theoretical caloric value ranged from 16500 to 17028 kJ kg-1
of dry matter (Piscioneri et al., 2000; Encinar et al., 2002a, b), and for paper pulp (Antunes
et al., 2000; Gominho et al., 2001). Biomass residues pellets combustion for domestic
heating was demonstrated by Gonzá lez et al. (2004b).
Plant fruits (achenes) can also be used in different ways. The evaluation of whole
cardoon seed for feeding ruminants was conducted by Cajarville et al. (2000). The nutritive
value of cardoon seed is mainly conditioned by its high hull proportion (45%), that is higher
than in other oil seeds, such as rape seed (15±20%) or sunflower seed (until 30%). As this
hull shows very high levels of fibre and lignin (similar to those of sunflower hulls), the
concentration of these constituents in the whole seed is much higher than in the indicated
seeds. The whole cardoon seed presents both high soluble and undegradable fractions. The
undegradable fraction should be composed basically of residual hulls because of their very
high contents in fibre, lignin and fibre bound nitrogen. On the contrary, the other fractions
(soluble and insoluble but fast degraded) should be composed mainly by the kernel, which
has a great percentage of cellular contents and very low values of N-fibre bound. In this way,
degradation of whole seeds will be the resultant of the very different patterns of degradation
of both their components: the kernel highly degradable and the hulls shortly.
The possibility to use the grain for oil production arises from the fact that this oil is
characterised by an optimal ratio of unsatured acid (about 5.7), balanced linoleic/oleic ratio
(about 1.8) and absence of erucic acid. The oil contains a great amount of α-tocopherol,
which offers a great warrants of stability against oxidation (Maccarone et al., 1999). These
characteristics make Cynara oil suitable for human consumption. Cynara seed oil can be

430
easily extracted by cold pressing (20/25°C); in this way, the oil composition is not altered
and the product can be used for food application (Ferná ndez et al., 2006).
In the view of new sources of renewable energy, different researches were carried out
to prepare biodiesel from C. cardunculus L. oil (Lapuerta et al., 2005), using methanol to
characterise the obtained methyl esters, in a view to its use for biodiesel engines (Encinar et
al., 1999) or after transesterification with ethanol to characterise the obtained ethyl esters,
in a view to their use for compression ignition engines (Encinar et al., 2002b).
In any case, after oil extraction from grain, the residual flour could be used for animal
feed, both for the quantity and quality of its proteins (Ferná ndez and Manzanares, 1990; Foti
et al., 1999; Maccarone et al., 1999).
Roots could be used for extraction of inulin (Raccuia and Mellili, 2004a; Raccuia et al.,
2004b, 2005), a fructose polysaccharide very interesting for food and not-food applications
(Ritsema and Smeekens, 2003). C. cardunculus L. has also been used for medicinal purposes
(Kraft, 1997).
Leaves rich in polyphenols, were used in European traditional medicine due to the
pharmacological activities of their constituents and extracts (Clifford, 1992; Gebhardt, 1997;
Pé rez-Garcı́a et al., 2000; Jimé nez-Escrig et al., 2003). Recently, there has been an increase in
the use of these polyphenolic compounds in cosmetics (Lupo, 2001; Peschel et al., 2006).
In Portugal and bordering regions of Spain, crude extracts from the stigma and stylets
of flowers are a successful plant rennet used since ancient times, to prepare the traditional
raw ovine milk cheeses (Sousa and Malcata, 1997; Tavaria et al., 2001). Aqueous extracts of
dried flowers of C. cardunculus L. possess three acid proteases, currently termed cardosins
(Campos et al., 1990; Faro et al., 1992; Cordeiro et al., 1993; Sarmento et al., 1998; Shimoda
et al., 2003; Pina et al., 2003).
Another possible application of the crop, compatible with the use of the dry biomass
for energy production, is to the production of forage in winter-time, explored by Cajarville et
al. (1999).
Finally, a very innovative application of C. cardunculus L. is its use as raw material for
green chemistry. Green chemistry is an area of chemistry and chemical engineering focused
on the design of products and processes that minimize the use and generation of dangerous
substances to prevent pollution and reducing consumption of non-renewable resources.
Starting from selected agricultural raw materials with low levels of environmental impact
and using innovative technology it is possible to create an innovative rage of bio-products for
use in numerous sectors (bio-plastics, bio-lubricants, home and personal care products,
plant protection, additives for the rubber and plastics industries, food fragrances, etc.), with
a positive impact on the environment, on performance, income and integration with
traditional chemical products, promoting increased specialization and competitiveness.
For green chemistry both the oil extracted from C. cardunculus L. seeds and the
lignocellulosic biomass can be used. The cardoon seeds oil, similar to that of sunflower, is
high oleic and for this reason is suitable for industrial use. The remainder of the plant
constitutes the biomass, which contains cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, can be used to
produce energy.
This versatility of the cardoon biomass as a feedstock for different purposes makes
this crop as a promising raw material for biorefineries.
In this paper only the aspects concerning the energetic use of C. cardunculus L. were
investigated with the aim to analyze the potential of this species as a biomass and oil crop in
Mediterranean environment under low input perennial cultivation system. About that, we
reported the results obtained from two specific researches carried out in Sicily (Italy) with
two different pilot plant for biodiesel and pellet production by CNR-ISAFOM of Catania.

BIODIESEL PRODUCTION FROM CYNARA CARDUNCULUS L. SEEDS OIL

In recent years, the development of alternative fuels from renewable resources, like
biomass, has received considerable attention. Biodiesel, which is synthesized by
transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats sources, is a realistic alternative of diesel
fuel because it is produced from renewable resources and involves lower emissions than

431
petroleum diesel.
Methyl or ethyl esters are the product of transesterification of vegetable oils with
alcohol (methanol/ethanol) using an alkaline catalyst. In addition, the process produces
glycerol, which has large applications in the pharmaceutical, food and plastics industries
(Bouaid et al., 2005).
To mitigate the problem of environmental pollution and the exhaustion of petroleum
supplies, it has been suggested that biofuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol can be used
(Demirbas, 2008). In this sense, the development of alternative technologies is acquiring
importance, and many efforts are being done in the gradual replacement of fossil fuels.
Within the renewable sources of energy, the production of liquid biofuels from organic
feedstock sources represents a feasible alternative that avoids important modifications of
vehicle engines, maintaining most of the infrastructures for the supply chain and can replace
partially the petroleum-based fuels (Torres et al., 2013).
The European Union (EU) is by far the world’s largest producer of biodiesel
(production capacity in the EU is estimated to be about 907,000 metric t y-1 (Mittelbach,
1997)). Much of the biodiesel expansion in the1990s was due to EU policies that allowed
farmers to grow oil seed and other crops for industrial uses, such as biodiesel production, on
set-aside lands. However, due to its higher cost of production, biodiesel cannot compete with
petroleum diesel fuel, unless specific policies are undertaken at governmental level to
support the penetration of this alternative fuel into the market (Cardone et al., 2003).
Despite the difficulties related to the high production cost of biodiesel many research
activities and demonstration projects are in progress both in the EU and in the US to support
and demonstrate the use of vegetable oils and their derivatives as diesel fuel (Cardone et al.,
2003).
For biodiesel production, there has been particular interest in plants that contain oils
and that do not threaten food supplies (Jatropha curcas, Cynara cardunculus, Brassica napus,
etc.) as well as the residual parts of agricultural and forest vegetation that contain cellulose
for producing bioalcohols and recycled oils (Del Gatto et al., 2013).
Appropriate raw materials for biodiesel production are vegetable oils with a high
proportion of unsaturated fatty acid (Vicente et al., 2006). In fact depending upon the raw
materials, biodiesel can contain more or less unsaturated fatty acids in its composition,
which are susceptible to the oxidation reactions accelerated by exposition to oxygen and
high temperatures, being able to change into polymerized compounds. Furthermore,
considering the oxidative and thermal stabilities of oils appeared to be related to linoleic
content, decreasing linoleic content results in increased oil stability. With this purpose,
studies on genetic modification of sunflower oil were conducted. The decrease linoleic acid
and increase oleic acid, obtained in the genetically modified high oleic sunflower oil had a
higher oxidative stability during storage than had regular sunflower oil. Similarly, the
thermal stability evaluation results indicate a greater stability for modified high oleic
sunflower oil than for regular sunflower oil (Smith et al., 2007; Del Gatto et al., 2010).
Despite the vast range of sources for vegetable oils, world consumption is dominated
by soybean, palm, rapeseed, and sunflower oils. Beside the different plant sources, in the last
years different studies were conducted to evaluate C. cardunculus L. oil, due to the high
yields obtained and to the different ways of applications, for human consumption and for
energy purpose (Curt et al., 2002; Raccuia and Melilli, 2007).
Raccuia et al. (2011) identified some types of domestic cardoon that showed good oil
amounts, characterized by the fatty acid profile suitable for biodiesel production. This oil,
composed of 59.7% linoleic, 25% oleic, 10.7% palmitic and 3.7% stearic acid, showed a fatty
acids profile similar to genetically modified sunflower oil. Recent studies, focusing on
modeling and optimization of the production of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) from
cardoon oil, characterized by 22.4% oleic acid and 61.8% linoleic acid, for biodiesel uses
showed a yield of 88% FAME and after purification, the biodiesel showed high quality
according to DIN EN 14214 standard specifications, except for Iodine Number (Sengo et al.,
2010). The properties of Cynara biodiesel are shown in Table 1.
In addition, C. cardunculus L. does not compete for land with edible resources and the

432
crop does not need arable land quality or fertilizer, no plowing, herbicide and insecticide
pretreatment or at least significantly less than other raw material as sunflower or soybean
(Torres et al., 2013).

Table 1. Properties of C. cardunculus L. biodiesel produced by the transesterification of seed

oil with ethanol (ethyl esters) and methanol (methyl esters). Source: Ferná ndez
and Curt (2004).
Biodiesel fuel
Fuel property EN-142141
Ethyl esters Methyl esters
Density 15°C (g cm-3) 0.8794 0.8890 0.86-0.90
Viscosity 40°C (mm2 s-1) 4.479 5.101 3.5-5
Flash point (°C) 184 182 >101
Cloud point (°C) -5 -4 -
Cloud filter plugging point (CFPP) (°C) -10 -10 ≤-102
Cetane number 66 59 >51
Carbon residue (%, m/m) (10% distillation residue) 0.28 0.36 <0.3
Iodine index 109 117 <120 (1403)
Phosphorous (mg kg-1) <5 <5 <10
Sulphur (%, m/m) <0.02 <0.02 <0.02
1EN-14214: European Standard requirements for biodiesel.
2Valuefor Spanish climate conditions.
3140 maximum in Spain.

In this context, the cultivation of C. cardunculus L. as oilseed crop for biodiesel

production in the Mediterranean countries has gained special interest, since it allows the use
of set-aside lands, giving higher yields ha-1 than the traditional crops.

BIODIESEL PILOT PLANT

The link between energy and agriculture is becoming increasingly important so that
different farmers are interested in the possibility of introducing new crops in cropping
systems in rotation to the existing ones, to be allocated to energy transformation, in order to
diversify production and identify new sources of income.
In our research, we tested a small pilot plant to produce biodiesel starting from C.
cardunculus L. as raw materials, because we were interested to determine the productive
potential of this species that can represent a valuable alternative and/or a supplement
income for large companies or small consortia.
The research was carried out in a 3-year period from 2010 to 2012 in different
internal areas of Sicily. The plant material for this research was collected in various
experimental fields, for a total area of 10,000 m2. For the trials a line of C. cardunculus L. var.
altilis selected by Institute for Agricultural and Forest System in the Mediterranean (CNR-
ISAFOM) was used (Raccuia et al., 2012).
The process needed two different steps: a mechanical extraction of oil from the grain
and oil transesterification into biodiesel.
The productive cycle were made at “Consorzio Cipas Società Cooperativa” in
Mussomeli (CL, Sicily) with a small pilot plant suitable for oil extraction and
transesterification into biodiesel.
The small pilot plot was constituted by the following equipment: a Silos for grain
storage, an extractor (40 kg h-1), a 100-L oil decantation tank, an esterification reactor (50 L
h-1), a 1,000-L oil tank and a 500-L biodiesel tank (Figure 1). The technical and economical
characteristics of the pilot plant are reported in Table 2.
The productive process needed different steps: seeds cleaning to remove soil and plant
residues, oil extraction by pressing at controlled temperatures (70°C), oil refining by
decantation process and oil transesterification into biodiesel by ethyl ester.
In the three years, regards to the total biomass production, a 23.3% of oil was

433
extracted from grains through pressing and transesterified with a production of 985 L of
biodiesel. The total residual presscake was 3.03 t, and it has a composition of 21.3% of
protein and 6.9% of oil, which represents the 5.3% of total seed oil content. The high
nutritional content of the panels allows to use this product as residual excellent supplement
in animal feed (Genovese et al., 2016).

Figure 1. Biodiesel pilot plant: A) extractor, B) esterification reactor, C) biodiesel tank, D) oil
extraction, E) presscake.

Table 2. Technical and economical characteristics of pilot plant.

The purchase price of the pilot plant (€) 98,088
Pressing capacity per hour (kg h-1) 250
Esterification capacity per hour (L h-1) 100
Economic life of the pellet system (years) 12
Oil output per hour (kg h-1) 70
Oil daily output (kg day-1) 455
Oil annual output (kg year-1) 136,500
Biodiesel output per hour (L h-1) 77
Biodiesel daily output (L day-1) 501
Biodiesel annual output (L year-1) 150,150

SOLID BIOFUEL PRODUCTION FROM CYNARA CARDUNCULUS BIOMASS

The production of agricultural biomass and its exploitation for energy purposes can
contribute to alleviate several problems, such as the dependence on import of energy
products, the production of food surpluses, the environmental pollution caused by the use of
fossil fuels, the abandonment of marginal lands.
Many agricultural productions are accompanied by the presence of crop residues,
generally of lignocellulosic nature, most of them with interesting potential for energy
production. Energy use of crop is an opportunity to consolidate the economic budgets of
farms, as well as bringing benefits in terms of energy and environmental impact. It is also an
opportunity to dispose of crop residues, that is a management problem for farmers.
C. cardunculus L. yields a large amount of biomass with a very interesting energy
potential. The potential of Cynara as an energy crop mainly lies in its application as a solid

434
biofuel. The crop characteristics that support this application are the following: a relatively
low crop input, a large biomass productivity in Mediterranean climate conditions, low
moisture content of the biomass at harvest, a biomass composition mainly of a
lignocellulosic-type and a high heating value (Ferná ndez et al., 2006). The heating values of
Cynara biomass fractions and whole biomass are shown in Table 3. Many authors have
studied C. cardunculus L. as a source of lignocellulosic biomass for its use as solid fuel for
alternative energy production (Ferná ndez et al., 1997; Piscioneri et al., 2000; Gherbin et al.,
2001; Gonzá lez et al., 2004a; Ochoa and Fandos, 2004; Raccuia et al., 2011). Crop
management techniques may affect the characteristics of Cynara biomass as a fuel. For
example, the way in which the harvesting is performed may result in biomass contamination
by soil components, which is then recorded as high ash content and gives rise to slagging
problems (Ferná ndez et al., 2006).

Table 3. Higher heating value (HHV0) and lower heating value (LHV0) of C. cardunculus L.
biomass fractions and whole biomass harvested at the end of the growth cycle.
Values in kcal kg-1 dry matter. Source: Ferná ndez et al., 2006.
Plant material HHV0 LHV0
Basal leaves 3652 3390
Culine leaves 4096 3809
Shoot (stalk+branches) 4205 3913
Heads without achenes 4109 3810
Achenes 5576 5208
Whole aboveground biomass 4083 3795
Aboveground dry biomass yield of cardoon is commonly affected by genotype and
year. As the years go by and the radical apparatus progressively grows deeper, the
differences due to the age of the crop were more obvious. Dry biomass yields are very
variable also in relation to the pedoclimatic conditions and the cropping techniques. Many
studies reported a dry biomass yield between 10 to 30 t ha-1 due to differences in irrigation
inputs and fertilizer applications (Foti et al., 1999; Piscioneri et al., 2000; Gonzá lez et al.,
2004a; Mauromicale and Ierna, 2004; Raccuia and Melilli, 2007; Raccuia et al., 2011;
Ciancolini et al., 2013), however, the average production is about of 20 t ha-1, were 38% were
heads and 62% were stalks + leaves.
The energy use of biomass, especially that residual, wet and poor quality, met a
number of limitations related to their low energy density. These negative aspects can be
overcome by using special techniques of biomass densification through the production of
pellet. Pellet is a natural product with a shape of small cylinders of a few millimeter
diameter with high calorific value obtained from plant biomass adequately ground and
compressed.
Biomass pellets are a popular type of biomass fuel, generally made from wood wastes,
agricultural biomass, commercial grasses and forestry residues. Densified biomass,
especially pellets has drawn attention due to its superiority over raw biomass in terms of its
physical and combustion characteristics (Obernberger and Thek, 2004). Like other biomass
feedstocks, pellets are carbon neutral, i.e., the carbon emitted during their combustion is
taken up in the re-growth of the biomass used to produce them (Sultana et al., 2010).
Pelletization reduces moisture content, increases energy content (MJ kg-1), enhances
combustion efficiency, and produces greater homogeneity of composition as compared to
raw biomass (Obernberger and Thek, 2004). High density of pellets also permits compact
storage and rational transport over long distance. All these factors make pellets one of the
more attractive forms of biomass-based energy.
Also for C. cardunculus L. the possibility to transform its biomass in pellet could
represent a solution to overcome all the problems linked to the use of raw biomass as solid
biofuel.

435
PELLET PILOT PLANT
The demand for biofuel pellets has increased considerably in recent years. A possible
alternative to traditional wood pellet production on a large scale by industrial plants can be
represented by the production directly from farms, with a reduced production potential,
using mobile pelletizing systems. In Italy, pellet production is enough to satisfy only 30% of
the request, for these reasons most of pellet used in our country comes from abroad. Also
considered that the wood resources are being depleted, today the possibility of using
agricultural biomass is increasingly important. The trials needed a farm plant of such
dimensions as to be easily transported from one farm to another.
In our research, we tested a small movable pelletizing pilot plant to produce pellet
starting from C. cardunculus L. as raw biomass, with the aim to exploit the crop residues and
improve farm income.
The research was carried out in a 3-years period from 2010 to 2012 in different
internal areas of Sicily. The plant material for this research was collected in various
experimental fields, for a total area of 10,000 m2. For the trials a line of C. cardunculus L. var.
altilis selected by the Institute for Agricultural and Forest System in the Mediterranean
(CNR-ISAFOM) was used (Raccuia et al., 2012). Together with cardoon biomass pruning
olive trees was also used. In this way we tested two kind of pellet: the C. cardunculus L. pellet
in purity and a mixture pellet made by 50% cardoon biomass (PC) and 50% Olea europea
biomass (PC+PO).
The aim of this work was to demonstrate the attitude of residuals biomass to become
pellet and to evaluate the quality of the pellet obtained.
For the trials we used a pilot plant composed by the following equipment: a chipper
diesel engine with an output per hour of 500 kg h-1, a refiner with an output per hour of 200
kg h-1, an hygrometer, a dryer with an output per hour of 150 kg h-1 and a pelletizer with an
output per hour of 30-80 kg h-1 (Figure 2). The technical and economical characteristics of
pilot plant are reported in Table 4.

Figure 2. Pellet pilot plant: A) chipper diesel engine, B) refiner, C) hygrometer, D) dryer, E)
pellettizer.
The productive process needed different steps: chipping of pruning olive, refining
wood chips and cardoon biomass, moisture control by hygrometer, drying of the refined
product and pelletizing process of refined products (Figure 3).

436

Figure 3. C. cardunculus L. pellet (left) and C. cardunculus L. 50% + Olea europea 50% pellet
(right).

Table 4. Technical and economical characteristics of pilot plant.

The purchase price of the pilot plant (€) 149,910
Economic life of the pellet system (years) 12
Pellet output per hour (kg h-1) 500
Pellet daily output (kg day-1) 3250
Pellet annual output (kg year-1) 975,000
On products obtained from pelletizing process we made a chemical, physical,
mechanical and energy characterization. The laboratory analysis concerned the heating
value (kJ kg-1) using UNI EN 14918 protocol, ash content (% fresh weight) using UNI EN
14775 protocol and nitrogen, chlorine and sulfur content using UNI EN 15104 and UNI EN
15289 protocols.
The results obtained showed a high heating value of the pellet produced. The high ash
content found is linked to the nature of the biomass used and to the presence of inorganic
elements within cells and tissues. The ash content, however, is also influenced by impurities
and soil residues present in the starting raw biomass. We observed also high levels of
nitrogen, chlorine and sulfur in C. cardunculus L. pellet. The high content of these elements
can be reduced through the use of olive biomass in the mixture with cardoon biomass. In
addition, the ash content can be reduced by the introduction of olive biomass in the pellet
production system. About the high nitrogen content that we noticed it is part of the technical
specification UNI EN 14961-6 (Table 5).

Table 5. Characteristics of cardoon pellet (PC) and cardoon pellet + olive pellet (PC+PO)
obtained.
Moisture HV Ashes HHV LHV N Cl S
Pellet
(%) (J g-1) (% DM) (J g-1 DM) (J g-1 DM) (% DM) (% DM) (% DM)
PC 11.2 16822 6.3 20399 19247 0.55 0.12 0.65
PC + PO 14.8 14928 4.1 19070 17939 0.59 0.05 0.05

PILOT PLANTS ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY

Economic balance of the biodiesel and pellet production was performed to determine
the economic suitability of the industrial transformation of C. cardunculus L. biomass.
To reach this aim, in a first step the cost of cardoon cultivation was determined and the
costs of processing grains into oil and oil into biodiesel, as well as crop residues and raw
biomass into pellet. Then revenues obtained from the sale of grain, oil and biodiesel were
estimated, and finally a comparison of costs and revenues was performed.

437
 The costs of cardoon cultivation, crop management and technical resources were
calculated assuming that all the mechanical operations were made by a third party (Table 6).

Table 6. Costs of cardoon cultivation in Sicily (€ ha-1), according to the crop managements
used for cardoon.
Crop managements €
Main machining operations 108.75 23.05%
Sowing 46.50 9.86%
Fertilization 37.50 7.95%
63.34%
Weeds control 75.00 15.90%
Harvesting 204.00 43.24%
Total 471.75 100.00%
Technical resources €
Fertilizers 196.50 71.98%
Seeds 22.50 8.24%
36.66%
Herbicides 54.00 19.78%
Total 273.00 100.00%
Total € 744.75 100.00%
The processing costs were calculated considering the energy cost, the share of pilot
plant reintegration considering the value of the pilot plant as new, the recovery value as zero
and the economic life of the pilot plant of 12 years, the share of plant maintenance and
insurance applying a rate of 3% on the replacement value of the plant and the labor costs.
For processing costs of the biodiesel, we considered also the reagents costs for the
transesterification of the oil into biodiesel. For pellet processing costs, instead, also the
baling and handling costs were calculated (Table 7).
The comparison of costs and revenues, referring to one hectare of cultivated area,
presented in Table 8 shows that the costs related to the cultivation of a hectare of land and
the transformation of its production amounts to about € 3155, and that the revenues are
amounted to 4125 €. As a result, gross operating profit is positive and amounted to 970 €. In
addition, the high nutritional content of the panels allows to use this product as residual
excellent supplement in animal feed.

CONCLUSIONS
The link between energy and agriculture is becoming increasingly important, so that
farmers are increasingly interested in the possibility of introducing new energy crops in
rotation to the existing ones, in order to diversify production and identify new income
sources.
The possibility to use C. cardunculus L. seeds oil for biodiesel production and
lignocellulosic biomass for solid biofuel makes this species exploited for energy purposes.
These double energetic applications give also the possibility to amortize the costs of the crop
between the two productions. Considering the crop potential to produce roots with high
inulin content (Raccuia and Mellili, 2004a, b), the third application (root-biomass-seed)
could be achieved.

438
Table 7. Costs of processing the grain into oil and biodiesel and processing biomass
residuals into pellets.
Processing cost of grain into oil (€ kg-1)
Share of reintegration for oil (€ kg-1) 0.008
Share of maintenance and insurance for oil (€ kg-1) 0.012
Energy cost for oil (€ kg-1) 0.046
Labor cost for oil (€ kg-1) 0.039
Total transformation costs for oil (€ kg-1) 0.105
Processing cost of oil into biodiesel (€ L-1)
Share of reintegration for biodiesel (€ L-1) 0.014
Share of maintenance for biodiesel (€ L-1) 0.020
Energy cost for biodiesel (€ L-1) 0.065
Labor cost for biodiesel (€ L-1) 0.036
Reagents cost for biodiesel l (€ L-1) 0.263
Total transformation cost for biodiesel (€ L-1) 0.398
Processing cost crop residues into pellet (€ kg-1)
Share integration for pellet (€ kg-1) 0.003
Share of maintenance pellet (€ kg-1) 0.005
Energy cost for pellet (€ kg-1) 0.021
Labor cost for pellet (€ kg-1) 0.028
Baling and handling costs for pellet (€ kg-1) 0.050
Total transformation cost for pellet (€ kg-1) 0.107

Table 8. Comparison of costs and revenues, referring to one hectare of cultivated area.
Cost (€ ha-1) Revenue (€ ha-1)
Cynara cardunculus cultivation cost 745 Biodiesel sales revenue 345
Transformation cost of grain into biodiesel 130 Sale revenues press cake protein 350
Transformation cost crop residues into pellet 2280 Pellet sales proceeds 3780
Total (€ ha-1) 3155 Total (€ ha-1) 4475
Gross profit 1320
In this context, contrary to other biomass crops, such as sunflower or miscanthus,
whole C. cardunculus L. plants can be used for different purposes, agreeing with the new
aims of the EU Strategies for Biofuels (Commission of the European Communities, 2006).
The good calorific value of the crop products, made with low energy input and
simplified pelleting systems possibly equipped with mobility, arouse some interest for
strong potential replacement of fossil fuel. About that, the directive 2009/28/CE provides
that the EU within 2020 must reduce to 20% greenhouse gas emissions, increase of 20%
energy efficiency and get the rate of 20% of renewable energy.
Besides, the low inputs management required, the advantages of increasing
biodiversity by including C. cardunculus L. in agroecological systems and its adaptability to
the native Mediterranean regions make this crop a real alternative for a sustainable
agriculture in those regions and represents an economic valid alternative for farmers.
Moreover the possibility to use cardoon also as a vegetable raw material for green
chemistry open new and very interesting perspectives for this species.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to Scandurra Salvatore, Calderaro Piero, Pulvirenti Mauro and
Venticinque Mario for their technical support on fields and laboratories.

439
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