BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 23
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Georgian Ecoline Energy LLC company has started producing coal cubes from hazelnut shells, Trend reports citing EastFruit information and analytical platform.
Ecoline Energy has been producing fuel briquettes from hazelnut shells in Zugdidi (Samegrelo region, Western Georgia) for three years. This year, the company began to produce coal from hazelnut shells.
The choice of location was not accidental, as Samegrelo is the main supplier of Georgian hazelnuts to the market. In the villages of the region hazelnut shells are traditionally used for lighting fire in stoves alongside firewood.
Ecoline Energy is the first company in Georgia to start the production fuel briquettes of hazelnut shell.
“We get coal by burning hazelnuts, as well as stems of bay leaf, which is also common in the region. But from a hazelnut shell, coal is obtained of the best quality,” said production director Zurab Didishvili.
According to Didishvili, the price of these products is about 5 lari ($1.7) per kg.
Raw materials for production are purchased from local farmers and companies operating in the hazelnut industry. “For them, this is a non-waste production of hazelnuts, for our company - fuel and, of course, profit,” Didishvili said.
According to him, since the beginning of this year, the company has produced about 2,000 tons of hazelnut briquettes. The cost of a cubic meter of briquettes today is approximately 550 lari ($185).
“Hazelnut shells - the waste of the hazelnut industry - are excellent raw materials for biofuel. For three years we have been producing fuel briquettes from hazelnut shells using a special technology - by drying and pressing at high temperature, without adding any chemicals. Such briquettes are a kind of firewood that is used in stoves, they are much drier, and when burning, they emit much less carbon dioxide. In addition, hazelnut briquettes are a very effective fuel, their calorific value is five times more compared to firewood,” Didishvili said.
Ecoline Energy LLC was established in Georgia in 2015 by Georgian and Ukrainian partners. Currently, in addition to the Samegrelo plant, Ecoline Energy owns two more fuel briquette factories in Imereti and Kakheti.
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