Turkey tries to produce electricity from pistachios

Turkey plans to produce power from pistachios. And it certainly has enough of them.The country, the world's third-largest producer of pistachios, will gather biogas from the nuts, which are related to cashews, to produce electricity. Production will begin initially in Gaziantep, a southeastern city of more than a million people that is one of the most important agricultural centers in the country. Among Gaziantep's features are numerous pistachio orchards.

Scientists in Turkey have been working to produce biogas from pistachios on an experimental level for more than three years in collaboration between the government, a small business development organization and Middle East Technical University.

One ton of pistachios can produce 1.1 million cubic meters of biogas, which in turn can generate 14 kilowatt-hours - enough to meet the needs of a typical Turkish house for a year, said Göksel Demirer, a professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering at Middle East Technical University in Ankara.

Turkey produces 112,000 tons of pistachios a year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, making it the third-largest producer in the world after Iran and the U.S. Gaziantep is the center of pistachio cultivation in Turkey, producing 100,000 tons a year. The city, formerly known as Antep, even lends its name to the Turkish term for pistachio - "Antep fıstığı" or "Antep nut."

A private nut company will open a facility to convert pistachio waste into biogas."Our studies on pistachio production in Gaziantep found that approximately 1 million cubic meters of liquid waste and 20,000 tons of solid waste can be produced," Demirer said.