Anaerobic Digestion of Olive Mill Wastewaters after Detoxlfication by Prior Culture of Aspergillus- niger

The low yields of methane production f rom alive mill wastewaters (OM w) which occiir at high chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration are caused by the presence of inhibitory compounds in this industrial efluent. These include tannins, phenolic compounds and oils which are toxic to methanogenic bacteria. I n contrast, Aspergillus niger will gro w on undiluted OM IV, yieldii7,o reductions in COD and phenolic compounds of 6 I and 58 % respectively. The treated OM W is detoxified for methanogens, which will now grow easily on this treated macerial. Siieh aerobic pretreatment ofsers a novel approach to the degradation of OM W