Phenolic compounds in olive milling effluents: An environmental problem or a raw material?

Summarization: Various phenolic compounds are contained in olive oil and are also found in the effluents of two-phase or three-phase olive-oil milling treatments. In olive oil they are known for their anti-oxidative properties and quality retention. During olive oil processing they rather possess a disposal /treatment problem when under uncontrolled conditions pass into the surface or subsurface waters, converted by oxidation and/or polymerization into annoying (phytotoxic and antibacterial) pollutants. Our Laboratory of Transport Phenomena participates in a project for the enhanced utilization of nutritious olive poly-phenols. Rather facing poly-phenols as a pollution problem, the idea is to recover them and use them as raw material for the development of added value products in pharmacy, cosmetics and also in the food industry as food additives. Increasing attention has been paid in discovering a recovery and purification method of polyphenols from the wastewater . They can be reused as a raw material in the olive oils that have been extracted , or enhance the shelf life of various plant oils , where the concentration of natural antioxidants is very limited . Pharmaceutical applications , focusing on their antibacterial properties are now being developed . Our laboratory specializes in membrane technology. Our particular task is to apply membrane operations, after appropriate pretreatment (possibly sedimentation), in order to obtain poly-phenol recovery from various effluents (from two phase or three phase olive oil milling factories). Various types of membranes and membrane unit operations (Micro- ultra- and nanofiltration) will be applied in order to recover the important compounds, taking into account chemical compatibility, flux and retention factors.Παρουσιάστηκε στο: Fifth International Conference on Environmental Pollutio