Olive Oil Mill Wastewater Degradation: Storage Effect

Abstract

Olive oil mill wastewater (OMW) is one of the pollutant sub-products produced by the olive oil industry. Nowadays, to treat the effluent and decrease its environmental impact, several studies on different methods for degradation have been developed, e.g., wastewater valorization through the steam reforming process. This work aimed to analyze how physicochemical characteristics of OMW are modified under different storage conditions. Different conditions were applied to the effluent in terms of temperature, light, and storage time. Real and synthetic OMW samples were tested during this work. The results showed that the properties of the effluent changed when it was stored at high temperatures due to degradation of organic species during storage.