Recovery of bioactive compounds from olive mill waste

Abstract

For many decades, olive mill wastewater and wet olive pomace considered only as materials of treatment, minimization, and prevention. Today, they deal with the prospect of being utilized as a source for the recovery of bioactive compounds [e.g., phenols, dietary fibers (DFs), so on]. The latest ingredients could be reutilized as additives in foods and cosmetics. This chapter describes the different technologies for the recovery of bioactive compounds from olive oil processing by-products and suggests an integral methodology that ensures the sustainability of the process. The dominant scenario is to pretreat the initial material and convert oleuropein to hydroxytyrosol, prior extracting phenols with solvent and/or other technologies. The applications of membrane processes for this purpose are thoroughly discussed, whereas detail information for the current patented and commercialized methodologies are provided. Finally, future perspectives are denoted.