Respirometric Assessment of Biological and Chemical Treatability of Olive Mill Wastewaters

Abstract

Turkey is also one of the first five countries producing 80.000 tons of olive oil annually and faces the same treatment problem of wastewater generated during the manufacturing season of 3-4 months. Olive mill wastewaters (OMW) produced as a result of the growing production in Turkey, have an organic matter matrix with a wide spectrum, resistant to biodegradation, complex and high organic content wastewater. Only conventional treatment technologies have been applied for OMW and no successful technology has been developed. The aim of the study is to identify the organic content of OMW and to assess the biological and chemical treatability of OMW wastewaters in Turkey, in order to assist the development of integrated chemical-biological treatment schemes for BAT implementation. The results show that although filtration physically did not remove appreciable amount of organic matter (with a COD removal range of 30-31% for young OMW and 4-5% for aged OMW), the biodegradability characteristics were altered by the removal of particulate components and chemical pretreatment.