Treatment of Phenolic Compounds in Olive Mill Wastewater

Olive contains a series of phenolic compounds that during oil extraction enters olive mill wastewater, and due to its high polluting potential, treatment is always necessary before its discharge into the environment. In this investigation, effect of coupled physico-chemical and biological treatments on the removal of phenolic compounds in olive mill wastewater was studied. Physico-chemical treatment such as filtration, flotation, and coagulation resulted in the COD and total phenols, o-diphenol removal of 65% and 20% respectively. The biological treatment, which was formed in three stages RBC system, removed up to 95% of residual phenolic compounds.