Constructed Wetlands for Industrial Wastewater Treatment

8Olive Mill Wastewater Treatment in Constructed Wetlands

F. Masi¹, A. Rizzo¹, R. Bresciani¹, Dimitrios V. Vayenas^2,8 C.S. Akratos⁶ A.G. Tekerlekopoulou³ and Alexandros I. Stefanakis^4,5,7

¹Iridra Srl, Florence, Italy

²Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

³Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Patras, Agrinio, Greece

⁴Department of Engineering, German University of Technology in Oman, Athaibah, Oman

⁵Bauer Resources GmbH, BAUER-Strasse 1, Schrobenhausen, Germany

⁶Department of Civil Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece

⁷Bauer Nimr LLC, Muscat, Oman

⁸Institute of Chemical Engineering and High Temperature Chemical Processes (FORTH/ICE-HT), Platani, Patras, Greece

8.1 Introduction

The olive oil industry is principally widespread in the Mediterranean region, playing an important role for the economies of countries such as Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Tunisia. Moreover, other countries are becoming emerging olive oil producers, including Argentina, Australia, and South Africa. According to the International Olive Council, world olive oil production was on average of 2,839,000 tonnes per year from 2009 to 2015, with 69.9% produced in Europe.

The sustainable management of the huge amount of olive mill wastewater (OMW) generated from the olive oil industry (more than 107 mm³ per year [1, 2]) is still an open issue. Different technological approaches have been tested with success, such as incineration, ...