TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL OF OLIVE MILL EFFLUENTS

Olive mill wastewaters constitute a serious pollution problem, especia lly in Mediterranean countries. In this paper the peculiar problems re lated to their treatment and disposal are described. The most interest ing processes, either physico-chemical or biological, tested on pilot scale or in industrial plants, for the treatment of these effluents, a re presented. It is shown that pollution abatement due to olive mill e ffluents is a complex problem which has different optimal solutions ac cording to local factors such as the oil extraction process, the possi bility to store the wastes and the ratio between the load due to the m ills and the one related to the local population. (C) 1997 Published b y Elsevier Science Limited.