Polyphenolic content in olive oil waste waters and related olive samples

The production of olive oil yields a considerable amount of waste water, wh ich is a powerful pollutant and is currently discarded. Polyphenols and oth er natural antioxidants, extracted from olives during oil extraction proces s, partially end up in the waste waters. Experimental and commercial olive oil waste waters from four Mediterranean countries were analyzed for a poss ible recovering of these biologically interesting constituents. Identificat ion and quantitation of the main polyphenols were carried out by applying H PLC-DAD and HPLC-MS methods. Representative samples of ripe olives were als o analyzed at the same time to correlate, if possible, their polyphenolic p rofiles with those of the corresponding olive oil waste waters. The results demonstrate that Italian commercial olive oil waste waters were the riches t in total polyphenolic compounds with amounts between 150 and 400 mg/100 m L of waste waters. These raw, as yet unused, matrices could represent an in teresting and alternative source of biologically active polyphenols.