Utilization of Olive Mill Waste in Microbial Electrolysis Cell

Abstract

Olive oil production is a source of huge amount of residuals knowns as OMW (Olive Mill Waste). The sustainable management and treatment of this waste is challenging due to presence of high amount of specific pollutants. The OMW is characterized by very high COD to BOD ratio with considerable content of polyphenols reaching up to 15g/l. Due to this, the biological utilization of OMW could be hindered or very slow when the conventional aerobic and anaerobic methods are used. In this study, the Microbial Electrolysis Cell (MEC) technology was applied as an alternative treatment approach. The method offers COD reduction and energy recovering in the form of hydrogen. The results demonstrated up to 65% efficiency in terms of COD and polyphenols removal which suggest that MEC, could be considered as an initial treatment stage in OMW utilization.