Effects of harvest date, irrigation level, cultivar type and fruit water content on olive mill wastewater generated by a laboratory scale ‘Abencor’ milling system

Olive mill wastewaters (OMW) were obtained at laboratory scale by milling olives from four cultivars grown at different irrigation levels and harvested at different times. Samples were compared based on wastewater quantity, pH, suspended matter, salinity, organic load, total phenols, NPK, and phytotoxicity. Principal component analysis discriminated between harvest times, regardless of olive cultivar, indicating substantial influence of fruit ripeness on OMW characteristics. OMW properties were affected both by the composition and the extraction efficiency of fruit water. As the fruit water content increased, the concentrations of solutes in the fruit water decreased, but the original fruit water composed a larger portion of the total wastewater volume. These contradicting effects resulted in lack of correlation between fruit water content and OMW properties. The significant effects shown for fruit ripeness, irrigation and cultivar on OMW characteristics indicate that olive horticultural conditions should be considered in future OMW management.