Treatment and disposal of olive mill effluents

Olive mill wastewaters constitute a serious pollution problem, especially in Mediterranean countries. In this paper the peculiar problems related to their treatment and disposal are described. The most interesting processes, either physico-chemical or biological, tested on pilot scale or in industrial plants, for the treatment of these effluents, are presented. It is shown that pollution abatement due to olive mill effluents is a complex problem which has different optimal solutions according to local factors such as the oil extraction process, the possibility to store the wastes and the ratio between the load due to the mills and the one related to the local population.