Abstract
Diverse vegetable oils are extracted from oleagenic trees and plants all over the world. In particular, olive oil represents a strategic socio-economic branch in the Mediterranean countries. These countries use either two or three-phase olive oil extraction systems. In this work, we focus on the by-products from three-phase olive oil extraction, which are the liquid olive mill wastewater (OMW) and the solid olive mill pomace (OMP) rejected in evaporative ponds. The disposal of this recalcitrant waste poses environmental problems such as the death of different species of insects and animals. In-depth ICP-OES analysis of the heavy metal composition of OMW and OMP revealed the presence of many metals ranging from non-toxic to highly toxic. The LC-HRMS characterization of these by-products indicated the presence of several secondary metabolites harmful to humans or to the environment. Thus, we aimed to identify OMW and OMP indigenous microbiota through metagenomics. The bacterial population was dominated by the Acetobacter (49.7%), Gluconobacter (17.3%), Gortzia (13.7%) and Nardonalla (5.3%) genera. The most abundant fungal genera were Nakazawaea, Saccharomyces, Lachancea and Candida. These microbial genera are responsible for OMW, OMP and soil toxicity alleviation.
Highlights
Vegetable oils are a staple food for all countries worldwide
This paper reports the environmental threat of uncontrolled olive mill wastewater (OMW) and olive mill pomace (OMP) disposal in evaporation ponds, as well as an in-depth study of the OMW and OMP heavy metals and secondary metabolites composition
Samples comprising five samples collected from the evaporation pond of Cherarda, seven samples from the evaporation pond of Agareb, and one sample collected from soil mixed with dried OMW and deposited in a huge pile near to the evaporation pond of Agareb (MA)
Summary
Vegetable oils are a staple food for all countries worldwide. They are extracted from multiple sources such as olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, soybean oil, peanut oil, cottonseed oil, corn oil, argan oil and many more. Olive oil is considered one of the most versatile and healthy oils in terms of consumption as a food product. Olive oil extraction occurs in either two- or three-phase systems. The two-phase extraction process generates the olive oil and olive mill pomace (OMP), called ‘alperujo’. This method helps in saving water discharge [1,2]. The three-phase extraction process produces the olive oil and two by-products; a liquid olive mill wastewater (OMW)
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