Valorisation of olive mill wastewater and wood sawdust: thermal, particle size and spectroscopic (FTIR and Raman) analyses

Abstract

ABSTRACT The extraction of olive oil generates two by-products, an aqueous effluent which are olive mill wastewater (OMWW) and an olive pomace. In this work, composites of the mixture of OMWW, the olive pomace and the wood sawdust were prepared. The prepared mixture was characterised by FTIR and Raman spectroscopies, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and Laser granulometer. FTIR results show that after the reaction between sawdust, olive pomace and OMWW, the phenolic groups were decreased. DSC results confirm the thermal degradation of sawdust and the olive wastes. The grain size of the mixture increased, especially for the composite sawdust and OMWW. The resulting mixture can be used as a green biofuel, a fertiliser or an adsorbent.