Treatment of olive mill wastewater by an ecosystem

Olive oil production generates a considerable amount of wastewater. The olive mill wastewater (OMW) is considered as a major environmental problem, particularly in Mediterranean countries, especially when it is rejected directly in nature, which is harmful. To solve this issue, the proposed method was to depollute the OMW by a new ecological and economic system, which consists of the use of the following components: gravel, sawdust, soil, activated carbon, bamboo, and the valorization of the solid residues, which could be considered as a potential source of natural product. The results obtained after the application of the proposed process exhibit a promising achievement, which would be considered as sufficient as a first step of treatment of OMW (60% of chemical oxygen demand and 22% of biological oxygen demand). Similarly, all the other parameters, such as salinity, conductivity, suspended solids, and total dissolved solids, were decreased in the order of 62%, 17%, 71%, and 63%, respectively.