Olive mill wastewaters: a resource for biotechnological production of value-added products

Abstract

[Excerpt] Olive mill industry is a traditional agricultural industry in Mediterranean countries. These countries produce almost all the olive oil sold worldwide. Olive oil production results on a large amount of wastewaters (OMW), which represents a major environmental problem. OMW is a dark liquid residue with high organic content composed mainly by sugars, tannins, polyphenols, polyalcohols, organic acids, proteins, pectins and lipids. Different treatments and disposal alternatives can be found in the literature in order to provide solutions for the OMW problem. OMW biological treatments with its simultaneous valorization through the coproduction of added-value products are one of the main approaches possible. In this work, the ability of several fungi (yeast and filamentous fungi) to reduce the polluting characteristics of OMW and to produce extracellular enzymes is shown. [...]