The aim of this study is to achieve a complete
physicochemical characterization of the samples of the olive oil mill wastewaters
collected from five different prefectures in eastern Morocco (Oujda, Nador,
Berkane, Taourirt and Jerada), A comparative study was investigated with
several OOMW samples from three olive oil extraction processes (traditional,
semi-modern and continuous) were compared. This research is one of the first
studies investigating the physicochemical characterization of olive oil mill wastewaters oil mills crushing olives Oujda
area. The composition of OOMW varies significantly for each mill. The results
of the physicochemical analyzes showed that all the samples of olive oil mill
wastewaters have an acidic pH, the average value is between (4.5 and 5.32); and
the values of the conductivity are varied between: 23-41ms/ cm for the (PP and
CP3P) but for the (CP2P) are varied between: 13-25 ms/cm, this high
conductivity due to the addition of the salt during storage before their
crushing olives. The OOMWs are rich in organic matter. This last parameter is
expressed as BOD5
and COD. The average of the total BOD, COD, biodegradability, of samples varied
with oil extraction processes, for the (PP): (BOD5 : 17-25 g O2 5 /L; COD
:108-120 g O/L; biodegradability: 0.11-0.25); for the (CP3P): (BOD5: 12.5- 23 gO2/L; COD :76-100; biodegradability: 0.16-0.23) and
for the (CP2P): (BOD5: 8.5-19 gO2/L;COD :52-64 g O2 2 /L; biodegradability:
0.16-0.23). And the samples are riche of the Oxidizable matters
((COD+2BOD)/3),therefore, the connecting this industrial facility to a
municipal sewer system is impossible; because, any connection of the units
trituration olives can lead to dysfunctional treatment plant wastewater; but
which poses a great problem for these unit s trituration effluents is
non-biodegradable material: polyphenols and tannins, the values( the samples of
OOMW filtered) are varied: (polyphenols: 0.8-1.35 g/L and tannins :0.62-1.2
g/L) for the PP, for CP3P (polyphenols: 0.29-1.83 g/L and tannins :0.2-1.71 g/L), but for the (CP2P) are varied between (polyphenols:
0.24-0.67g/L and tannins :0.12-0.65 g/L). In this article, recent and older
research studies for the physicochemical characterization of olive mill
wastewaters performed by several authors were shown.