Olive oil mill wastewater (OOMW) is a major source of pollution around olive oil mills as it is rich in organic substances, phenolic materials, and suspended solid matter content. Moreover, it contains high concentrations of oil. Classical biological treatment units are not sufficient for the treatment of OOMW and a pretreatment process is required.

Celalettin Özdemir and co-workers, Selcuk University, Turkey, have investigated the use of conventional Fenton (CFP) using Fe²⁺ and Fenton type processes (FTP) with Fe⁰ for the pretreatment of OOMW. The optimal operational conditions were determined as:

Both methods were determined to be effective pretreatments for raw OOMW, removing over 62 % of phenol and reducing chemical oxygen demand by over 80 %.

• Pretreatment of Olive Oil Mill Wastewater by Two Different Applications of Fenton Oxidation Processes
  C. Özdemir, H. Tezcan, S. Sahinkaya, E. Kalipci,
  Clean Soil Air Water 2010.
  DOI: 10.1002/clen.201000222