Photo-Fenton treatment of wastewater from olive oil extraction industry

The European industry has a well-established sector in the production of olive oil. The valorization of the olive pomace by extraction highly generates pollutant effluent due to waste leaching and processing in these extractor units (OOEIW). This study aimed to treat OOEIW using the photo-Fenton process. The process efficiency for the removal of organic matter and phenolic compounds was modeled and optimized using response surface methodology with Box-Behnken design. The variables considered were iron catalyst concentration, oxidant concentration, and UV irradiation time. The optimal conditions were determined as [Fe²⁺] = 3 g L^-1, [H₂O₂] = 23 g L^-1 and time photo reaction 60 min. The process achieved removals of 93% (TPh) and 26% (COD) in the diluted sample (1:10); 90% (TPh) and 39% (COD) in the raw sample.