A Sustainable Phenolic Compound Extraction System from Olive Oil Mill Wastewater
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Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2016) 1e7 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Cleaner Production journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro A sustainable phenolic compound extraction system from olive oil mill wastewater * Giada La Scalia a, , Rosa Micale a, Luigi Cannizzaro a, Francesco Paolo Marra b a Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Informatica, Gestionale, Meccanica, (DICGIM), Universita di Palermo, Scuola Politecnica, Viale delle Scienze Ed. 8, 90128 Palermo, Italy b Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Universita di Palermo, Scuola Politecnica, Viale delle Scienze Ed. 4, 90128 Palermo, Italy article info abstract Article history: The reduction of environmental impact and the achievement of economic advantages based on by- Received 16 March 2016 product recovery is the aim of applying methodologies for phenolic compounds extraction from Olive Received in revised form Oil Mill Wastewater. Volume reduction of Olive Oil Mill Wastewater could generate important advan- 19 September 2016 tages in terms of waste disposal cost abatement and, in addition, reuse in the production of foods with Accepted 17 October 2016 health properties could lead to economic benefits. Despite the fact that literature shows that several Available online xxx techniques have been developed, few economic approaches have been presented. This paper assesses the economic feasibility of a system based on membrane filtration and reverse osmosis processes for Keywords: Olive oil mill wastewaters phenolic compound extraction, considering their subsequent reuse to enrich Extra Virgin Olive Oil during fi Phenolic compound the malaxation phase. In particular, an analysis of investment pro tability was presented to establish the Membrane filtration break-even point in terms of the incremental cost of olive oil enriched in polyphenols. Results confirm Net present value the sustainability of the process, showing a reduction of the waste product greater than 90%, and feasible Payback time solutions for the incremental cost of enriched Extra Virgin Olive Oil, considering a positive Net Present Value and a Payback Time not greater than four years. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction distinctive odour, an acid pH (4.0e5.5) and high conductivity (6000e16,000 mS/cm). Furthermore, OOMW presents high values The reduction of waste by-products along the supply chain al- for most pollution parameters (Ouzounidou et al., 2010) lows food manufacturers to achieve a double benefit in terms of BOD5:40e95 g/L, COD: 50e180 g/L, LD: 50, toxicity for fish: 8.7% disposal costs and environmental impact abatement. and it contains large amounts of suspended solids and high con- Such aspects have a direct positive effect on the profitability of centrations of polyaromatic compounds, e.g. simple phenols and business, especially when these by-products can be reused in the flavonoids, or polyphenols (0.5e24 g/L). Hence, if not recycled, production of foods with health benefits (Hyde et al., 2001). OOMW constitutes a serious environmental problem because it Growing interest in healthy food has allowed several researchers to represents a significant polluting waste (Zagklis et al., 2013). The work on upgrading and improving the methods for reusing or olive fruit is very rich in phenolic compounds but, since the recycling by-products deriving from different food processes phenolic content of the olive fruit has a greater solubility in water (Brautigam€ et al., 2014). In Mediterranean countries, the olive than in fatty acid, only 2% of the their total amount passes during processing industry generates the most important agro-industrial the oil phase, while the remaining is lost in the OOMW (approxi- wastewaters. In particular, Olive Oil Mill Wastewater (OOMW) is mately 53%) and in the pomace (approximately 45%) (Rodis et al., a secondary product of the olive oil extraction process, containing 2002). The extraction and the recycling of the biologically active soft tissues of the olive fruit and the water used in the various compounds from OOMW may turn a polluting residue into a source stages of the oil extraction treatment. OOMW (from three - phase of natural antioxidants, object of growing interest in pharmaceu- extraction systems) is a recalcitrant dark brown effluent, with a tical and food industries. A wide range of phenolic compounds was identified in Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) and OOMW, including phenolic alcohols, secoiridoid derivatives, phenolic acids, lignans, * Corresponding author. and flavonoids (Artajo et al., 2007). In particular, the potential E-mail address: [email protected] (G. La Scalia). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.10.086 0959-6526/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Please cite this article in press as: La Scalia, G., et al., A sustainable phenolic compound extraction system from olive oil mill wastewater, Journal of Cleaner Production (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.10.086 2 G. La Scalia et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2016) 1e7 innovative use of EVOO by-product is related to their richness in the sustainability of these methodologies (Lipnizki and Field, 2001; hydroxytyrosol and its derivates (Servili et al., 2011a). The European Ruiz-Rosa et al., 2016) but none for the olive oil industry. Regulation EU 432/2012 declares that olive oils which contain at In our study, a commercial MF membrane filtration system was least 5 mg of hydroxytyrosol and its derivatives (e.g. oleuropein used to separate the polyphenols from the OOMW of a specific olive complex and tyrosol) per 20 g can be considered a healthy food. In cultivar (Cerasuola) to enrich the olive oil of two cultivars (Nocel- order to uphold this claim, information should be given to the lara del Belice and Biancolilla), with low polyphenols content consumer regarding the beneficial effect that could be obtained (Caruso et al., 2007). In particular, the aim of our study was to with a daily intake of 20 g of olive oil. However, the quantity of demonstrate a waste product reduction derived from EVOO hydroxytyrosol and its derivatives in Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), extraction processes and to prove the economic sustainability of as well as in OOMW, is affected by several agronomic factors (such the MF membrane filtration system determining the price of the as cultivar, ripening stage, geographic and genetic origin of olive enriched olive oil that permits an affordable investment. For this fruit, olive trees irrigation) (Caruso et al., 2014; Marra et al., 2016) purpose two economical indicators, the Net Present Value and the and technological aspects (such as oil extraction conditions during Payback time, were analysed. crushing, malaxation and EVOO separation) (Angerosa et al., 2004). Hence, in certain conditions, olive oil would not fit the re- 2. Materials and methods quirements of the European Regulation EU 432/2012. In particular, several olive cultivars are genetically characterized by a low fruit The OOMW used in this study was collected in 2015 from an phenolic content and consequently the corresponding EVOOs olive mill located in Calstelvetrano (TP, Italy). The main cultivars are cannot guarantee some health advantages. Valls et al. (2015) have Cerasuola (63%), Biancolilla (20%) and Nocellara del Belice (17%). demonstrated that EVOO enriched with phenolic compounds can The drupes were processed by the extraction system Pieralisi offer additional health benefits compared with a standard EVOO Leopard (Ancona, Italy) equipped with a three-phase decanter- with moderate polyphenol content. In particular, the addition of separator system with a working capacity of 10,000 kg/h. In Table 1, polyphenols could improve the important health aspects of EVOO the total quantity of olives from the three cultivar considered, the while preserving the characteristic varietal flavour (Servili et al., pomace, the wastewaters, the oil quantities, and the corresponding 2011a) and ensuring an optimal intake of polyphenols through yields for the cultivar Cerasuala, are reported. the habitual diet (Suarez et al., 2009). Thus, the enrichment of EVOO is a way of increasing its health-promoting properties whilst 2.1. Olive oil mill wastewater consuming the same or less fat. In this context, OOMW treatments, that allow phenol extraction, may lead to economic benefits The prototype of the olive wastewater treatment used in this (Garcia-Castello et al., 2010). These treatments are mainly based on research is reported in Fig. 1. It was realized by Permeare srl (Milan, biological degradation (anaerobic and aerobic) (Beltran et al., 2008) Italy) and its working capacity is about 500 L/h of wastewater. or on advanced oxidation process (Adhoum and Monser, 2004), as In the mill, the vegetable water produced with a low content of well as on various combinations of these processes (Khoufi et al., material in suspension (particle size exceeding 1 mm) was accu- 2006). It should be noted that the efficiency of the process, the mulated in one or more tanks with a capacity of 500 L. During the complexity and the costs involved might vary significantly. High load into the tank, it was necessary to add the pectolytic enzymatic costs are often the main reason for not adopting these OOMW preparation (Permazim ZE01). The quantity of enzyme for each treatment methods (El-Abbassi et al., 2014). treatment was assumed to be 100 g/m3 of OOMW. The following Currently, one of the most promising methods for the treatment membrane treatments were microfiltration, ultrafiltration and of OOMW, considering effectiveness, environmental impact and reverse osmosis, as reported in Fig. 2. cost, is membrane filtration (Zagklis et al., 2013). Recently a Before the ultrafiltration section, the waters pass through a membrane filtration system was applied in an industrial scale plant membrane with a porosity of 1 mm, which allows the removal of to obtain a Crude Phenolic Concentrate (CPC) from OOMW (Servili suspended solids (microfiltration). This section is composed of 3 et al., 2011a). Membrane technology reduces the OOMW organic membranes consisting in a vessel with tubular type modules.