A. Martín

Removal of phenol compounds from olive mill wastewater using Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus terreus and Geotrichum candidum

The manufacturing process of olive oil yields a liquid waste called ‘olive mill wastewater’ (OMW). This waste has a high polluting power as well as a high antibacterial activity exerted, among others, by various phenolic compounds. Among the methods for the purification of OMW, biological systems show some advantages that make these particularly suitable. However, the presence of phenolic inhibitors requires the use of microorganisms able to utilise aromatic compounds. The capability and kinetic behaviour of several fungi to deal with such a waste reducing the phenol content of OMW was studied. The removal of total phenols relative to the total organic load consumed, which might indicate a measure of the selectivity with which the microorganisms remove phenols among other organic compounds present, indicates the sequence: Phanerochaete chrysosporium>Aspergillus niger>Aspergillus terreus.

Anaerobic treatment of fish flour wastewater

Abstract We carried out a kinetic study on the anaerobic digestion of waste‐water generated by the production of fish flour. Three bioreactors containing different immobilization supports were investigated. Assuming first‐order kinetics, the experimental results were fitted to the equation G = Gm [l ‐ exp(Kot)]. We determined the apparent kinetic constant of the process (Ko ) and found it to be dependent on the nature of the support at chemical oxygen demand (COD) levels below 9 g/L. Higher COD levels resulted in substrate inhibition prevailing over the effect of the support.