Combining chemical treatment and sand filtration for the olive mill wastewater reclamation

Olive oil production is a significant agricultural activity with great economic importance. The growth of the olive oil production in Al-Jouf region in recent years has been accompanied by an increase in the volume of associated processing waste. This work aims to reduce the impact resulted from the discharge of olive mill wastewater (OMW) without treatment. Combination between chemical treatment using ferric chloride aided with lime, Fenton and photo-Fenton with sand filter was carried out. The obtained results indicated that the coagulation sedimentation (using ferric chloride aided with lime) reduced the concentration of organic load represented by COD, BOD and TSS reduced from 117900, 22174 and 15977 to 8965, 5463 and 453 mg/l, respectively. The Fenton and photo-Fenton processes showed efficient removal of organic load than the coagulation sedimentation process. The residual concentration of COD, BOD and TSS was 4563, 2683 and 378 mg/l for Fenton process and 3647, 2167 and 339 mg/l for photo-Fenton, respectively. Sand filter was used for polishing the effluent. The scheme consisting of photo-Fenton followed by sand filtration was found to be much efficient for the treatment of OMW. The residual concentration of COD, BOD and TSS was 1150, 645 and 40 mg/l. respectively. The final effluent could be discharged safely to the sewerage system.