Abstract

Olive mill wastewaters (OMWs) represent a major environmental concern due to their high organic load and phytotoxic activity. The selective recovery of phenolic compounds (PCs) from OMW represents a promising technology, thanks to the antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of PCs. The goal of this work was to optimize a process of PC adsorption / desorption on resin XAD16N, and to perform the life cycle assessment (LCA) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of the process. Adsorption tests were conducted at different velocities in a 1.8-m column packed with resin XAD16N. The optimal superficial velocity and retention time (2.78 m/h and 0.56 h) allowed the attainment of satisfactory performances in terms of resin operating capacity, PC adsorption yield, PC mass fraction in the sorbed product and specific antioxidant activity of the final product. Six consecutive adsorption / desorption cycles, operated with the same resin load, resulted in stable process performances. The LCA indicated that the environmental impact of the process could be markedly decreased through the addition of an anaerobic digestion step for the production of irrigation-quality water and fertilizers from the dephenolized OMW. The PC market price required for the generation of a positive business case resulted reasonable. The results indicate that the proposed PC adsorption/desorption technology, if integrated with an anaerobic digestion step, represents a promising solution for the treatment and valorisation of OMW, a major agro-industrial waste in Mediterranean countries. This dataset contains the data underlying the following publication: Continuous flow adsorption of phenolic compounds from olive mill wastewater with resin XAD16N: process optimization, life cycle assessment and cost-benefit analysis.