Olive Mill Wastewater for Bioethanol Production using Immobilised Cells

Physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of a local traditional olive mill wastewater, at Ennakhla-Chlef in northern Algeria, were evaluated. The olive mill wastewater samples had slight acidity of 0.65 % with a pH = 4.88, and electrical conductivity of 34 mS cm -1 . The chemical oxygen demand (COD) and the biological oxygen demand (BOD 5 ) reached up to 183 g l -1 and 7 g l -1 , respectively. In addition, the samples showed 1.72 g l -1 of total phenolic compounds. Preliminary microbiological analysis of the wastewater showed the presence of various microorganisms represented especially by lactic acid bacteria and Enterococcus sp. to the aim of this work was to investigate the possibility of using yeast strains isolated from olive mill wastewater in the fermentation of the latter. The results shown that fermentation with yeast can produce ethanol at an extent of 1.4 % (v/v). This can constitute a strategy for treating mentioned wastewater and transforming it into valuable biomolecules.