CHANGES IN THE COMPOSITION OF THE WASTES GENERATED BY DIFFERENT SYSTEMS

OF THE OLIVE OIL INDUSTRY

Bernal M.P., García-Gomez A., Roig A., Paredes C., Cegarra J.

Department of Soil and Water Conservation and Organic Waste Management. Centro de Edafología y Biología
Aplicada del Segura, CSIC. Apartado 4195, 30080 Murcia, Spain.

ABSTRACT

The wastes from the olive oil extraction industry are changing with the technology. The three-phase system
produces a liquid waste called alpechin. A common practice is to store it in evaporation ponds, which produces a
sludge during the summer, although recently solid-liquid separation technology has been developed. A new two-
phase system of olive oil technology has been introduced, in which a semi-liquid by-product (alperujo) is
produced. The chemical composition of these different wastes is studied in the present paper, and the feasibility
of their composting is discussed. The liquid nature of alpechin together with its low N concentration are the key
factors for its composting. However, the sludge, the solid fraction of alpechin and the alperujo requires the
selection of an adequate bulking agent which provides porosity to the waste for composting. The high fat content
of these wastes is an important problem for their composting, as in general it requires a long composting time.

INTRODUCTION

The traditional three-phase system of the olive oil extraction industry produced oil, a solid fraction (orujo), and a
liquid waste called alpechin. The alpechin comes from the tissue water of the fruit and the water used in the
different steps of oil production and contains olive pulp, mucilage, pectin, oil, etc suspended in a relatively stable
emulsion. The common practice is to store it in evaporation ponds, which produce a sludge during the summer.
A technology of liquid and solid separation is being developed. The liquid can be used in soils as a fertiliser due
to its high K concentration, and the solid can be recycled by composting. From 1992 a new two-phase system of
olive oil technology, which saves water, has been used in which only oil and a semi-liquid by-product (alperujo)
are produced. The alperujo contains the solid residues (pulp and stones), the tissue water of the olive and the
water from the system. All the alperujo cannot be used for oil extraction and a recycling alternative is necessary.
The chemical composition of the wastes from the olive oil industry is studied in the present paper, and the
feasibility of their recycling by composting is discussed.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ten samples of alpechin were collected from different mills, ten samples of sludges from different evaporation
ponds, two samples of the solid fraction of alpechin after separation of the liquid by flocculation, and 21 samples
of alperujo. All samples were homogenised and analysed (Paredes et al., 1999). Four mixtures (2000 kg each) of
the olive mill wastes were composted using the static pile system. The proportions, on a fresh weight basis,
were:
Pile 1: 47 % sewage sludge + 53 % maize straw + 1.8 l alpechin kg-1 (dry weight 15:80:5).
Pile 2: 80 % sludge + 20 % cotton waste (72:28).
Pile 3: 83 % solid fraction of alpechin + 17 % olive leaves (65:35).
Pile 4: 80 % alperujo + 30 % cotton waste (67:33).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The alpechin shows the lowest dry matter content of all the wastes (Table 1). All the wastes are slightly acid, but
the alpechin and its sludge had high content of soluble salts, as indicated by the electrical conductivity. On a dry
matter basis the alpechin is rich in OM and TOC, but its TN concentration is low, producing a high C/N ratio. It
is rich in K, providing value as a fertiliser, however phytotoxic effects have been observed after soil application,
due to its high concentrations of polyphenols (2.21 ± 0.79%) and fats. Maize straw was chosen to prepare pile 1,
as this waste can absorb a high amount of alpechin, and sewage sludge from a wastewater treatment plant was
used as a source of N to obtain an adequate C/N ratio.
The composition of the sludge is similar to that of alpechin with respect to OM and TOC, on a dry matter basis,
which may indicate that the degradation of OM was low during its storage in the evaporation ponds (Paredes et
al., 1999). However, the TN concentration of the sludges were higher than that of the alpechin, which can be due
to N-fixation, as, according to García-Barrionuevo et al. (1992), the alpechin is considered a suitable substrate
for the growth of free nitrogen fixers. The K from the alpechin may have been fixed in the soil clay fraction

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during storage in the evaporation ponds, as a lower K concentration was found in sludges. Also, Ca in the sludge
can come from the partial solubilisation of CaCO3 from the calcareous soil during storage of alpechin in ponds.
The composting of the sludge only needs a bulking agent to provide porosity, since the average value of the C/N
ratio is adequate for composting. Then, cotton waste was selected, as its C/N ratio is about 20.
The separation of the liquid fraction from the alpechin led to drastic reductions in the EC and the P, K and Na
concentrations in the solid fraction, as their salts are dissolved in the liquid phase. The OM and TOC were high
in the solid fraction, and the TN concentration was higher than that of the alpechin. It had the lowest moisture
content and, as the bulking agent did not need to absorb any excess moisture, it was mixed with olive leaves for
composting, which can improve its porosity and aeration. The OM concentration was highest in alperujo, as this
waste contains stone fragments.. The concentrations of the main nutrients (N, P, and K), and fats were close to
those of the solid fraction of the alpechin. Cotton waste was also used as a bulking agent for its composting. The
main problem for composting of alperujo and the solid fraction of alpechin could be related to their high fat
content.
Both piles 1 and 4, with alpechin and alperujo respectively, had shorter bio-oxidative phases of composting than
the other two piles. The OM and TOC concentrations decreased gradually during composting (Table 2), showing
a steady OM degradation, while TN increased during the process, mainly in pile 1, decreasing the C/N ratio. The
TN increase in pile 1 may be due to a concentration effect as a consequence of the weight loss of the mass, and
also reflects low N losses during composting, as maize straw has been shown to reduce N losses during
composting (Paredes et al. 1996). The degradation of OM in pile 4 was the lowest of all piles, because the OM of
the alperujo may have a high proportion of resistant compounds which probably come from the olive stones
(Madejon et al., 1998). The fat content may affect the dynamics of TOC, the concentration of which was initially
almost constant, but started to decrease after 28 days, when the fat concentration was low (Madejon et al., 1998).
In the piles with either sludge or the solid fraction of alpechin (2 and 3) the thermophilic phases were very long
(more than 140 days). In pile 3, this may be associated with the high initial C/N ratio. But, pile 2, with an
adequate initial C/N ratio, reached a very high temperature at the beginning of the process showing a high
microbial activity. The OM concentration decreased quickly during the first 14 days, more intensively than in the
rest of the piles. In this case the long period required for the active phase may be due to the high proportion of
degradable OM. The TN increased to a lesser extent than in pile 1, reaching a lower concentration in the mature
compost. The OM evolution of pile 3 showed an initially low degradation, which could be due to the high
concentration of fats, as for pile 4. When most of the fats were degraded, the OM and TOC concentrations
started to decrease more quickly. The OM of the solid fraction and of the alperujo was difficult to degrade, due
to both the fat content and, in the latter, the olive stones.
Table 1. Characteristics of the olive mill wastes (d.w., standard deviation in brackets).
Alpechin Sludge Solid fraction Alperujo
Dry matter (%) 7.2 (0.3) 48.0 (20.8) 70.2 (3.2) 64.1 (4.6)
pH 5.17 (0.25) 5.41 (0.42) 5.72 (0.12) 5.52 (0.47)
EC (dS m-1) 5.50 (2.30) 6.74 (3.62) 2.03 (0.83) 3.86 (0.95)
OM (%) 64.6 (4.1) 71.1 (18.8) 84.2 (13.5) 90.2 (6.5)
TOC (g kg-1) 475.2 (30.7) 479.0 (123) 588.9 (52.9) 520.8 (15.7)
TN (g kg-1) 8.8 (2.2) 17.4 (67.7) 13.4 (2.5) 14.3 (3.9)
C/N 57.1 (12.7) 31.1 (9.0) 45.4 (12.5) 38.8 (9.3)
P (g kg-1) 1.91 (0.98) 1.40 (0.63) 0.93 (0.03) 1.41 (0.42)
K (g kg-1) 52.4 (12.2) 14.1 (8.1) 11.0 (0.8) 14.7 (5.7)
Na (g kg-1) 1.49 (1.72) 0.62 (0.38) 0.12 (0.08) -
Ca (g kg-1) 4.2 (0.78) 28.7 (30.8) - -
Fats (%) 4.3 (3.6) - 12.0 (2.5) 12.7 (4.2)
Lignin (%) - - 50.0 (14.0) 45.3 (4.5)

Table 2. Evolution of the different piles during composting.

OM TOC TN C/N OM TOC TN C/N Fats
Composting (%) (g kg-1) (g kg-1) (%) (g kg-1) (g kg-1) (%)
days Pile 1: Alpechin + maize st.+ sewage s Pile 4: Alperujo + cotton waste
0 89.6 472.0 15.2 31.0 85.1 555.6 21.6 25.8 8.6
14 88.4 439.2 16.2 27.1 88.0 554.0 22.0 25.2 6.9
28 83.0 408.8 22.2 18.4 82.1 552.1 25.2 21.9 7.0
42 83.3 430.2 28.7 15.0 80.7 523.4 28.3 18.5 -
49 80.5 409.9 29.5 13.9 79.6 509.4 27.4 18.6 3.6
63 79.7 415.4 30.0 13.8 82.2 473.4 23.1 20.5 2.5

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Mature 74.8 394.3 33.3 11.8 82.5 468.1 24.5 19.1 1.3
Pile 2: sludge + cotton waste Pile 3: solid fraction + olive leaves
0 61.2 351.0 15.4 22.8 65.1 434.0 10.8 40.2 15.2
14 54.2 315.6 15.5 20.4 67.1 451.4 11.8 38.3 12.8
28 55.3 303.9 16.5 18.4 60.9 398.8 11.6 34.5 8.5
42 52.9 302.5 19.1 15.8 58.4 377.4 11.0 34.4 5.7
70 43.7 252.7 18.8 13.4 57.8 370.1 11.9 31.0 4.5
98 39.9 225.6 18.0 12.5 53.5 314.8 13.5 23.4 2.4
126 40.1 221.5 17.3 12.8 44.8 325.5 17.3 18.9 -
154 35.4 208.3 16.1 12.9 43.6 305.7 18.2 16.8 1.8
182 37.2 208.4 17.6 11.9 42.8 277.3 18.5 15.0 1.5
Mature 34.8 199.5 18.9 10.6 42.3 248.6 17.6 14.1 1.5

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