Olive oil pomace utilization
Olive oil pomace utilization
Extraction and separation of hydroxytyrosol and other polyphenic compounds
The olive oil pomace is the by-product resulting from obtaining olive oil using the 2-phase technique, and its generation is currently an environmental problem due to its polluting nature. Reanga Química is working on a treatment process for the extraction of the polyphenolic compounds of interest, mainly hydroxytyrosol with important characteristics as a natural antioxidant and great potential in the food and cosmetic industry, mainly, and that allows the best use of the resulting fractions.

The imposition of the two-phase system for obtaining olive oil from the nineties of the last century, although it has reduced water consumption in the oil mills and has eliminated the problem of olive oil mill waste water contamination (a highly polluting aqueous residue produced in the previous three-phase process), it has introduced a new by-product, olive oil pomace.
This by-product can be considered rather a waste given its little current use and that, since it contains the components of the old former olive oil mill waste water (polyphenols with high phytotoxic power and high BOD and COD), it shares its contaminating characteristics. Being much more humid than the old pomace, its drying prior to the extraction of the pomace oil is uneconomical given the large amount of water to be removed, added to the fact that the high temperatures to which it must be heated cause transformations in the oil that reduce its quality, as well as the formation of toxic compounds such as benzopyrenes. This has lowered consumer confidence in pomace oil. In addition, the higher content of sugars in the alperujo with respect to the traditional pomace causes a greater deterioration in the drying equipment.


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