The olive oil production industry in the Mediterranean area meets the problem with the high amount of waste – olive waste water and olive pulp. The high COD and concentration of polyphenols, the low pH and alkalinity make this waste harmful for the environment. It is toxic for the aquatic fauna and flora, pollutes the groundwater, changes the soil quality [1].

The anaerobic digestion is known as an effective method for treating organic waste and yielding energy at the same time. For this reason, there are many studies on the anaerobic fermentation of olive mill waste. The substrate characteristics mentioned above are also bottlenecks for this process. Therefore optimal fermentation design and conditions should be investigated.

In this work an extraction method of polyphenolic compounds from olive pulp has to be optimized. Further analysis of the changes in the phenol concentration during a two stage fermentation should be accomplished, using spectrophotometric assay (Folin-Ciocalteu assay) and gas chromatography [2].

University of Natural Resources and Applied Life SciencesDepartment for Agrobiotechnology IFA-TullnKonrad-Lorenz-Str. 20 – A-3430 Tulln – Austria

Institute for Environmental BiotechnologyTel. +43 2272 66280-502 – Fax +43 2272 66280-503 – mail: officeut@boku.ac.atHead: A.o.Univ.Prof. DI Dr Loibner Andreas Paul

MASTERMASTER THESISTHESIS – – ANAEROBICANAEROBIC DIGESTIONDIGESTIONInhibitors in the anaerobic digestion - Optimization of extraction methods of polyphenolic compounds from olive pulp

1.Boubaker F, Ridha BC. 2010. Two phase anaerobic co-digestion of olive mill wastes in semi-continuous digesters at mesophilic temperature. Bioresource Technology. 101, 1628-1634.

2.Naczk M, Fereidoon S. 2004. Extraction and analysis of phenolics in food. Journal of Chromatography A. 1054, 95-111.

Contacts: Details:DI Elitza Stoyanova start: January/February 2012 elitza.stoyanova@boku.ac.at duration: ca. 6 monthsTel.: +43 2272 66280 537 financial support is possiblewww.ifa-tulln.ac.at www.codigestion.com