Universidade do Minho. Departamento de Engenharia Biológica (DEB)
Abstract
The characterization of Olive Mill Wastewaters (OMW), focusing the phenolic compounds, is
one of the aims of the present work. As a first approach to characterize the phenolic
compounds of OMW, the extraction methods used were: a liquid-liquid extraction by acidified
ethyl acetate and a solid-liquid extraction with acidified methanol. The analysis of these
extracts by reversed phase liquid chromatography confirmed that hydroxytyrosol was the
most abundant phenolic compound in OMW, and that this compound was more efficiently
recovered by the solid-liquid extraction technique. It was also a goal of this work to study the
phenolic compounds toxicity to some yeast strains. Among the phenolic compounds tested
catechol is the most inhibitory one to the cells. The phenols degradation was quite difficult,
particularly when more easily degradable carbon source is still present in the medium.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PTDC/AMB/69379/2006, SFRH/BD/27915/200