Abstract

The growth of the olive oil production in Saudi Arabia particularly in Al Jouf region in recent years has been accompanied by an increase in the discharge of associated processing waste. Olive mill waste is produced through the extraction of oil from the olive fruit using the traditional mill and press process. Deterioration of the environment due to olive mill wastes disposal is a serious problem. When olive mill waste is disposed into the soil, it affects soil quality, soil micro flora and also toxic to plants. The aim of this work is to isolate microorganism (bacterial or fungal strains) from OMW capable of degrading phenols. Olive mill wastewater, olive mill waste and soil (beside oil production mill) contaminated with olive waste were used for isolation of phenol tolerant microorganisms. Four strains (two fungal and two bacterial) were isolated from olive mill waste. The isolated strains were Candida tropicalis and Phanerochaete chrysosporium (fungal strains) and Bacillus sp. and Rhodococcus sp. (bacterial strains). These strains were able to degrade phenols and could be used for bioremediation of olive mill waste. 

Key words: Bioremediation, bacteria, fungi, Sakaka.

Abbreviation

OMW, Olive mill waste; OMWW, olive mill wastewater; SOMW, solid olive mill waste; COD, chemical oxygen demand; BOD, biochemical oxygen demand; TSS, total suspended solids; TKN, total Kjeldahl nitrogen; TP, total phosphorus.