Selective separation of essential phenolic compounds from olive oil mill wastewater using a bulk liquid membrane

Olive oil mill wastewater (OMWW) is very rich in phenolic compounds especially the key compounds of caffeic acid (CA), hydroxytyrosol (HTY), and tyrosol (TY). Therefore, the development of new and effective analytical and industrial methods for the separation and concentration of these valuable compounds has attracted great attention in the last decades. In this study, a selective transport and separation method for CA, HTY, and TY from OMWW samples, obtained from different olive orchards, using a new bulk liquid membrane (BLM) procedure was developed. Various factors influencing the transport efficiency such as pH of the source and receiving phases, nature and volume of the organic membrane, stirring rate, and transport time were investigated and optimized. Under optimal experimental conditions, the transport efficiencies of CA, HTY, and TY from the OMWW samples of 90.1 %, 28.4 %, and 34.9 % were obtained, respectively. Relative standard deviations (RSDs, n = 7) were found to be 4.1 %, 3.8 %, and 3.0 % and the limits of detection (LODs) obtained were 0.001 mg L-1, 0.011 mg L-1, and 0.008 mg L-1, for CA, HTY, and TY, respectively. (C) 2013 Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences