Fecha: Viernes, 24 de febrero de 2012
Lugar: Aula del Instituto del Agua, C/Ramon y Cajal, 4
Horario: 12,30h.
Descripción: Conferencia impartida por el profesor Massimiliano Fenice de la Universidad della Tuscia (Viterbo, Italia), dentro del Programa de profesores invitados por el Campus de Excelencia.
Resumen de la conferencia:
Olive oil industry is a primary alimentary sector for Mediterranean Countries but the production of olive oil is rapidly extending in various areas of Australia, Chile and USA. Oil Industry generates a huge amount of wastewater and other wastes. Generally, oil extraction could be carried out using either a three- or a two-phase system. In the first case, the process releases a solid waste (olive husks) and a wastewater (olive mill wastewater, OMW). In the second case, only a semisolid waste is generated (olive wet husks) and no OMW is produced; for both systems, the
preliminary olive washing needs lot of potable water generating another effluent (olive washing wastewater, OWW).
In three-phases mills, OWW is mixed and disposed with OMW, while, two-phases mills have the problem of OWW disposal. The two-phases process is generally preferred to save water and the use of these mills is now increased being already the principal system in Spain, the world most important olive oil producer. For these reasons, OWW disposal is becoming a consistent worldwide environmental issue; the effluent can not be disposed as such but needs a specific treatment.
OMW is a highly polluting effluent and its treatment and/or reuse has been studied intensively. However, an ultimate solution is still to be found and, till now, no efficient disposal technology is available even if some biological agents, such as the white-rot fungi, seem to be very promising. These ligninolytic fungi are good degraders of phenolic compounds and they could have interesting potentialities. Some, such as Panus tigrinus, Trametes versicolor and Funalia trogii, have been tested on OMW. Unfortunately, their effective use is possible only after dilution to
reduce the effluent pollutant load. Dilution is illegal in most olive oil producing Countries and it would be problematic due to the huge amount of water consumed.
OWW composition is similar to that of OMW but with much lower concentration of pollutants. Therefore, the treatment of this effluent should be easier and could be carried out using those systems having poor efficiency with OMW. Nevertheless, very little has been done in order to find an efficient biological process for the treatment of this effluent.
In this presentation, after a resume of our works on OMW, we will report on the development of a simple and feasible bioprocess of OWW treatment employing white-rot fungi.
Curriculum Vitae
At the present, Dr. Fenice is Associate Professor of Microbiology (teaching Applied, Industrial and Marine Microbiology) in the Faculty of Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy. He is head of the Applied Microbiology Laboratory of DEB and head of the Laboratory of Marine Applied Microbiology Laboratory of CONISMA (Consorzio Interuniversitario Scienze del Mare), University of Tuscia, Viterbo Italy. He was and is involved in the University of Tuscia management being member or chairman of various administrative bodies (i.e. Administration Board, University Financial and Building Commissions, University Sport Committee). He is responsible for “Erasmus” in DEB. He is member of the following International Scientific Societies: MSA, Mycological Society of America, EUCHIS, European Chitin and Chitosan Society (he is member of the society Board), BENA, Balkan Environmental Association (he is Chairman of the
Mediterranean Office), and SIMGBM: Società Italiana di Microbiologia Generale e Biotecnologie Microbiche (Italian Society of General Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology).
The major fields of interest of Dr. Fenice are: 1) Biomass, enzymes or other by-products production by microorganisms; 2) Immobilization of microbial cells for the production of enzymes or organic acids and for the degradation of pollutants; 3) Bioreactor design and optimization of fermentation processes; 4) Biotechnological treatments and reuse of water and wastewater; 5) Bio-diversity of Arctic and Antarctic microorganisms and marine bacteria; The Collaboration with the Research Group of Prof. Jesus Gonzalez Lopez (University of Granada) started in 1999 within the EC project “Medusa water”, dealing with the biological treatment of Olive Mill Wastewater (alpechin), and continued till now. In 2006 the two groups were financed for a common project (Accion Integrada Espana/Italia) concerning the “Biodegradation of phenolic and/or recalcitrant compounds from industrial and Agro-industrial effluents by marine bacteria”. In 2009,
the two groups obtained another EC grant that is still in course (Project “Algatec”).
Organiza: Campus de Excelencia BioTIC Granada
Más información: Belén Juárez
email: belenjj@ugr.es
Tf: 958242980