MESOCOSMS IN MITIGATION STUDIES - FROM WASTE TO RESOURCE: RECYCLING OLIVE OIL WASTEWATER AND BYPRODUCTS FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION

The Mediterranean region faces great challenges, including water scarcity, rising energy costs, and unsustainable agricultural practices that lead to soil degradation and lower productivity. In the Mediterranean, the olive oil industry is one of the most important agricultural productions, but also one of the most polluting. By-products such as olive mill wastewater (OMWW) and olive pomace (OP) have chemical compositions that makes their management and disposal difficult. To solve current environmental problems related to agricultural practices and offer technical innovations, the multidisciplinary project CYCLOLIVE (www.cyclolive.eu), involving nine partner institutions from Morocco, Spain, Tunisia, Jordan, Turkey, Italy, France, and Germany, has been funded under the PRIMA international partnership. The aim of the project is to integrate the reCYCLing of by-products of OLIVE oil extraction for sustainable agricultural practices in the Mediterranean region, i.e. from waste to resource.  Here, we describe how we construct mesocosm facilities and conduct experiments to test the effects of discharging treated and untreated OMWW on aquatic ecosystems, as well as the implementation and testing of cost-effective irrigation control systems.  These activities will provide information to integrate OMWW treatment and OP recycling, as well as renewable energy strategies into practical and innovative solutions that are easy to use, environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and sustainable, thus contributing to the European Green Deal, which aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

Presentation Preference: Either

Primary Presenter: Jens Nejstgaard, IGB - Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Stechlin-Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany (jens.nejstgaard@igb-berlin.de)

Authors:

Jens Nejstgaard, IGB - Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Stechlin-Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany  (jens.nejstgaard@igb-berlin.de)

Stella Berger, IGB - Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Stechlin-Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany  (stella.berger@igb-berlin.de)

Ayoub El Ghadraoui, IGB - Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Stechlin-Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany  (ayoub.elghadraoui@igb-berlin.de)

Aafaf Krimech, IGB - Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Stechlin-Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany  (aafaf.krimech1995@gmail.com)

Faissal Aziz, Laboratory of Water, Biodiversity and Climate Change, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco  (f.aziz@uca.ma)

Amine Elleuch, Laboratory of Plant Biotechnology, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia  (amine.elleuch@fss.usf.tn)

Massimo Del Bubba, Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff", University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy  (massimo.delbubba@unifi.it)