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Abstract
This paper presents a study on the changes in some physico‐chemical characteristics of olive oil mill effluent (OME) due to aging; OME utilized for the investigation were obtained from three different olive oil harvests spanning the period 1996 ‐1998. Both filtered and unfiltered OME were analyzed. Two groups of substances, polyphenols and long chain fatty acids (LCFA), were studied with particular attention on account of their antibacterial and phytotoxic properties.Results indicate that the composition of OME sampled from different olive oil harvests varies considerably as regards total polyphenol and LCFA content and the distribution of these substances in relation to their molecular weights. Moreover, experiments performed in relation to storage time demonstrate that a stabilized effluent is obtained after approximately 45 days of aging, irregardless of the initial olive oil harvest. This is also confirmed by multivariate analysis performed by means of Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis.