Bethlehem March 26, 2013:— The Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ) coordinator and partner of the “Capacity Building for Sustainable Treatment and Valorization of Olive Mill Waste in Palestine” (Olitreva) ongoing project has completed 18-days first research development visit and mid-term meeting at the University of Extremadura – Badajoz, Spain related to the field of Olive Mill Waste (OMW) treatment and Valorization and as part of a larger cooperation between the European commission Framework program known as the “EU- FP7” and ARIJ.

Eng. Elias Abumohor, a research assistant and site engineer of the Water & Environment Research Unit (WERU) at ARIJ engaged in this research to develop a joint experiment evaluating the effects of Olive Mill Wastes application as organic amendment on the Sorption- Desorption and Leaching of herbicides commonly used in olive crops.  

Photo: Eng. Elias Abumohor during his research work at the University of Extremadura Labs – Badajoz, Spain

The Specific objectives of the visit were focused on evaluating the effect of raw and composted two-phase olive mill waste on the characteristics of three olive grove soils taken from two different locations, the southwest of Spain (Extremadura) and two soil samples from the Occupied Palestine (Battir – Bethlehem).

Moreover the research focused on exploring the effect of raw and composted two-phase olive mill waste on the Sorption- Desorption and Leaching of MCPA applied to in olive grove soils.

The short stay in Spain also included a visit to the Cooperative “OLIVARERA LOS PEDROCHES” that uses composting as treatment for the two-phase olive mill waste and a visit to the ”RINCON DE CAYA” wastewater treatment plant, to assess what is being done with the organic matter generated by the treatment process.


Photo: Cooperative “OLIVARERA LOS PEDROCHES”