September 2014 "Capacity Building for Sustainable Treatment and Valorization of Olive Mill Waste in Palestine"Bethlehem, Feb 6, 2013:—the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem ( ARIJ ) coordinator and partner of the Olitreva ongoing project have completed 16 day first research development visit and mid-term meeting at Rende Italy related to the field of olive mill waste (OMW) treatment and Valorization.
Jane Hilal head of the Water & Environment Research Unit (WERU) at ARIJ engaged in this research visit that comes as part of a lager cooperation between the European commission Framework program known as the “EU- FP7” and ARIJ. The research visit comes as part of ARIJ wish to reinforcing the Palestinian Research and Technology Development (RTD) capacities of ARIJ in the filed on OMW.
“We studied the possibility of olive mill wastewaters treatment and concentration using the direct contact membrane distillation “DCMD” technique to recovery purified water as distillate while reducing the olive mill waste water volume to be treated” noted Jane Hilal
The Olive Trees have inhabited the Palestinian landscape for thousands of years it is the most important tree in Palestine due to its historical, cultural, religious and economic value. Yet despite this significant contribution of the olive oil sector in the economic and social development of the Palestine, it is becoming a source of serious environmental problems to which urgent solutions have to be addressed.
Against this situation, efforts on this field should be focus on strengthening local RTD capacity in the oPt through augmenting ARIJ capacity and to build up local Since & Technology capabilities. This project also mobilizes towards fostering the participation of Palestinian research centers in international projects by increasing awareness about available cooperation instruments for promoting of the R&D with developing countries mainly ones that fall within the European Framework Programs.
The level of domestic science and technology capability determines the success or failure of a given country to benefit from technology transfer and goes hand by hand with social progress and economic development. In this particular case, it is imperative to equip Palestinian research institutions with appropriate S&T capacities that will enable them to propose appropriate solutions to the environmental challenges caused by OMW.
The project also has the aim to build and reinforce scientific research cooperation between ARIJ and the European centers of top-level research and scientific excellence working in the same fields.
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