Original and residual phytotoxicity of olive mill wastewater revealed by fractionations before and after incubation with Pleurotus ostreatus.

Concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and total phenols (TP), and the phytotoxicity to cress (Lepidium sativum L.) were determined for three molecular-sized fractions of olive mill wastewater (OMW), <1000, 1000-5000, and >5000 Da, before and after incubation with Pleurotus ostreatus. The <1000-Da fraction contained 82% of the total DOC and 48% of the TP, and was the most phytotoxic. Ethyl acetate separation of aqueous and solvent fractions showed that the aqueous fraction contained 93% of the total DOC, 83% of the TP, and was most phytotoxic, indicating low importance of monomeric phenols. Incubation of whole OMW and of the separate size fractions with P. ostreatus mycelia reduced TP by factors of 4.3-5.3, but exerted diverse impact on phytotoxicity; overall, P. ostreatus efficacy in organic load removal and OMW detoxification was limited. Additional size fractionation of the incubated fractions revealed that most residual phytotoxicity was associated with low-molecular weight (MW) compounds originated from the <1000 Da fraction and not with low-MW byproducts from the degradation of higher-MW fractions and that polymerized metabolites were nonphytotoxic. Total phenols should not be used as sole indicators of the successful remediation of OMW.