Environmental Management in Olive Oil Production: A Case Study

This report analyzes the environmental management practices within the olive oil production industry, focusing on the assessment of carbon and energy footprints, and the generation of solid and water wastes. The study references research papers that evaluate the environmental impact of extra virgin olive oil production, particularly in Italy and Greece. The report discusses the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to measure greenhouse gas emissions, highlighting the significant impact of distribution and packaging. It further examines waste management strategies, including the use of evaporation ponds and valorization processes for sludge recycling. The report suggests the use of lighter bottles, ammonia for cooling, and the conversion of waste into bioenergy to reduce environmental impact. It emphasizes the need for advanced alternative processes to improve the sustainability and economic feasibility of olive oil production, and the availability of accurate local data for the best assessment.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN OLIVE OIL PRODUCTION
Environmental Management in Olive Oil Production
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ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN OLIVE OIL PRODUCTION
Environmental Management in Olive Oil Production
In the past few decades, the production of olive oil production has increased
drastically. The production includes two types of centrifuge systems. Both the research
papers ‘Assessment of carbon footprint and energy performance of the extra virgin olive oil
chain in Umbria, Italy` and `Adding Value to Olive Oil Production Through Waste and
Wastewater Treatment and Valorisation: The Case of Greece` deal with the pollution that
occurs during the oil production. Lastly, the research articles give an in-depth analysis on
carbon footprint and energy footprint during extra virgin olive oil production and the
generation of solid and water waste from the olive-pomace industries respectively.
The given article ‘Assessment of carbon footprint and energy performance of the
extra virgin olive oil chain in Umbria, Italy` provides an assessment of carbon footprint and
energy footprint during the extraction of extra virgin olive oil. The research is centred in an
Italian province, Perugia. The first research article is based on the study of olive cultivation,
extra virgin olive oil production, packaging, storage and exportation to the foreign countries.
The storage requires -18 , which emits a certain amount of carbon monoxide to the℃
atmosphere. The article tried to evaluate the intensity of the impact on the environment
through ISO certified life cycle assessment method or LCA (Rinaldi, Barbanera and Lascaro
2014). The LCA result showed that distribution of extra virgin olive oil contributes the
largest amount of carbon footprint and energy footprint in the environment. The olive
production emits 86% of production of extra virgin olive oil along with packaging in the
glass bottle and electricity emit 73% of the greenhouse gas in the environment (Salomone and
Ioppolo 2012).
The second research article `Adding Value to Olive Oil Production through Waste and
Wastewater Treatment and Valorisation: The Case of Greece`, deals with the production of

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ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN OLIVE OIL PRODUCTION
wastes during olive oil production in Greece. The process produces a huge amount of solid
and water wastes. The pomace olive oil production generates a greater amount of waste than
extra virgin olive oil production process as it goes through two-phase or three-phase
centrifuge system. The respective paper works on the alternative process of utilizing the
wastes in the production and for that Hellenic Ministry of Rural Develop and Food, Regional
Chamber of Commerce and Industry collect secondary data from the Greek olive oil
factories. The paper states that three-phase production process produces higher waste than
two-phase production (Valta et al. 2015). In terms of reducing the solid and water wastes
evaporation pond is considered as a solution. The process of collection of oil, neutralization
of acidic substances and disposal of sediments to the evaporation pond, prevailed in Greece.
The evaporation pond is responsible for producing sludge. Sludge can be recycled as soil
improver if mixed with other substrates (Tortosa et al. 2012). This is known as valorization
process solid waste management. From the production to the recycle of the wastes, every step
has to have the economic feasibility to carry on the process.
According to me, the application of life cycle assessment method is effective in
measuring the greenhouse gas emission during extra virgin olive oil production in Italy. The
availability of data from the local area is not always accurate. Through this study, it can be
inferred that usage of lighter bottle and ammonia during cooling may help to reduce carbon
emission in the environment. I am also of the opinion that if the waste is turned into bio
energy then it will be beneficial for the environment as well as economic to the industries. To
reduce the imbalance in the environment an advanced alternative process other than
evaporation pond and valorization process is needed.

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References
Rinaldi, S., Barbanera, M. and Lascaro, E., 2014. Assessment of carbon footprint and energy
performance of the extra virgin olive oil chain in Umbria, Italy. Science of The Total
Environment, 482, pp.71-79.
Salomone, R. and Ioppolo, G., 2012. Environmental impacts of olive oil production: a Life
Cycle Assessment case study in the province of Messina (Sicily). Journal of cleaner
production, 28, pp.88-100.
Tortosa, G., Alburquerque, J.A., Ait-Baddi, G. and Cegarra, J., 2012. The production of
commercial organic amendments and fertilisers by composting of two-phase olive mill waste
(“alperujo”). Journal of Cleaner Production, 26, pp.48-55.
Valta, K., Aggeli, E., Papadaskalopoulou, C., Panaretou, V., Sotiropoulos, A., Malamis, D.,
Moustakas, K. and Haralambous, K.J., 2015. Adding value to olive oil production through
waste and wastewater treatment and valorisation: the case of Greece. Waste and Biomass
Valorization, 6(5), pp.913-925.