MSU employees in a body of an international team of scientists studied the chemical composition of the effluents after pressing olive oil and estimated their toxicity.

“The main advantage of this study is the study of the toxicological effect not only on microorganisms, but also on plants, invertebrates and vertebrates, which allows us to get a more complete picture of the effects of effluents on the ecosystem.”

It turned out that in the wastes from the production of olive oil the content of phenolic compounds is increased, and the pH of the wastes is lowered (i.e., more acidic than the norm), which inhibits the normal development of organisms.

The ratio of chemical to biological oxygen consumption in them is increased, as a result of which greenhouse emissions are growing. The results are published in one of the world's leading journals on environmental problems Science of the Total Environment.