A simple and sensitive method for the determination of 21 polyphenolic compounds in wastewater from olive oil production plants is proposed.
The method involves a liquid–liquid microextraction (LLME) procedure with ethyl acetate followed by a silylation step. Identification and
quantification have been performed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). MS measurements were carried out using selected ion
monitoring mode (SIM). -Naftol was used as internal standard. The proposed method was applied to the determination of these compounds in
wastewater from an olive oil production factory in Ja´en (Spain) at concentration levels ranging from 1.0 to 75.0 gml−1 for each compound. The
autodegradation process by own microbiota in samples collected in three different points of the factory was also studied. The method was validated
by a recovery assay with spiked samples