Bioremediation of Liquid Waste of Olive Presses (Al-Jeft water) by Using the Biomass of the Local Isolate of The Fungus Helvella bachu

The study included investigating the potential of the biomass of the local isolate of the fungus Helvella bachu in bioremediation of the liquid waste of olive presses (Jeft water) at two concentrations of 10%-20%. The mycelium was inoculated on solid media treated with olive press water, with concentrations of 10% and 20%, for several incubation days 2, 4, and 6, respectively.  We observed that the diameter of the fungal colony is directly proportional to the increase in the incubation period, as the largest diameter of the fungal colony was 13.56 mm and 11.46 mm after 6 days of incubation at a concentration of 10% and 20% of Jeft water, respectively, compared to the diameter of the fungal colony growing in untreated medium, which it reached 15 mm, while the least diameter of the fungal colony was 6.00 and 5.36 mm at a concentration of 10% and 20% of Jeft water, respectively, after two days of incubation compared to the control sample. As for using liquid media, the results revealed a decrease in the total phenol concentration, reaching 2.14 mg / 100 g after 30 days of treatment with a concentration of 20% of Jeft water, compared to the control treatment of 23.58 mg / 100. The percentage of black color removal was 64.39% at a concentration of 10% and an incubation period of 30 days, while at a concentration of 20%, the percentage of color removal was 49.53% and 42.10% after 30 days of incubation. The biomass of the fungus isolate was able to reduce the chemical oxygen demand in both concentrations of  Jeft water used with different responses. The percentage of chemical oxygen requirement was 65.83% at a concentration of 10% of Jeft water after 30 days of treatment, while the percentage of COD was 8.08% at a concentration of 20% for the same incubation period above.