Behold, the Turkish Translation of "Chemical Story of Olive Oil"

Issue 17 World Olive Press: Sustainability

As our planet continues to warm, as concerns about carbon footprints increase and as we look for solutions through green industry, it was important for us to begin to understand for ourselves how these concerns impact the olive industry and olive oil production.

Zetay Olive Grove was once an open pit coal mine

We were lucky to be able to use Zeynep Delen Nircan's connections to set up appointments with four sites in Turkey where enterprising Turks were looking for solutions.  Our first trip was to a Tech Park in Eastern Istanbul at Biolive (see our January blog) where we were able to talk with two of the three CDOs and learn about some of their plans for producing plastics from pits.  We next were scheduled to go to Horizon Advanced Tech, in Western Istanbul.  These folks work to bring digital solutions to agriculture in a program they call Agriculture 5.0.  While circumstances prevented our getting out to their site, they are on our list for future visits.
We then flew to Izmir, and stayed at our old stomping grounds of the Griffon Hotel in Yeni Foca.  We spent a day at the Orpir Pirina Olive Oil Refinery outside of Bergamon.  We spent several hours learning how the waste pomace from plants throughout Turkey is turned into reclaimed oil, olive paste bricks for fuel, and solid pit residue that is in turn turned into pellets for compaines, like biolive, to turn into plastic.
Finally, we wrapped up this research trip with a visit to Zetay Olive Grove and Press near Aydin. 
Our trips were amazing and informative and are described more fully in Issue 17 of our World Olive Press Newsletter that you can access here.

Olive Pits to Plastic???

"When the road appears, you start walking" Rumi

 In yet another wonderful example of how careful olive production can result in a zero or negative carbon footprint, check out this new work in which three scientists from Istanbul discovered a way in which waste pits from olive production can see a new life as a source of plastic to use in electronics and food packaging.....

CHECK IT OUT HERE

Fluorecence Spectroscopy Detects Fraud in EVOO

Some of you may know that one of my research projects has been to understand how the fluorescence spectra of olive oils change with age, origin, and exposure to sunlight and oxygen. While my students have done terrific work over the years - especiall

Emission from olive oil irradiated with laser diode

y SURF student Namita Khanjanchi '19 - we seem to have gotten scooped by this group from the University of Madrid.  Not to worry too much, though because our techniques were somewhat different and there is ALWAYS more to know.  Perhaps a trip to Spain is in order?

Check it out here!

and here.....

Miguel Lastra-Mejías, Regina Aroca-Santos, Manuel Izquierdo, John C. Cancilla, Maria Luz Mena, José S. Torrecilla. Chaotic parameters from fluorescence spectra to resolve fraudulent mixtures of fresh and expired protected designation of origin extra virgin olive oils. Talanta, 2019; 195: 1 DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2018.10.102