Quality Assessment of Oil from Olive Trees Irrigated by Waste Water Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy

This work focuses on the effect of irrigation of Palestinian olive oil on the emission and absorption wavelengths using the fluorescence spectroscopy technique. In addition, the effect of irrigation of olive oil on the physical properties: viscosity, refractive index, acidity, and mass density were measured. The results for emission spectra of olive oil samples indicated that the olive oil samples irrigated by rain water contain vitamin E more than other samples irrigated by different types of water. The olive oil samples irrigated by waste water contain chlorophyll a and b more than that for reclaimed waste water than that for rain water. The results for absorption spectra of olive oil samples from trees irrigated by waste water have high intensity at wavelength range (380-480 nm). This indicates that the samples of olive oil from trees irrigated by waste water contain amount of chlorophylls more than other samples from trees irrigated by rain and reclaimed waste water. The results for physical properties of olive oil samples for different irrigation types of water were measured. The results of viscosity for samples irrigated by waste water of crop 2014 are greater than the viscosity of olive oil irrigated by other types of water. The experimental result of acidity for olive oil samples of trees irrigated by waste water was the highest and was classified as Lampante oil. The acidity of olive oil samples of trees irrigated by rain water of crop 2013 are greater than acidity for samples irrigated by rain water of crop 2014. The results of density of olive oil samples of crop 2014 have the highest value. This study is the first time to be conducted in Palestine. It gives an indication about the quality assessment of oil from olive trees irrigated by waste water using fluorescence spectroscopy.