Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is an emerging technology to treat wet biomasses aimed at producing a biochar material. Herein, olive mill wastewater (OMW) was subjected to HTC. Mass balance considerations provide evidence that the yield of biochar is low (∼30%, w/w), which is associated with a low fraction of carbohydrates in OMW.

The combination of different preparation schemes, pre-chromatographic derivatization reactions and GC/MS analysis for the analysis of organic compounds in aqueous HTC-solutions allowed to identify and quantify a wide array of analytes which belong either to intrinsic constituents of OMW or to characteristic HTC-breakdown products. Biophenols, such as hydroxyl-tyrosol (OH-Tyr), tyrosol (Tyr) account for the most abundant members of the first group. Most abundant breakdown products include phenol and benzenediols as well as short-chain organic acids. Secoiridoids, such as decarbomethoxy ligostride aglycon and decarbomethoxy oleuropein aglycon, all of them being typical components of OMW, are less abundant in HTC-solutions.