Worldwide olive oil production is increasing annually by 5%, with olive mill wastewater (OMW) production estimated to be around 6 × 10 6 m 3 , 98% of which is in the Mediterranean basin (FA-OSTAT 2020). Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has witnessed a 58.5% increase in olive oil production each year, with an annual production of 80 000 t in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in the northern regions of Al-Jouf, Al Qurayyat, Hail, and Tabuk cities, where climatic and geographical conditions are suitable for olive tree cultivation (Hemida et al. 2014;Alhajoj & Alowaiesh 2019). Therefore, OMW production in KSA is estimated at around 160 000 m 3 (Aly et al. 2014).