For over 10 years, the olive oil sector has been largely studied through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Thus, a review of the numerous results and the different evaluated scenarios is relevant for future LCA studies on this important agro-economic sector of the Mediterranean region.The herein present work, based on scientific and technical literature aims to compare system boundaries, functional units, life cycle inventories, allocation, impact assessments, and interpretations from the currently existing LCAs of olive oil. Furthermore, an analysis of the assessment of biogenic carbon has been carried out among the reviewed papers.As a result, 23 relevant LCA studies on olive oil production or olives cultivation (for olive oil production) were identified. Analysis of the literature converged on an unequivocal environmental hotspot, the agricultural phase; which represents the most impactful phase of the olive oil life cycle, due in particular to fertilisation, pesticides treatment, and irrigation. Waste management and distribution also appear to represent a crucial issue. The comparison work made on climate change impact assessment is on the order of magnitude of 460 kg CO 2 -eq/ton of olive and 1.6 kg CO 2 -eq/L of olive oil. This study highlights the complexity of carrying out an LCA on the olive oil sector. At last, best practices and methodological recommendations were matured.

The main environmental impact of olive oil production is the disposal of residues such as pomace and water vegetation. During the olive oil extraction process, the olive stone is milled and discharged within the olive pomace. However, olive stone flour can be valorized as filler for polymeric composites. A life cycle assessment of the olive pomace valorization was carried out by focusing on the manufacturing process of a biocomposite made of two different thermoplastic matrices, i.e., polyethylene and polypropylene. The functional unit is the production of 1 m2 of a lath made of an olive pomace-based biocomposite. The analysis was carried out with the SimaPro PhD 9.1.1.1 software, and the database used for the modeling was Ecoinvent 3.6. The obtained results reveal that the hotspot of the whole process is the twin-screw compounding of the olive stone fraction, with the polymeric matrix and coupling agent, and that human health is the most affected damage category. It represents 89% for both scenarios studied: olive stone fraction/polypropylene (OSF/PP) and olive stone fraction/polyethylene (OSF/PE). Further research directions include the use of biosourced polymer matrices, which could reduce the impact of olive pomace-based composite manufacturing.