A system based on combined actions of catalytic wet oxidation and microbial technologies for the treatment of highly polluted OMW containing polyphenols was studied. The wet hydrogen peroxide catalytic oxidation (WHPCO) process has been investigated in the semi-batch mode at atmospheric pressure. using aluminium-iron-pillared inter layer clay ((Al-Fe)PILC), under two different catalytic processes: ((Al-Fe)PILC/H2O2/ultraviolet radiations) at 25 degrees C and ((Al-Fe)PILC/H2O2) at 50 degrees C. The results show that raw OMW was resistant to the photocatalytic process. However ((Al-Fe)PILC/H2O2), system operating at 50 degrees C reduced considerably the COD, colour and total phenolic contents, and thus decreased the inhibition of the marine photobacteria Vibrio fischeri luminescence by 70%. This study also examined the feasibility of coupling WHPCO and anaerobic digestion treatment. Biomethanisation experiments performed with raw OMW or pre-treated OMW proved that pre-treatments with ((Al-Fe)PILC/H2O2) system, for more than 2 h, resulted in higher methane production. Both untreated OMW as well as 2-h pre-treated OMW revealed as toxic to anaerobic bacteria. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.