Disposed olive cake generates hydrophilic components that can be mobilized in the aquatic environment. This paper deals with the characterization of such components, isolated by alkaline extraction. It is shown that these substances possess properties very much resembling humic acid, including a substantial inventory of proton exchanging groups. Extraction and purification of the hydrophilic components from the disposed olive cake was performed by the standard approach for isolation of humic acids from solid sources, i.e. alternating alkaline dissolution and acid flocculation, leaving the purified extract in the protonated form. The purified sample was characterized by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), Fourier Transform Infra Red Spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-vis, Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) and Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow Fractionation (AFFFF). The complex formation properties were investigated by potentiometry using Cu(II) ion selective electrode under atmospheric conditions at I= 0.1 M NaClO1(4) (aqueous solution) and pH 6. The formation constant for the CuHA complex is found to be log beta = 5.3 +/- 0.4 which is close to the corresponding value (log beta = 5.2 +/- 0.4) obtained from similar investigations with the commercially available Aldrich humic acid (this study) and corresponding published values for various humic acids. Both, structural properties and complex formation data show that the olive cake extract has considerable similarities with humic acids from different sources, pointing towards potential similarities in environmental behavior and impact. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.