Investigation on the Influence of Bio-catalytic Enzyme Produced from Fruit and Vegetable Waste on Palm Oil Mill Effluent

• Published in: IOP conference series. Earth and environmental science 2018-04, Vol.140 (1), p.12015
• Main Authors: Rasit, Nazaitulshila, Chee Kuan, Ooi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anaerobic digestion; Anaerobic processes; Anaerobic treatment; Biological activity; Chemical oxygen demand; Dilution; Dissolved solids; Effluents; Enzymatic activity; Enzymes; Evaluation; Fermentation; Fruits; Garbage; Grease; Landfills; Molasses; Palm oil; Pretreatment; Refuse; Solid suspensions; Solid wastes; Total dissolved solids; Total suspended solids; Vegetable oils; Vegetables; Waste disposal sites; Waste management; Waste recovery; Wastewater treatment
• ISSN: 1755-1307; 1755-1315
• DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/140/1/012015

Pre-consumer waste from supermarkets, such as vegetables and fruits dreg are always discarded as solid waste and disposed to landfill. Implementing waste recovery method as a form of waste management strategy will reduce the amount of waste disposed. One of the ways to achieve this goal is through fermentation of the pre-consumer supermarket waste to produce a solution known as garbage enzyme. This study has been conducted to produce and characterize biocatalytic garbage enzyme and to evaluate its influence on palm oil mill effluent as a pre-treatment process before further biological process takes place. Garbage enzyme was produced by three-month long fermentation of a mixture of molasses, pre-consumer supermarket residues, and water in the ratio of 1:3:10. Subsequently, the characterization of enzyme was conducted based on pH, total solids (TS), total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and enzyme activities. The influence of produced enzyme was evaluated on oil & grease (O&G), TSS and COD of palm oil mill effluent (POME). Different levels of dilution of garbage enzyme to POME samples (5%, 10%, 15%) were explored as pre-treatment (duration of six days) and the results showed that the garbage enzyme contained bio-catalytic enzyme such as amylase, protease, and lipase. The pre-treatment showed removal of 90% of O&G in 15% dilution of garbage enzyme. Meanwhile, reduction of TSS and COD in dilution of 10% garbage enzyme were measured at 50% and 25% respectively. The findings of this study are important to analyse the effectiveness of pre-treatment for further improvement of anaerobic treatment process of POME, especially during hydrolysis stage.