Treatment of Palm Oil Mill Effluent by a Microbial Consortium Developed from Compost Soils

A method for the aerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) was investigated in shake-flask experiments using a consortium developed from POME compost. POME was initially centrifuged at 4,000 g for 15 min and the supernatant was enriched with (NH4)2SO4 (0.5%) and yeast extract (0.25%) to boo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International scholarly research notices 2014, Vol.2014, p.762070-8
Main Authors: Nwuche, Charles O., Aoyagi, Hideki, Ogbonna, James C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerobic treatment
Anaerobic systems
By-products
Chemical oxygen demand
Composts
Cottonseed oil mills
Effluents
Methods
Microorganisms
Organisms
Palm oil
Purification
Sewage
Studies
Temperature
Vegetable oils
Waste management
Yeast
Yeasts
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Summary:A method for the aerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) was investigated in shake-flask experiments using a consortium developed from POME compost. POME was initially centrifuged at 4,000 g for 15 min and the supernatant was enriched with (NH4)2SO4 (0.5%) and yeast extract (0.25%) to boost its nitrogen content. At optimum pH (pH 4) and temperature (40°C) conditions, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the effluent decreased from 10,350 to 1,000 mg/L (90.3%) after 7 days. The total bacterial population determined by plate count enumeration was 2.4 × 106 CFU/mL, while the fungal count was 1.8 × 103 colonies/mL. Bacteria of the genera Pseudomonas, Flavobacterium, Micrococcus, and Bacillus were isolated, while the fungal genera included Aspergillus, Penicillium, Trichoderma, and Mucor. When the isolated species were each inoculated into separate batches of the raw effluent, both pH and COD were unchanged. However, at 75 and 50% POME dilutions, the COD dropped by 52 and 44%, respectively, while the pH increased from 4 to 7.53. POME treatment by aerobic method is sustainable and holds promising prospects for cushioning the environment from the problems associated with the use of anaerobic systems.
ISSN:2356-7872
2356-7872
DOI:10.1155/2014/762070