Abstract
Environmental concerns are becoming important global tasks. Palm oil mill effluent (POME) contains oil and grease and also rich in organic matter in the form of total suspended solids which can increase biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of POME. It is generated in huge quantities during the production of crude palm oil and pollutes land, water and atmosphere if left untreated. The current study mainly focuses on evaluating the efficacy of fungal isolates screened and isolated from POME dump sites in the bioremediation of POME. Five fungal species used in the present study were previously isolated by the author from POME dump sites of Pedavegi palm oil mill industry. Out of these, Emericella nidulans NFCCI 3643 was proven to be an excellent biological agent in reducing the organic load of POME. The organism showed 80.28% reduction in COD, 88.23% in BOD and 87.34% in oil/grease content at their optimal environmental and nutritional conditions. The mixed cultures showed better reduction efficiency as compared to individual pure cultures. The natural inhabitants of POME dump sites showed their lipolytic ability and E. nidulans was found to be an excellent agent in the bioremediation of POME. Fungal isolates in consortium can function better in bioremediating POME than individual pure cultures. Key words: Palm oil mill effluent (POME), oil and grease, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), organic load, Emericella nidulans, bioremediation.
Highlights
Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is the waste that is being released by the palm oil mills during oil extraction process from palm fruit bunches
POME collected from Pedavegi palm oil industry was characterized by determining the physicochemical parameters such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total suspended solids (TSS), oil and grease (O&G) and pH
POME collected from the Pedavegi palm oil mill was a thick dark brown colored viscous oily liquid with abhorrent odour
Summary
Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is the waste that is being released by the palm oil mills during oil extraction process from palm fruit bunches. A high concentration of organic matter, COD (45,000 to 65,000 mg/L) and BOD (18,000 to 48,000 mg/L) of POME was reported by Chin et al (1996). As direct discharge of such effluents into the environment without proper treatment might cause considerable environmental problems (Cheng et al, 2010; Awotoye et al, 2011; Jameel and Olanrewaju, 2011; Lam and Lee, 2011), there is need to treat POME from palm oil mills before they are discharged into the environment
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