Abstract
A novel method was developed to convert complex polymer organic waste into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Palm oil mill effluent (POME) was used as carbon source within this study. The designed laboratory scale system includes two coupled reactors; an anaerobic fermenter for volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production followed by an aerobic sequencing batch reactor (SBR) to obtain PHA. During fermentation, VFAs was produced in the range of 5 to 7g/L and the COD reduction was up to 80% from 65g/L at a sludge retention time (SRT) of 6 days. Acetic acid was the predominant component of the fermentative VFAs. In the succeeding aerobic SBR with a mixed culture, microaerophilic-aerobic conditions increase the PHA production. PHA, analyzed as PHB, reached up to 4.0 x 10-2 g/gVSS. The maximum PHA content observed was only 40% of cell dried weight (CDW). The indication is that the PHA production and process performance will benefit from a mixed microbial culture.
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