Review on Microbial Analysis Tools in POME treatment

Abstract

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is one of the major sources of water pollution in Malaysia. POME is produced in large volumes by many palm oil mills and has acidic pH and high concentrations of COD, BOD, and suspended solids, which have adverse effect to the environment. Currently, the technology to treat POME is either physical, chemical, or biological. About 80% of palm oil mills treat their POME by using biological method. Recent studies have indicated that understanding the microbial community structure is of great importance to improve and control the biological treatment performance. Currently, the most popular molecular biology tools for microorganism community analysis are fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), cloning of 16S rDNA, and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). This chapter aims to review the current and ongoing treatments of POME (mainly anaerobic, aerobic, physicochemical, and membrane separation) and discuss the potential of using the molecular biology techniques in POME treatment. The importance and effectiveness of the microbiology tools are also discussed. The ability to monitor microorganisms and understand their ecology is essential to effectively control the startup and operation of biological treatment system in treating POME and eventually producing effluent of acceptable quality.