Biodegradation of empty fruit bunch (EFB) in liquid fermentation using mixed microbes from palm oil mill effluent (POME): effect of aeration rate

• Main Authors: Abd. Halim, Nor Fadilah, Tey, Beng Ti, Masduki, Suhaimi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) 2009
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/48903/1/Biodegradation%20of%20empty%20fruit%20bunch%20%28EFB%29%20in%20liquid%20fermentation%20using%20mixed%20microbes%20from%20palm%20oil%20mill%20effluent%20%28POME%29%20effect%20of%20aeration%20rate.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/48903/; http://ejtafs.mardi.gov.my/index.php/publication/issues/archive/36-2009/volume-37-no2/95-370211
• Institution: Universiti Putra Malaysia

The biodegradation of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) in liquid fermentation using microorganism complex obtained from palm oil mill effluent (POME) under non-axenic condition was studied. A parallel study on carboxyl methyl cellulose (CMC) as substrate was also conducted as a comparison. The effects of the operating parameters of fermentation, aeration rates on the degradation of EFB and CMC were studied. The degradation was performed at agitation speed of 150 rpm in a 10 litre bioreactor under process parameter for a 10 day period. The evolution of dry matter (DM) and chemical oxygen demand of solids (CODs) were used to measure the performance of the non-sterile liquid fermentation process on the solid degradation of EFB and CMC. The effect of aeration rate on the reduction of DM and CODs differs. For EFB, a 10 fold increase in DM reduction was observed when the aeration rate was raised from 0 to 1.0 vvm. On the other hand, the increase in DM reduction of CMC was lower than that of EFB as a result of the increased aeration rate. The highest CODs reduction for EFB (64.82%) and CMC (20.2%) was achieved at aeration rate of 0.5 vvm. Aeration rate of 0.5 vvm was selected as the rate for optimum biodegradation.