Author(s)

Sujjat Al Azad^*, Foo Siao Chin, Mohammad Tamrin Bin Mohamad Lal

Borneo Marine Research Institute, University Malaysia Sabah, Kota KInabalu, Malaysia.

Sustainable use of palm oil mill effluent (POME) has been the major focus in the recent development in palm oil industry due to the fact that environmental issue brought by POME. The purpose of this study was to determine the optimum incubation period of purple non-sulphur bacterium (PNSB) in reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) in settled POME and to determine the dry cell weight, TN, TP and cell yield of PNSB. Pure isolate of Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain UMSFW1 was cultured in settled POME under anaerobic condition at 2500 lux illumination on light intensity at a temperature of 30°C ± 2°C for 144-h. Parameters such as COD (mg/L), dry cell biomass (g/L), TP (mg/L) and TN (mg/L) in settled POME and bacterial cells were analyzed. A total reduction of TN (43.9%) in settled POME and a total increase of TN (43.2%) in bacterial cell were recorded at the end of experiment. At the same time the reduction of 51.5% chemical oxygen demand was determined from the POME. The highest dry cell weight of 2.44 g/L with cell yield 0.39 (mg/cell/mg COD) was achieved at the end of experiment. A total 24.7% of TP reduction in settled POME was achieved in 144-h culture, but while a maximum 10% of TP in bacterial cell was achieved in 48-h culture. This study shows that PNSB Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain UMSFW1 grows well by using settled POME as substrate and is capable to remove TN in the settled POME and assimilate into bacterial biomass. This study could provide us a further insight in the nutrient removal and COD removal in the bioremediation process by bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain UMSFW1.

Purple Non-Sulphur Bacteria, Palm Mill Effluent, Chemical Oxygen Demand, Nutrients and Growth

Azad, S. , Chin, F. and Lal, M. (2019) Efficacy of Purple Non Sulphur Bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides Strain UMSFW1 in the Utilization of Palm Oil Mill Effluent. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 7, 1-12. doi: 10.4236/gep.2019.710001.