Post-Treatment of Palm Oil Mill Effluent Using Immobilised Green Microalgae Chlorococcum oleofaciens

Kah Aik Tan, Japareng Lalung, Norhashimah Morad, Norli Ismail, Wan Maznah Wan Omar, Moonis Ali Khan, Mika Sillanpää and Mohd Rafatullah
Additional contact information
Kah Aik Tan: School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor 11800, Malaysia
Japareng Lalung: School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor 11800, Malaysia
Norhashimah Morad: School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor 11800, Malaysia
Norli Ismail: School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor 11800, Malaysia
Wan Maznah Wan Omar: School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor 11800, Malaysia
Moonis Ali Khan: Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mika Sillanpää: Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, Nørrebrogade 44, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
Mohd Rafatullah: School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor 11800, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-18

Abstract: Microalgae immobilisation can be a long-term solution for effective wastewater post-treatment. This study was conducted to evaluate the ability of immobilised Chlorococcum oleofaciens to remove contaminants from palm oil mill effluent (POME) until it complies with the POME discharge standard. First, the native dominating green microalga was isolated from a polishing POME treatment pond. Then, the microalgae cells were immobilised on sodium alginate beads and cultivated in a lab-scale-treated POME to treat it further. The immobilised microalgae cells demonstrated a high removal of total phosphorus, total nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, and soluble chemical oxygen demand with 90.43%, 93.51%, 91.26%, and 50.72% of reduction, respectively. Furthermore, the growth rate of the microalgae fitted nicely with the Verhulst logistical model with r 2 of more than 0.99, indicating the model’s suitability in modelling the growth. Thus, we concluded that the species can be used for post-treatment of effluents to remove TP, TN, and ammonia nitrogen from palm oil mills until it complies with the POME effluent discharge standard. However, during the process, degradation of the beads occurred and the COD value increased. Therefore, it is not suitable to be used for COD removal.

Keywords: alginate beads; C. oleofaciens; immobilisation; green microalgae; POME treatment; post-treatment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11562/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11562/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:11562-:d:660479

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().