African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12514

Full Length Research Paper

Effects of palm oil mill effluent (POME) anaerobic sludge from 500 m3 of closed anaerobic methane digested tank on pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch (EFB) composting process

Azhari Samsu Baharuddin1,3, Lim Siong Hock2, Mohd Zulkhairi Md Yusof2, Nor’ Aini Abdul Rahman2*, Umi kalsom Md Shah2, Mohd Ali Hassan2, Minato Wakisaka3, Kenji Sakai4 and Yoshihito Shirai3
1Department of Process and Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. 2Department of Bioprocess Technology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. 3Department of Biological Functions and Engineering, Graduate School of Life Science and System Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 808-0916, Japan. 4Department of Plant Resources, Graduate School of Bioresources and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, 6-10-1, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8581, Japan.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 11 March 2010
  •  Published: 30 April 2010

Abstract

In this study, co-composting of pressed-shredded empty fruit bunches (EFB) and palm oil mill effluent (POME) anaerobic sludge from 500 m3 closed anaerobic methane digested tank was carried out. High nitrogen and nutrients content were observed in the POME anaerobic sludge. The sludge was subjected to the pressed-shredded EFB to accelerate the co-composting treatment. In the present study, changes in the physicochemical characteristics of co-composting process were recorded and evaluated. The co-composting treatment was completed in a short time within 40 days with a final C/N ratio of 12.4. The co-composting process exhibited a higher temperature (60 - 67°C) in the thermophilic phase followed by curing phase after four weeks of treatment. Meanwhile, pH of the composting pile (8.1 - 8.6) was almost constant during the process and moisture content was reduced from 64.5% (initial treatment) to 52.0% (final matured compost). The use of pressed-shredded EFB as a main carbon source and bulking agent contributed to the optimum oxygen level in the composting piles (10 - 15%). The biodegradation of composting materials is shown by the reduction of cellulose (34.0%) and hemicellulose (27.0%) content towards the end of treatment. In addition, considerable amount of nutrients and low level of heavy metals were detected in the final matured compost. It can be concluded that the addition of POME anaerobic sludge into the pressed-shredded EFB composting process could produce acceptable and consistent quality of compost product in a short time.

 

Key words: Pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch, palm oil mill effluent anaerobic sludge, anaerobic digester, compost.

Abbreviation

EFB; Empty fruit bunches, POME; palm oil mill effluent, FFB; fresh fruit bunches, CDM; clean development mechanism, CAD; closed anaerobic digester, CPO; crude palm oil, COD; chemical oxygen demand, BOD; biological oxygen demand, VSS; volatile suspended solid, TS; total solids, TSS; total suspended solids, EC; electrical conductivity, EM, effective microbes; C/N; carbon nitrogen ratio; DGGE, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis.

Copyright © 2025 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.

This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

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