THE REDUCTION OF OIL IN EMPTY FRUIT BUNCH WASTES BY BIOREMEDIATION

摘要

The presence of residual oil in empty fruit bunch (EFB) is a major problem to prevent its commercial use. The study was conducted to determine the feasibility of bioaugmentation reduction of residual oil in EFB fibres. A type of bacteria known as to feed on grease (GT) is used. This bacteria is classified as Class 1 from American Type Cultured Collection (ATCC). The treatment was carried out at room temperature based on five parameters i.e. aerobic condition, anoxic condition, nutrient addition and bacteria concentration. The results show that the addition of the bacteria enhanced the oil and grease removal which reached the maximum reduction by the fifth day. An aerobic system with nutrient addition gave the best result of 61% of oil removal. The bacteria that feeds on grease showed the highest performance and followed by food and hydrocarbon bacteria under aerobic digestion. Analysis using Gas Chromatography (GC) show changes of fatty acid composition whereas Fourier Transformation Infrared (FTIR) results show evidence of some chemical reactions have taken place during the treatment.