Development of effective composting process by fungal mixed culture using oil palm waste /
Palm oil production is a major agricultural industry in Malaysia, in which oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) and palm oil mill effluent (POME) are considered as major waste products. These waste products create environmental hazards and entail high disposal costs every year. Composting is a biologica...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Kuala Lumpur :
Kulliyyah of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia,,
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://studentrepo.iium.edu.my/handle/123456789/4618 |
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| Summary: | Palm oil production is a major agricultural industry in Malaysia, in which oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) and palm oil mill effluent (POME) are considered as major waste products. These waste products create environmental hazards and entail high disposal costs every year. Composting is a biologically based process which is practiced to stabilize the organic matter for soil improvement (producing compost) and to protect the environment from the detrimental effects of these waste materials. The study was carried out for the composting process of EFB and POME using potential filamentous fungi based on their compatibility with optimized process parameters in the tray-type bioreactor. Six filamentous fungal strains/isolates such as Aspergillus niger F44 (A), Trichoderma viride F26 (Tv), Trichoderma reesei RUT C-30 (Tr), Penicillium sp. (P), Basidiomycete M1 (M1) and Panus tigrinus M609RQY (IMI 398363) (M6) were tested to find their mutual growth in the laboratory on potato dextrose agar (PDA) as a growing media. The compatibility study showed that only three combinations of T. viride F26 and Penicillium sp (Tv/P), T. viride F26 and Basidiomycete M1 (Tv/M1), and T. reesei RUT C-30 and P. tigrinus M609RQY (Tr/M6) had compatible interactions among fifteen combinations. Furthermore, A. niger F44 and T. viride F26 (A/Tv), A. niger F44 and T. reesei RUT C-30 (A/Tr), T. viride F26 and T. reesei RUT C-30 (Tv/Tr), and Penicillium sp. and P. tigrinus M609RQY (P/M6) were partially compatible. A batch study was carried out to optimize four process parameters such as particle sizes (1, 2, 3, 5 mm), pH (4 to 7), mix ratio (1:1 to 1:3) of substrates (EFB and POME) and supplementary nutrient (non food cassava starch) in terms of electrical conductivity (EC), protein content, organic matter (OM) and C/N ratio. In the optimization study, particle size of 2 mm EFB was the most suitable for microbial growth (highest protein of 85 g/kg) and faster degradation (lowest C/N ratio of 16) among other sizes. Substrates ratio of 1:3 and pH 5.0 were found to be favorable for the process through faster degradation (C/N ratio is almost 17 at the end of both runs) and microbial growth (highest protein growth of around 130 g/kg). Moreover, non-food cassava (NFC), used as supplementary nutrients for initial microbial growth (0 to 2%, w/w), did not have significant effects on the composting. Finally, an effective composting process was developed for a lab-scale bioreactor based on the optimized study using compatible mixed culture fungal system and compared with the control (without fungal treatment). A higher decrease of organic matter (OM), almost 3% was achieved in fungal treated system (FTS) and that was almost double of the control. The lowest C/N ratio recorded was about 17 and the maximum fungal growth in terms of soluble protein content was 128.82 g/kg. The germination index (GI) reached 116%. Furthermore, the maximum activity of ligninase enzyme found was 25.95 U/g and it was only 13.54 U/g in the control. The highest cellulase activity recorded was 0.975 U/g but it reached 0.335 U/g in the control. |
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| Item Description: | Abstracts in English and Arabic. "A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science (Biotechnology Engineering)."--On t.p. |
| Physical Description: | xvi, 139 leaves : ill. charts ; 30cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-127). |