Effect Of Pre-Treatment And Inoculant During Composting Of Palm Oil Empty Fruit Bunches

A.Y. Zahrim (Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, MALAYSIA Sustainable Palm Oil Research Unit, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, MALAYSIA)
I.K.T. Yee (Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, MALAYSIA)
E.S.C. Thian (Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, MALAYSIA)
S.Y. Heng (Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, MALAYSIA)
J. Janaun (Chemical Engineering Programme, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, MALAYSIA Sustainable Palm Oil Research Unit, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, MALAYSIA)
K.P. Chong (Sustainable Palm Oil Research Unit, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, MALAYSIA)
S.K. Haywood (School of Engineering, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK)
V. Tan (Hatake Global Sdn. Bhd., 151, Jalan USJ 12/1, UEP Subang Jaya, 47630, Selangor, MALAYSIA)
T. Asis (Prestige Central Management Sdn. Bhd, 77B Jalan SS21/37 Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, MALAYSIA)
T.M.T.M.A. Al-Mizi (Prestige Central Management Sdn. Bhd, 77B Jalan SS21/37 Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, MALAYSIA)

ASEAN Journal of Chemical Engineering
Vol 17, No 2 (2017)

In this work, untreated empty fruit bunch (EFB) or microwave-assisted NaOHpretreated EFB with palm oil mill effluent (POME) were composted under mesophilicconditions either in the presence or absence of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens D203 for sixtydays. During pretreatment conditions, the EFB was mixed with 1% (w/w) sodiumhydroxide and then exposed to microwave irradiation. The composting process wasevaluated based on the evolution of pH, electrical conductivity, moisture content, organicmatter loss, zeta potential and phytotoxicity. The strain Bacillus amyloliquefaciens D203 is not suitable for EFB-POME composting due to lower organic matter loss. The microwave-assisted NaOH pretreatment contributed to ~15% more organic matter loss than was found in the untreated sample while its germination index was >50%.