Microbial Conversion of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) into Biosurfactant
Mieke Alvionita, Agustono Wibowo, and Yemima Thorchi

State University of Malang

Abstract

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is one of the palm oil processing wastes. The increasing demand for palm oil can directly increase POME production which can have an impact on environmental pollution. An alternative in reducing POME waste is by utilizing it as a growth substrate for biosurfactant-producing bacteria. Biosurfactants continue to be of interest to several industry players given their environmentally friendly characteristics. Therefore, the biggest challenge is knowing the optimal conditions for increasing biosurfactant production using POME as a microbial substrate. This research focuses on the production of BS using the bacterium Bacillus arlettae MPP-1. Optimization is done by varying the concentration of POME (0%, 4%, 8%, 12%, 16%, 20%) in the production media to determine the best productivity. The best biosurfactant activity was observed based on the results of the oil spreading test and the value of the emulsification index. Based on the results obtained, the best emulsification and oil spreading activity values &#8203-&#8203-were obtained from the medium containing 8% pome (v/v) with the best production time occurring after 40 hours of incubation with a temperature of 37oC and an aeration speed of 100 rpm. Crude biosurfactants produced using POME are also known to be able to emulsify used cooking oil with an emulsification activity of 19.85% &#8203-&#8203-higher than production without POME, which is 32,35%. This shows that the biosurfactants in this study can be used as bioremediation agents.

Keywords: Biosurfactant, Palm Oil Mill Effluent, Microbial Conversion

Topic: Biochemistry