Microalgae Cultivation in Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Treatment and Biofuel Production

Abstract

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is the wastewater produced during the palm oil sterilization process, which contains substantial amounts of nutrients and phosphorous that are harmful to the environment. High BOD and COD of POME are as high as 100,000 mg/L, which endanger the environment. Effective pre-treatment of POME is required before disposal. As microalgae have the ability of biosorption on nutrients and phosphorous to perform photosynthesis, they can be utilized as a sustainable POME treatment operation, which contributes to effective biofuel production. Microalgae species C. pyrenoidosa has shown to achieve 68% lipid production along with 71% nutrient reduction in POME. In this study, a brief discussion about the impacts of POME that will affect the environment is presented. Additionally, the potential of microalgae in treating POME is evaluated along with its benefits. Furthermore, the condition of microalgae growth in the POME is also assessed to study the suitable condition for microalgae to be cultivated in. Moreover, experimental studies on characteristics and performance of microalgae are being evaluated for their feasibility. One of the profitable applications of POME treatment using microalgae is biofuel production, which will be discussed in this review. However, with the advantages brought from cultivating microalgae in POME, there are also some concerns, as microalgae will cause pollution if they are not handled well, as discussed in the last section of this paper.

Physiology of microalgal biofilm: a review on prediction of adhesion on substrates

“…Meanwhile, realizing the rising dependence of sustainable alternative energy sources to fulfill the needs of growing population, microalgae are also recognized as one of the most promising feedstocks of biofuels and bio-functional chemicals. Success stories of bio-ethanol, bio-methane and bio-hydrogen production via palm oil mill effluent treatment using microalgae to address the global energy security concern have been reported [ 3 ].…”

Recent Development of Renewable Diesel Production Using Bimetallic Catalysts

“…The introduction of renewable diesel (RD) as fossil fuel replacement is attractive due to its similarity of chemical structure with petroleum diesel. RD is producible using biodiesel feedstocks such as microalgae, date seeds, Jatropha curcas and lignocellulosic biomass (Mofijur et al, 2013b;Bharath et al, 2021;Low et al, 2021;Oladipupo Kareem et al, 2021). However, the production often involves catalytic processes that are governed by catalysts.…”

Assuaging Microalgal Harvesting Woes via Attached Growth: A Critical Review to Produce Sustainable Microalgal Feedstock

“…In general, lipids in the microalgae are vital to produce high-value biofuel, which is biodiesel. The lipid content of different microalgae species is not similar as the composition of the major chemical components such as lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates vary for different microalgal cells [9,10]. Table 1 shows the compositions of different microalgae species [9].…”

“…The lipid content of different microalgae species is not similar as the composition of the major chemical components such as lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates vary for different microalgal cells [9,10]. Table 1 shows the compositions of different microalgae species [9]. Ananthi et al [11] reported that microalgae growing in optimum conditions could accumulate 50-70% of lipids that could be later converted into biodiesel.…”