The Malaysian palm oil industry is a major revenue earner and the country is ranked as one of the largest producers in the world. However, growth of the industry is synonymous with a massive production of agro-industrial wastewater. As an environmental protection and public health concern, the highly polluting palm oil mill effluent (POME) has become a major attention-grabber. Hence, the industry is targeting for POME pollution abatement in order to promote a greener image of palm oil and to achieve sustainability. At present, most palm oil mills have adopted the ponding system for treatment. Due to the successful POME pollution abatement experiences, Malaysia is currently planning to revise the effluent quality standards towards a more stringent discharge limits. Hence, the current trend of POME research focuses on developing tertiary treatment or polishing systems for better effluent management. Biotechnologically-advanced POME tertiary (polishing) technologies as well as other physicochemical methods are gaining much attention as these processes are the key players to push the industry towards the goal of environmental sustainability. There are still ongoing treatment technologies being researched and the outcomes maybe available in a while. However, the research completed so far are compiled herein and reported for the first time to acquire a better perspective and insight on the subject with a view of meeting the new standards. To this end, the most feasible technology could be the combination of advanced biological processes (bioreactor systems) with extended aeration, followed by solids separation prior to discharge. Chemical dosing is favoured only if effluent of higher quality is anticipated.
Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) was successfully cultivated at 27±1 °C and pH 7.0±1 during the treatment of rubber wastewater using a sequential batch reactor system mode with complete cycle time of 3 h. Results showed aerobic granular sludge had an excellent settling ability and exhibited exceptional performance in the organics and nutrients removal from rubber wastewater. Regular, dense and fast settling granule (average diameter, 1.5 mm; settling velocity, 33 m h(-1); and sludge volume index, 22.3 mL g(-1)) were developed in a single reactor. In addition, 96.5% COD removal efficiency was observed in the system at the end of the granulation period, while its ammonia and total nitrogen removal efficiencies were up to 94.7% and 89.4%, respectively. The study demonstrated the capabilities of AGS development in a single, high and slender column type-bioreactor for the treatment of rubber wastewater.
Dairy cattle treated wastewaters are potential resources for production of microalgae biofuels. A study was conducted to evaluate the capability of Arthrospira platensis cultivated in dairy farm wastewater for biodiesel production. The biomass of Arthrospira platensis was found to be 4.98 g L-1 and produced 30.23 wt% lipids to dry biomass cultivated in wastewater which was found nitrogen stressed in photo bioreactor. The extracted lipid displayed a suitable fatty acid profile for biodiesel, although the content of linolenic acid was found a little higher than the standard EN14214. It was found that nitrogen stressed medium increase the total lipid content but temperature and intensities of light were the most important factors to control the quantity of linolenic acid and hence the quality of biodiesel, while the optimum CO2 helped to achieve maximum biomass and triacylglycerols. The Arthrospira platensis offer a good option for the treatment of wastewater before final discharge.
The objective of this study is to determine the reduction efficiency of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) as well as the removal of color and Amaranth dye metabolites by the Aerobic-anaerobic Baffled Constructed Wetland Reactor (ABCW). The ABCW reactor was planted with common reed (Phragmite australis) where the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was set to 1 day and was fed with synthetic wastewater with the addition of Amaranth dye. Supplementary aeration was supplied in designated compartments of the ABCW reactor to control the aerobic and anaerobic zones. After Amaranth dye addition the COD reduction efficiency dropped from 98 to 91% while the color removal efficiency was 100%. Degradation of azo bond in Amaranth dye is shown by the UV-Vis spectrum analysis which demonstrates partial degradation of Amaranth dye metabolites. The performance of the baffled unit is due to the longer pathway as there is the up-flow and down-flow condition sequentially, thus allowing more contact of the wastewater with the rhizomes and micro-aerobic zones.
A mechanical-conditioning bioreactor has been developed to provide bi-axial loading to three-dimensional (3D) tissue constructs within a highly controlled environment. The computer-controlled bioreactor is capable of applying axial compressive and shear deformations, individually or simultaneously at various regimes of strain and frequency. The reliability and reproducibility of the system were verified through validation of the spatial and temporal accuracy of platen movement, which was maintained over the operating length of the system. In the presence of actual specimens, the system was verified to be able to deliver precise bi-axial load to the specimens, in which the deformation of every specimen was observed to be relatively homogeneous. The primary use of the bioreactor is in the culture of chondrocytes seeded within an agarose hydrogel while subjected to physiological compressive and shear deformation. The system has been designed specifically to permit the repeatable quantification and characterisation of the biosynthetic activity of cells in response to a wide range of short and long term multi-dimensional loading regimes.
Evaporation of vaporize organic liquid has ecological consequences when the compounds are introduced into both freshwater and marine environments through industrial effluents, or introduced directly into the air from industrial unit processes such as bioreactors and cooling towers. In such cases, a rapid and simple method are needed to measure physicochemical properties of the organic liquids. The Reversed-Flow Gas Chromatography (RF-GC) sampling technique is an easy, fast and accurate procedure. It was used to measure the diffusion coefficients of vapors from liquid into a carrier gas and at the same time to determine the rate coefficients for the evaporation of the respective liquid. The mathematical expression describing the elution curves of the samples peaks was derived and used to calculate the respective parameters for the selected liquid pollutants selected such as methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 1-butanol, n-pentane, n-hexane, n-heptane and n-hexadecane, evaporating into the carrier gas of nitrogen. The values of diffusion coefficients found were compared
with those calculated theoretically or reported in the literature. The values of evaporation rate were used to determine the activation energy of respective samples using Arrhenius equation. An interesting finding of this work is by using an alternative mathematical analysis based on equilibrium at the liquid-gas interphase, the comparison leads to profound
agreement between theoretical values of diffusion coefficients and experimental evidence.
Nipa sap or air nira is a sweet natural beverage obtained from a type of palm tree, Nypa fruticans.
It is readily and spontaneously fermented resulting in the development of alcoholic fermentation products. Objective of this study is to determine the volatile compounds (VOCs) responsible for the aroma in fresh and fermented nipa sap. The sap was left for natural fermentation at 30ºC for 63 days. VOCs of the sap were analysed using static headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Fresh nipa sap contained ethanol (83.43%), diacetyl (0.59%), and esters
(15.97%). Fermented nipa sap contained alcohols (91.16 – 98.29%), esters (1.18 – 8.14%), acetoin (0.02 – 0.7%), diacetyl (0.04 – 0.06%), and acetic acid (0.13 – 0.68%). Concentration of ethanol in fresh nipa sap increased from 0.11% (v/v) to 6.63% (v/v) during the fermentation, and slightly decreased to 5.73% (v/v) at day 63. No higher alcohols were detected in the fresh nipa sap. Concentration of 1-propanol and 2-methylpropanol were constant throughout the fermentation with average of 0.004 to 0.006% (v/v) and 0.0001 to 0.0009% (v/v), respectively. 3-methylbutanol increased during the fermentation process. The highest concentration (0.001% v/v) was recorded at day 35. This study has shown differences in VOCs types between fresh and fermented nipa sap.
This article presents the development of a low-cost microcontroller-based interface for a microbioreactor operation. An Arduino MEGA 2560 board with 54 digital input/outputs, including 15 pulse-width-modulation outputs, has been chosen to perform the acquisition and control of the microbioreactor. The microbioreactor (volume = 800 µL) was made of poly(dimethylsiloxane) and poly(methylmethacrylate) polymers. The reactor was built to be equipped with sensors and actuators for the control of reactor temperature and the mixing speed. The article discusses the circuit of the microcontroller-based platform, describes the signal conditioning steps, and evaluates the capacity of the proposed low-cost microcontroller-based interface in terms of control accuracy and system responses. It is demonstrated that the proposed microcontroller-based platform is able to operate parallel microbioreactor operation with satisfactory performances. Control accuracy at a deviation less than 5% of the set-point values and responses in the range of few seconds have been recorded.
Even though microalgal biomass is leading the third generation biofuel research, significant effort is required to establish an economically viable commercial-scale microalgal biofuel production system. Whilst a significant amount of work has been reported on large-scale cultivation of microalgae using photo-bioreactors and pond systems, research focus on establishing high performance downstream dewatering operations for large-scale processing under optimal economy is limited. The enormous amount of energy and associated cost required for dewatering large-volume microalgal cultures has been the primary hindrance to the development of the needed biomass quantity for industrial-scale microalgal biofuels production. The extremely dilute nature of large-volume microalgal suspension and the small size of microalgae cells in suspension create a significant processing cost during dewatering and this has raised major concerns towards the economic success of commercial-scale microalgal biofuel production as an alternative to conventional petroleum fuels. This article reports an effective framework to assess the performance of different dewatering technologies as the basis to establish an effective two-stage dewatering system. Bioflocculation coupled with tangential flow filtration (TFF) emerged a promising technique with total energy input of 0.041 kWh, 0.05 kg CO2 emissions and a cost of $ 0.0043 for producing 1 kg of microalgae biomass. A streamlined process for operational analysis of two-stage microalgae dewatering technique, encompassing energy input, carbon dioxide emission, and process cost, is presented.
Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a highly polluting wastewater that pollutes the environment if discharged directly due to its high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) concentration. Anaerobic digestion has been widely used for POME treatment with large emphasis placed on capturing the methane gas released as a product of this biodegradation treatment method. The anaerobic digestion method is recognized as a clean development mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto protocol. Certified emission reduction (CER) can be obtained by using methane gas as a renewable energy. This review aims to discuss the various anaerobic treatments of POME and factors that influence the operation of anaerobic treatment. The POME treatment at both mesophilic and thermophilic temperature ranges are also analyzed.
Forty-six bacterial strains were isolated from nine different sources in four treatment plants namely Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) sewage treatment plant (STP), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) wastewater treatment plant-1,-2 and -3 to evaluate the bioconversion process in terms of efficient biodegradation and bioseparation. The bacterial strains isolated were found to be 52.2% (24 isolates) and 47.8% (22 isolates) in the IWK and IIUM treatment plants, respectively. The results showed that higher microbial population (9-10 x 10(4) cfu/mL) was observed in the secondary clarifier of IWK treatment plant. Among the isolates, 23 isolates were gram-positive bacillus (GPB) and gram-positive cocci (GPC), 19 isolates were gram-negative bacillus (GNB) and gram-negative cocci (GNC), and the rest were undetermined. Gram-negative cocci (GNC) were not found in the isolates from IWK. A total of 15 bacterial strains were selected for effective and efficient sludge bioconversion. All the strains were tested against sludge (1% total suspended solids, TSS) to evaluate the biosolids production (TSS% content), chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and filtration rate (filterability test). The strain S-1 (IWK1001) showed lower TSS content (0.8% TSS), maximum COD removal (84%) and increased filterability (1.1 min/10 mL of filtrate) of treated sludge followed by the strains S-11, S-14, S-2, S-15, S-13, S-7, S-8, S-4, S-3, S-6, S-12, S-16, S-17 and S-9. The pH values in the fermentation broth were affected by the bacterial cultures and recorded as well. Effective bioconversion was observed during the first three days of sludge treatment.
This study aims at developing a novel effluent removal management tool for septic sludge treatment plants (SSTP) using a clonal selection algorithm (CSA). The proposed CSA articulates the idea of utilizing an artificial immune system (AIS) to identify the behaviour of the SSTP, that is, using a sequence batch reactor (SBR) technology for treatment processes. The novelty of this study is the development of a predictive SSTP model for effluent discharge adopting the human immune system. Septic sludge from the individual septic tanks and package plants will be desuldged and treated in SSTP before discharging the wastewater into a waterway. The Borneo Island of Sarawak is selected as the case study. Currently, there are only two SSTPs in Sarawak, namely the Matang SSTP and the Sibu SSTP, and they are both using SBR technology. Monthly effluent discharges from 2007 to 2011 in the Matang SSTP are used in this study. Cross-validation is performed using data from the Sibu SSTP from April 2011 to July 2012. Both chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS) in the effluent were analysed in this study. The model was validated and tested before forecasting the future effluent performance. The CSA-based SSTP model was simulated using MATLAB 7.10. The root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and correction coefficient (R) were used as performance indexes. In this study, it was found that the proposed prediction model was successful up to 84 months for the COD and 109 months for the TSS. In conclusion, the proposed CSA-based SSTP prediction model is indeed beneficial as an engineering tool to forecast the long-run performance of the SSTP and in turn, prevents infringement of future environmental balance in other towns in Sarawak.
Microbial granular sludge that is capable to treat textile wastewater in a single reactor under intermittent anaerobic and aerobic conditions was developed in this study. The granules were cultivated using mixed sewage and textile mill sludge in combination with anaerobic granules collected from an anaerobic sludge blanket reactor as seed. The granules were developed in a single sequential batch reactor (SBR) system under alternating anaerobic and aerobic condition fed with synthetic textile wastewater. The characteristics of the microbial granular sludge were monitored throughout the study period. During this period, the average size of the granules increased from 0.02 +/- 0.01 mm to 2.3 +/- 1.0 mm and the average settling velocity increased from 9.9 +/- 0.7 m h(-1) to 80 +/- 8 m h(-1). This resulted in an increased biomass concentration (from 2.9 +/- 0.8 g L(-1) to 7.3 +/- 0.9 g L(-1)) and mean cell residence time (from 1.4 days to 8.3 days). The strength of the granules, expressed as the integrity coefficient also improved. The sequential batch reactor system demonstrated good removal of COD and ammonia of 94% and 95%, respectively, at the end of the study. However, only 62% of color removal was observed. The findings of this study show that granular sludge could be developed in a single reactor with an intermittent anaerobic-aerobic reaction phase and is capable in treating the textile wastewater.
Xylanase enzyme degrades linear polysaccharide β-1,4 xylan and the hemicellulose of the plant cell wall. There is a growing demand in finding a cost-effective alternative for industrial scale production of xylanase with high purity for pharmaceutical applications. In this study, an alcohol/salt aqueous biphasic system (ABS) was adopted to recover xylanase from the Bacillus subtilis fermentation broth. The effects of several ABS parameters such as types and concentrations of alcohols and salts (i.e., sulphate, phosphate, and citrate), amount of crude loading and pH of the system on the recovery of xylanase were investigated. Partition coefficient of xylanase (KE), selectivity (S) and yield (YT) of xylanase in top phase of the ABS were measured. Highest KE (6.58 ± 0.05) and selectivity (4.84 ± 0.33) were recorded in an ABS of pH 8 composed of 26% (w/w) 1-propanol, 18% (w/w) ammonium sulphate. High YT of 71.88% ± 0.15 and a purification fold (PFT) of 5.74 ± 0.33 were recorded with this optimum recovery of xylanase using alcohol/salt ABS. The purity of xylanase recovered was then qualitatively verified with sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) gel electrophoresis. The SDS profile revealed the purified xylanase was successfully obtained in the top phase of the one-step 1-propanol/sulphate ABS with a distinct single band.
Clostridium bifermentans strain WYM is an effective biohydrogen producer isolated from landfill leachate sludge. Here, we present the assembly and annotation of its genome, which may provide further insights into the metabolic pathways involved in efficient biohydrogen production.
Clostridium perfringens strain JJC is an effective biohydrogen and biochemical producer that was isolated from landfill leachate sludge. Here, we present the assembly and annotation of its genome, which may provide further insights into the gene interactions involved in efficient biohydrogen production.
Clostridium sp. strain Ade.TY is potentially a new biohydrogen-producing species isolated from landfill leachate sludge. Here we present the assembly and annotation of its genome, which may provide further insights into its gene interactions for efficient biohydrogen production.
Pseudomonas sp. LAB-08 was isolated from a phenol-fed bioreactor constructed with contaminated aquifer soil as the inoculum. Strain LAB-08 utilized phenol as a sole carbon and energy source. Here, we report the genome sequence and annotation of Pseudomonas sp. LAB-08.
Despite efforts to address the composition of the microbial community during the anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME), its composition in relation to biodegradation in the full-scale treatment system has not yet been extensively examined. Therefore, a thorough analysis of bacterial and archaeal communities was performed in the present study using MiSeq sequencing at the different stages of the POME treatment, which comprised anaerobic as well as facultative anaerobic and aerobic processes, including the mixed raw effluent (MRE), mixing pond, holding tank, and final discharge phases. Based on the results obtained, the following biodegradation processes were suggested to occur at the different treatment stages: (1) Lactobacillaceae (35.9%) dominated the first stage, which contributed to high lactic acid production; (2) the higher population of Clostridiaceae in the mixing pond (47.7%) and Prevotellaceae in the holding tank (49.7%) promoted acetic acid production; (3) the aceticlastic methanogen Methanosaetaceae (0.6-0.8%) played a role in acetic acid degradation in the open digester and closed reactor for methane generation; (4) Syntrophomonas (21.5-29.2%) appeared to be involved in the degradation of fatty acids and acetic acid by syntrophic cooperation with the hydrogenotrophic methanogen, Methanobacteriaceae (0.6-1.3%); and (5) the phenols and alcohols detected in the early phases, but not in the final discharge phase, indicated the successful degradation of lignocellulosic materials. The present results contribute to a better understanding of the biodegradation mechanisms involved in the different stages of the full-scale treatment of POME.
The polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) accumulation dynamics in aerobic granules that undergo the growth-disintegration cycle were investigated. Four sequencing batch reactors (SBR) were inoculated with aerobic granules at different stages of development (different sizes). Different sizes of aerobic granules showed varying PHA contents. Thus, further study was conducted to investigate the diffusion of substrate and oxygen on PHA accumulation using various organic loading rates (OLR) and aeration rates (AR). An increase in OLR from 0.91 to 3.64kg COD/m(3)day increased the PHA content from 0.66 to 0.87g PHA/g CDW. Meanwhile, an AR increase from 1 to 4L/min only accelerated the maximum PHA accumulation without affecting the PHA content. However, the PHA composition only changes with AR, while the hydroxyvalerate (HV) content increased at a higher AR.