The composting of lignocellulosic oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) with continuous addition of palm oil mill (POME) anaerobic sludge which contained nutrients and indigenous microbes was studied. In comparison to the conventional OPEFB composting which took 60-90 days, the rapid composting in this study can be completed in 40 days with final C/N ratio of 12.4 and nitrogen (2.5%), phosphorus (1.4%), and potassium (2.8%), respectively. Twenty-seven cellulolytic bacterial strains of which 23 strains were closely related to Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus firmus, Thermobifida fusca, Thermomonospora spp., Cellulomonas sp., Ureibacillus thermosphaericus, Paenibacillus barengoltzii, Paenibacillus campinasensis, Geobacillus thermodenitrificans, Pseudoxanthomonas byssovorax which were known as lignocellulose degrading bacteria and commonly involved in lignocellulose degradation. Four isolated strains related to Exiguobacterium acetylicum and Rhizobium sp., with cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic activities. The rapid composting period achieved in this study can thus be attributed to the naturally occurring cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic strains identified.
A thermophilic Thermobifida fusca strain UPMC 901, harboring highly thermostable cellulolytic activity, was successfully isolated from oil palm empty fruit bunch compost. Its endoglucanase had the highest activity at 24 hours of incubation in carboxymethyl-cellulose (CMC) and filter paper. A maximum endoglucanase activity of 0.9 U/mL was achieved at pH 5 and 60 °C using CMC as a carbon source. The endoglucanase properties were further characterized using crude enzyme preparations from the culture supernatant. Thermal stability indicated that the endoglucanase activity was highly stable at 70 °C for 24 hours. Furthermore, the activity was found to be completely maintained without any loss at 50 °C and 60 °C for 144 hours, making it the most stable than other endoglucanases reported in the literature. The high stability of the endoglucanase at an elevated temperature for a prolonged period of time makes it a suitable candidate for the biorefinery application.