Evaluation of Growth Rate of Microalgae Chlorella sp Cultivated in Palm Oil Mill Effluent(POME) Medium

Abstract

Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) is waste water produced from CPO processing. Since 2006, Indonesia is the largest CPO producers which contribute 45% of the CPO needs in the world. This large amount of CPO can produce high amount of POME. It is estimated that 1 ton of Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) can result 0.5-0.6 ton POME while the CPO is merely 0.2 ton. Besides its high contents of COD and BOD, POME has high nutrients contents such as Nitrogen and Phosphor which may potential for microalgae growth. The objective of this research was to evaluate the use of POME as nutrient sources of microalgae (Chlorella sp) growth under variation of POME content in the medium (20-60%). The results showed that the algae was able to grow under 20% POME and the lipid productivity of 37.4 mg/L/day was achieved. Keywords: Chlorella sp, POME, nutrient, lipid, microalgae