Alkaligenes sp. SUM 123: The Survivability and Its Ability to Degrade POME
Athena Dana, Nor Azimah Mohd Zain, Huszalina Hussin
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Abstract
Microbial fuel cells (MFC) is an example of electricity generation using sustainable technology. It uses organic substrates as fuels on the anode side to generate electricity as the anode of the organic substance is oxidizes and releasing electrons and protons and allow electrons to be transferred to cathode via external electric circuit. The potential of Alcaligenes sp. strain SUM123 were identified as the inoculum to utilize organic substrate palm oil mill effluent (POME). The MTB were first grown in nutrient broth (NB) and palm oil mill effluent POME to test its ability to grow in these medium. The growth was observed for 10% NB and 90% POME and compared to in 100% NB alone. The ability to reduce the pH, COD and ADMI of the substrate are identified for the 10% NB and 90% POME. The pH reading dropped as the growth of MTB are decreased, while the COD readings increases almost the same trend as the growth and death of the bacteria in 10% NB and 90% POME solution, while ADMI reading were indirectly proportional to the growth of MTB in 10% NB and 90% POME.
Keywords: Palm Oil Mill Effluent; Alcaligenes sp. strain SUM123; chemical oxygen demand; Microbial Fuel Cell; bioelectricity production
Topic: Biotechnology