Effect of isolated mesophilic bacterial consortium on pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch composting process

Empty fruit bunch (EFB) is one of the main solid wastes generated from palm-oil mills.Incineration and mulching have been employed traditionally to process EFB. This methodof waste treatment becomes a great concern since burning of EFB is prohibited byregulation and moreover, the process is costly a...

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Main Authors: Lai, Jia, Chua, Han, Saptoro, Agus, Ang, Ming
Other Authors: Awang Bono
Format: Conference Paper
Published: School of Engineering & Information Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabahh 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39671
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author Lai, Jia
Chua, Han
Saptoro, Agus
Ang, Ming
author2 Awang Bono
author_facet Awang Bono
Lai, Jia
Chua, Han
Saptoro, Agus
Ang, Ming
author_sort Lai, Jia
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Empty fruit bunch (EFB) is one of the main solid wastes generated from palm-oil mills.Incineration and mulching have been employed traditionally to process EFB. This methodof waste treatment becomes a great concern since burning of EFB is prohibited byregulation and moreover, the process is costly and unsustainable. Composting of EFB hasthe potential to replace the conventional methods used. Composting is a bioconversionprocess involving microbial activity that transforms biomass wastes into useful organicsubstrate or fertilizer. In this work, an experimental study was carried out to investigate thesimple composting of pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch (EFB) with mesophilic bacterialconsortium as composting microorganism. The bacterial consortium was isolated fromempty fruit bunch compost and cultivated under mesophilic condition at 35 oC. Theexperiment was conducted under ambient condition and the process was carried out forduration of 40 days. Changes in physicochemical characteristics of composting process wasrecorded and evaluated. The composting was performed at a temperature range of 26.5-28 oC. The pH was found to increase from pH 6.51 to average pH 9.82 after 5 days ofcomposting process and moisture content fluctuated between 60% to 80% over the periodof study. An average of 54% reduction of EFB dry weight was achieved using the isolatedmesophilic bacterial consortium following the composting process.
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format Conference Paper
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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last_indexed 2025-11-14T08:59:44Z
publishDate 2012
publisher School of Engineering & Information Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabahh
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-396712023-02-07T08:01:21Z Effect of isolated mesophilic bacterial consortium on pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch composting process Lai, Jia Chua, Han Saptoro, Agus Ang, Ming Awang Bono Coswald Stephen Sipaut Empty fruit bunch (EFB) is one of the main solid wastes generated from palm-oil mills.Incineration and mulching have been employed traditionally to process EFB. This methodof waste treatment becomes a great concern since burning of EFB is prohibited byregulation and moreover, the process is costly and unsustainable. Composting of EFB hasthe potential to replace the conventional methods used. Composting is a bioconversionprocess involving microbial activity that transforms biomass wastes into useful organicsubstrate or fertilizer. In this work, an experimental study was carried out to investigate thesimple composting of pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch (EFB) with mesophilic bacterialconsortium as composting microorganism. The bacterial consortium was isolated fromempty fruit bunch compost and cultivated under mesophilic condition at 35 oC. Theexperiment was conducted under ambient condition and the process was carried out forduration of 40 days. Changes in physicochemical characteristics of composting process wasrecorded and evaluated. The composting was performed at a temperature range of 26.5-28 oC. The pH was found to increase from pH 6.51 to average pH 9.82 after 5 days ofcomposting process and moisture content fluctuated between 60% to 80% over the periodof study. An average of 54% reduction of EFB dry weight was achieved using the isolatedmesophilic bacterial consortium following the composting process. 2012 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39671 School of Engineering & Information Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabahh restricted
spellingShingle Lai, Jia
Chua, Han
Saptoro, Agus
Ang, Ming
Effect of isolated mesophilic bacterial consortium on pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch composting process
title Effect of isolated mesophilic bacterial consortium on pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch composting process
title_full Effect of isolated mesophilic bacterial consortium on pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch composting process
title_fullStr Effect of isolated mesophilic bacterial consortium on pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch composting process
title_full_unstemmed Effect of isolated mesophilic bacterial consortium on pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch composting process
title_short Effect of isolated mesophilic bacterial consortium on pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch composting process
title_sort effect of isolated mesophilic bacterial consortium on pressed-shredded empty fruit bunch composting process
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39671