PHYTOREMEDIATION OF PALM OIL MILL EFFLUENT BY USING PISTIA STRATIOTES PLANT AND ALGAE SPIRULINA SP FOR BIOMASS PRODUCTION (RESEARCH NOTE)

Producing crude palm oil (CPO) will have side effect on producing palm oil mill effluent (POME). Besides of high COD /BOD contents, POME still contains high amount of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphor and mineral). Traditional treatment of palm oil mill effluent using facultative anaerobic method not fully eliminated COD and BOD into allowable limit. The objective of this research was to utilize phytoremediation technology to reduce COD, and nutrients of POME at various retention times and activated sludge concentration. The residence time was varied at 1-5 days and activated sludge at 35-60%. The result showed that water lettuce as aquatic plant in the first remediation process could reduce COD content up to 39.1% -59.66%, absorb nitrogen content up to 17.73% -30.78%, and absorb the phosphorus content up to 6.14% -18.46%. At the second remediation, the remediated POME was fed to Spirulina and the nutrients were consumed by 90%.