Removal of Nutrients by Using Green Microalgae from Lab-Scale Treated Palm Oil Mill Effluent

The use of microalgae for the removal of contaminants such as total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and other pollutants from palm oil mill effluent (POME) has recently received much attention. This study aimed to investigate the impact of POME as a nutrient on microalgal growth and the rate at which nutrients were removed. Three green microalgae species were isolated from Penang, Malaysia’s palm oil mill. The polyphasic approach, which combines morphological and molecular observations, was used for species identification. The three green microalgae were identified as Chlorella sorokiniana, Scenedesmus quadricauda, and Chlorococcum oleofaciens. All three green microalgae were cultivated in 25%, 50%, and 75% (v/v) of lab-scale palm oil mill effluent (LABT-POME) to investigate the growth of these three green microalgae in 100 mL of BBM. Under a light microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM), the morphological changes of those three green microalgae (before and after cultivation in 25%, 50%, and 75% dilution of (LABT-POME)) were observed. When cultivated in LABT-POME, C. oleofaciens showed the highest growth rate compared to the other two species of green microalgae. C. oleofaciens was able to remove more than 90% of total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), and ammonia nitrogen from LABT-POME, as well as minimise soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) by about 65%. The growth of C. oleofaciens was well fitted to the Verhulst growth kinetic model with an R2 value of 0.99 and a growth rate of 0.3195 day−1 (d−1). The results of this study show the ability of newly isolated green microalgae to remove nutrients (TP, TN, NH3–N, and SCOD) from POME, which could be used as an effective and environmentally friendly method to remove pollutants.