Melanoidin Removal and Electricity Generation of Palm Oil Mill Effluent by Oxidoreductase Producing Consortium with Air- Cathode Microbial Fuel Cell

Melanoidin is the hazardous dark brown byproduct generated during palm oil extraction in the crude palm oil industry. In this study, the laccase-producing consortium W3 (Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis) was used to degrade melanoidin and decolorize palm oil mill effluent (POME). The microbial fuel cell (MFC) has been applied for enhancing decolorization and generation of electrical energy as a byproduct. The results displayed the maximal melanoidin removal of 95.20±0.10% was gained when the consortium W3 was added into the synthetic wastewater. While the maximal decolorization of 75.10±0.12% and 73.91±0.23% were gained from the sterile POME and raw POME respectively without chemical addition. Moreover, the power output of 2.13±0.05 W/m3 or 0.27±0.01 W/m2 was achieved from the POME-fed MFC with W3. This study gained new knowledge of using the laccase-producing bacterial consortium integrated with MFC for melanoidin removal from the POME and generation of electrical power as an alternative energy source.