Abstract
In this study, the influence of different concentrations of filtered and centrifuged palm oil mill effluent (POME) in sea water (1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 %) were investigated as an alternative medium for microalgal cell growth and lipid yield. Both I. galbana and P. lutheri had enhanced cell growth and lipid accumulationat 15 % level with maximum specific growth rate (0.16 d-1 and 0.14 d-1) and lipid content (26.3 ± 0.31 % and 34.5 ± 0.82 %), respectively, after 16 days of cultivation. The microalgal cell growth was not only enhanced with POME feeding, the COD (74.5-80.1 %), BOD (68.3-82.5 %), TOC (43.1-62.3 %), TN (48.7-59.9 %) and oil and grease (59.1-68.8 %), were also efficiently removed from POME.
