Screening of nutrients for improving flocculation performance of fungal bio-flocculants

Jebun, N. and Alam, Md. Zahangir and Mamun, Abdullah Al and Ahmad Raus, Raha (2016) Screening of nutrients for improving flocculation performance of fungal bio-flocculants. In: 4th International Conference on Biotechnology Engineering 2016 (ICBioE 2016), 25th-27th July 2016, Kuala Lumpur.

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Abstract

Flocculating agents are widely used in industrial processes, such as wastewater treatment, downstream process and food fermentation. Generally, synthetic organic polymer or inorganic coagulants (alum, ferric chloride, lime, etc.) are used for water and wastewater treatment. The use of these chemical coagulants is harmful to environment and health. On the contrary, the bio-flocculants are generally safe and environment friendly. Bio-flocculants are mainly composed of macromolecular substances, such as polysaccharides and proteins. The bio-flocculants production is affected by many factors such as nutrients of culture medium and nutrient concentration. In this study, screening tests were conducted aiming to find suitable nutrients and nutrients concentration of two potential strains (RWF-5 and RWF-6), which was measured in terms of reducing turbidity in Jar test. RWF-5 and RWF-6 showed good flocculating activity while malt extract was used as nutrient source compared to sucrose, yeast extract and starch. Supernatants of RWF-5 and RWF-6 cultured with malt extract were able to reduce turbidity from 900±10 NTU to 46 NTU and 195 NTU respectively. As such, bio-flocculants produced by these fungi have potential to be used in water and wastewater treatment industry.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Invited Papers)
Additional Information:	4157/55053
Uncontrolled Keywords:	culture media; pH; inoculum dose; turbidity; flocculation; jar test
Subjects:	T Technology > TP Chemical technology > TP248.13 Biotechnology
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Engineering > Department of Biotechnology Engineering
Depositing User:	Dr. Md. Zahangir Alam
Date Deposited:	22 Feb 2017 11:07
Last Modified:	08 Aug 2017 16:39
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/55053

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