Palm oil mill effluent treatment by a tropical marine yeast

Palm oil mill effluent (POME), from a factory site in India contained about 250,000 mg l−1 chemical oxygen demand (COD), 11,000 mg l−1 biochemical oxygen demand, 65 mg l−1 total dissolved solids and 9000 mg l−1 of chloroform-soluble material. Treatment of this effluent using Yarrowia lipolytica NCIM 3589, a marine hydrocarbon-degrading yeast isolated from Mumbai, India, gave a COD reduction of about 95% with a retention time of two days. Treatment with a chemical coagulant further reduced the COD and a consortium developed from garden soil clarified the effluent and adjusted the pH to between 6 and 7. The complete treatment reduced the COD content to 1500 mg l−1 which is a 99% reduction from the original.