First Degree : BSc (Microbiology) UKM (2009)
Education level : Msc
Register date : Nov 2009
Research title : Chitosan-Treated Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) as fungal growth medium
Supervisor : Prof. Datin Dr. Ainon Hamzah

Research synopsis :
The palm oil refinery factory generates approximately 2.5 to 3 tones of palm oil mill effluent (POME) for every 1 tone of palm oil produced. POME is characterized by acidic brownish colloidal suspension, high amounts of total solids (40,500 mg/L), oil and grease (4,000 mg/L) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) (25,000 mg/L). Normally, this waste is discharged into oxidation pool system or into streams and caused eutrophication and severely affects the water quality (Environmental Quality Act 1974). However, reports showed that POME contained nutrients such as carbon (30%), nitrogen (38%), and minerals such as phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium (15%), which can be converted into media to support bacterial growth. Therefore, this research is a preliminary study to analyze and assess the various nutrient levels of POME. The POME will be treated using chitosan powder to decolorize and reduce the phenol content in order to make POME more suitable as growth media. The ability of chitosan-treated POME media to support growth of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria will then be assessed. The final product of this study will be a chitosan-treated POME media for bacteria growth to replace the usage of commercial media.

Publication: –
Hana Najian Mokhtardin, Mazni Abu Zarin, and Ainon Hamzah. 2009. Identification of Sulphate-Reducing Bacteria From An Oil Reservoir. Proceeding of International Conference of Malaysia Society for Microbiology. Penang.
Ainon, H., and Hana Najian, M. 2011. Identification of Bacterial Community in Thermophilic Oil Reservoir Using Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) and Culture-Base Method . Proceeding of International Conference on Environmental, Industrial and Applied Microbiology, Biomicroworld. Malaga, Spain.
Hana Najian Mokhtardin and Ainon Hamzah. 2011. Pre-treatment of Palm Oil Mill Effluent for microbial growth medium .Proceeding of International Conference of Malaysia Society for Microbiology.Batu Ferringhi, Penang.
Hana Najian & Ainon Hamzah. 2012. Penyahwarnaan Efluen Miyak Kelapa Sawit Untuk Penjanaan Medium Pertumbuhan Kulat Prosiding Kolokium Siswazah ke-12 Fakulti Sains dan Teknologi, UKM, Bangi, pp. 1962– 195.