Bioremediation of Sugar Waste Water Using Nannochloropsis oculata to Reduce Pollutant Levels and Turbidity

Abstract

Total sugar production in Indonesia reaches 2.1 million tons annually. The large amount of sugar production in Indonesia causes the extracted liquid waste to have an impact on the waters due to contamination, deoxygenation by pollutants, and cloudy air. There needs to be an effort to handle sugar waste so as not to harm the environment and endanger living things. This study aims to determine the bioremediation process of Microalgae Nannochloropsis oculata as an effort to reduce turbidity and pollutant levels in sugar factory wastewater. The method used in this study is an experimental method consisting of five treatments with a ratio of microalgae and sugar liquid waste in milliliters, namely P0 (0:1000), P1 (300:1000), P2 (300:800), P3 (300:1000). 600), P4 (300:400), and P5 (300:200). The stages of this research were sampling of sugar factory effluent, inoculation of microalgae Nannochloropsis oculata into waste for 16 days, and testing of the inoculation results. Parameters of the tests carried out included turbidity, TSS, COD, BOD, pH, TP temperature, salinity and cell density. The data were analyzed by determining the percentage of decrease in each parameter and calculating the Pollution Index (IP) of the overall parameter. Based on the research, microalgae inoculation was able to reduce turbidity and pollutant levels with the best results determined based on IP calculations, namely P1 and P2 treatments with values ​​of 0.971 and 0.931 where these results were interpreted as research waste according to quality standards.