Affiliations: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Purra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor
DE, Malaysia | Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, Jalan Gombak 53100,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Abstract: This study was undertaken to screen the filamentous fungi isolated
from its relevant habitats (wastewater, sewage sludge and sludge cake) for the
bioconversion of domestic wastewater sludge. A total of 35 fungal strains were
tested against wastewater sludge (total suspended solids, TSS 1%–5% w/w) to
evaluate its potentiality for enhancing the biodegradability and dewaterability
using liquid state bioconversion (LSB) process. The strains were divided into
five groups i.e. Penicillium, Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Basidiomycete and
Miscellaneous, respectively. The strains WWZP1003, SCahmA103, SCahmT105 and
PC-9 among their respective groups of Penicillium,Aspergillus, Trichoderma and
Basidiomycete played potential roles in terms of separation (formation of
pellets/flocs/filaments), biodegradation (removal of COD) and filtration
(filterability) of treated domestic wastewater sludge. The Miscellaneous group
was not considered due to its unsatisfactory results as compared to the other
groups. The pH value was also influenced by the microbial treatment during
fermentation process. The filterability of treated sludge was improved by
fungal treatment, and lowest filtration time was recorded for the strain
WWZP1003 and SCahmA103 of Penicillium and Aspergillus groups respectively
compared with other strains.
