Enhancing biogas production with fungi from oil palm empty fruit bunches: Isolation and innovative application

Using fungi in decomposition is an important indicator of success in biogas production from oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB). This study isolated fungi from EFB to be used in the biogas production process. The results identified the fungus as Aspergillus niger based on macroscopic, microscopic, and molecular analysis. Adding the substrate (S) to Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) increased CH4 concentration from 6 % to 60 %. POME-S10 produced 80 % more biogas compared to POME-S0. POME 0-S100 had the highest CH4 to CO2 ratio in biogas (±260 %), compared to POME-S0 (±20 %), POME-S4 (±25 %), POME-S7 (±21 %), and POME-S10 (±100 %).