Acetone–Butanol–Ethanol Fermentation From Palm Oil Mill Effluent Using Clostridium acetobutylicum

Acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation from sterilized supernatant and sterilized sludge of palm oil mill effluent (POME) by Clostridium acetobutylicum NCIMB 619 was investigated. The fermentation was carried out anaerobically in batch mode at a temperature of 37 °C for 72 h. ABE recovery from the fermentation media was attempted by liquid–liquid extraction using oleyl alcohol as a solvent. Total solvent concentrations obtained were 0.3985 and 1.1253 g/l in sterilized POME supernatant and sterilized POME sludge, respectively. However, product recovery by liquid–liquid extraction using oleyl alcohol was very not effective where only 13.7 and 2.85 % total solvent were recovered from sterilized POME supernatant and sterilized POME sludge media, respectively.