Large quantities of nutrients present in palm oil mill effluent (POME) are one of the main causes of environmental pollution that negatively change natural water bodies. It is desirable that effluent treatment facilities remove nutrients from the POMEprior todischarge to the environmentin order to meet regulatory limits. Bio-treatment of nutrients in bioreactors is, by definition, achieved by microalgae.In the present study, microalgae Spirulina platensis and Scenedesmus dimorphus during bio treatment of anaerobically treated POME was evaluated. Experiment was conducted in outdoor raceway reactors to evaluate nutrient uptake using field relevant reactor designs.Results showed that these algae were very effective in reduction of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Nitrogen (TN), ammonia Nitrogen (NH4 +- N) and phosphorus (P) in POME. Further, it has been observed thatS. platensis was having best nutrient removal efficiency compare than S. dimorphus.. Therefore, the nutrient removal efficiency from POME usingS. platensis and S. dimorphus offer an alternative strategy for POME treatment.
