PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF EMPTY FRUIT BUNCHES (EFB) AND PALM OIL MILL EFFLUENTS (POME) FOR COMPOSTING FOR SOIL IMPROVEMENT

Empty fruit bunches (EFB) and palm oil mill Effluents (POME), are currently been poorly utilized and dumped with no regards for the environment. Cameroon has a vast potential in biomass product ion, resultant from its many agroindustries, and presently, very little to no valorization strategy is in place for the possible reduction of industrial wastes, thereby leading to environmental pollution. The aim of this research was to characterize EFB and POME for valorization as manure compose. The EFB were chopped with a machete into tiny pieces while the POME was cooled and bottled in amber-colored bottles prior to physicochemical analyses which were carried out at HYDRAC, IRAD and CBC-HS, respectively. The EFB contained 0.35%; 0.12%; 0.5%; 0.7% of Nitrogen, potassium, Magnesium and Calcium, respectively. For the POME, temperature, pH, TS, TVS, TSS, BOD and COD were of 27.9°c, 4.87, 22.100mg/l, 1.400mg/l, 9.022mg/l, 1.260mg/l and 7,960mg/l, respectively. Based on the results, the physicochemical properties of TVS, TSS, BOD and COD in POME exceeded the stipulated amounts to be deposited into the environment without prior treatment. This therefore implies that the sustainable use of these vital agricultural byproducts as manure in the agricultural sector will necessitate prior treatment in order to prevent pollution.