signifies the presence of large portion of slowly or non-biodegradable
organics. The success of the aerobic treatment would
depend on its reactor operating conditions and the ability of the
microorganism to degrade these organics. During the 30-day
operation, overall organic removal of 93 1% for COD, 96 2% for
BOD and 97 1% for TSS were achieved. These results are superior
to those from studies carried out by Vijayaraghavan et al. (2007)
(57% COD removal) and Fun et al. (2007) (82% COD removal and
62% TSS removal) as shown in Table 1. The high performance of the
SBR is attributed to the appropriate acclimatization of the biomass
which possesses good settling properties. The microorganisms are
robust and able to purify the anaerobically digested POME effectively
since proper environmental conditions are maintained in the
SBR. In addition, the suspended matter is effectively removed by
physical entrapment in the activated sludge flocs and thereby
appreciable TSS removals are attained.