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Production of Liquid Bio-Fertilizer from Old Coconut Water and Molasses

using Consortium Microbes
To cite this article: R Darmawan et al 2020 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 845 012007

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ICChEAS 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 845 (2020) 012007 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/845/1/012007

Production of Liquid Bio-Fertilizer from Old Coconut Water

and Molasses using Consortium Microbes

R Darmawan1*, V G P Dewi1, M A Rizaldi1, S R Juliastuti1, S Gunawan1, H W

Aparamarta1 and A Wiguno1
1
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Institut
Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya 60111, INDONESIA

E-mail: rdarmawan@chem-eng.its.ac.id

Abstract. Increasing issue of returning to nature, the presence of organic fertilizer is one of the
things required in agriculture sector. The presence of the liquid organic fertilizer, it is expected
to have a positive impact on plants and soil. Moreover, in the manufacturing process, it was
utilizing wastes. The liquid fertilizer was made by mixing waste from micro-businesses that
produce a porridge (old coconut water) and side product of the sugar factory (molasses). Seven
litter solutions from the liquid were mixed using a bioreactor equipped with impeller for 8
incubation days. The isolated microbes were inserted with initial number of 1012 using
counting chamber method. As a phosphate source, the phosphate rock was implemented into
reactor. Every 4 days, the samples were taken and analysed for knowing the concentration of
NPK and C components. Three consortium microbe variables were carried out for making the
fertilizer where the source of microorganisms from enrichment cultures + old coconut water +
molasses (EOM); soil + old coconut water + molasses (SOM); and only old coconut water +
molasses (OM). The highest (%) of N, P, K and C components was detected at 0.09; 0.04; 10.5
and 1.74, respectively achieved by the EOM after 8 day of incubation period. The bio-fertilizer
was applied into the paddy test plants with a hydroponic system.

1. Introduction
The presence of waste around us that has not been treated properly yet, environmental issues and
economic factors, provides a potential and at once opportunity regarding them. One way is to utilize
waste from the production of porridge, in the form of old coconut water and side products from a sugar
factory, in the form of molasses. Old coconut water is believed, it’s still containing enough nutrients
and micro elements that can be used as a medium as well as a source of microorganisms that can be
added in the process of making liquid fertilizer. The old coconut water can be found easily and
abundantly in the Regency of Ponorogo, East Java Province – Indonesia, because this area is a central
industry of porridge, which applies the coconut as its basic material. Referring to the data from BPS –
Ponorogo, the number of coconuts that can be produced in this regency is 6.170,09 tons [1] and
Indonesia produces coconut about 2.87 million tons with an area of 3.54 million hectares [2].
Likewise, molasses, it’s also still having organic elements. Molasses is an energy source that
contains about 50% sugar in the form of sucrose (20-30%) and reducing sugars (10-30%). Reducing
sugar is a compound that is digested easily and can be directly absorbed by the blood for the process of
metabolism in order to obtain energy. The characteristics of molasses have a COD of 65,000-130,000
*
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ICChEAS 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 845 (2020) 012007 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/845/1/012007

mg/L and BOD5 of 30,000-96,000 mg/L and have a smell like soy sauce and a dark brown color [3].
Microorganisms contained therein also utilize both of these materials.
Furthermore, utilization of the Lapindo mud in Sidoarjo – Indonesia is as an effort to reduce the
negative impact of disasters that have occurred since 2006. For generating bio-fertilizer, it requires
culture source as a source of microbes. Lapindo mud is other potential components as a culture source
Lapindo mud is composed of 70% water and 30% solids. Salinity of mud is very high (38-40%), so it
is salty [4]. Based on the research on the chemical parameters results of Lapindo mud, it is known that
the pH value ranges from 6.6 - 7, cation exchange capacity (CEC) of 3.89-35.42 (Me/100g), moisture
content of 40.41-60.73 % and total organic carbon content of 54.75-55.47% [5]. Therefore, based on
all of the above, this research was conducted. This study aims to make organic liquid fertilizer based
on organic materials that utilize consortium microbes sourced from nature.

2. Material and Method

2.1. Microorganism sources
The consortium microbes were obtained from some natural environment sources, such as Lapindo
Mud, old coconut water and molasses. The mixed cultured from Lapindo mud were enriched for three
weeks by following method [6]. The sterile minimum medium was containing some nutrients such as 2
g of NH4NO3; 2 g of KH2PO4; 2 g of K2HPO4.3H2O; 0.2 g of MgSO4.7H2O; 0.2 g of FeCl3.6H2O and
0.02 g of CaCl2 within 200 mL. For isolation of the mixed cultured, the medium was supplemented
using 5 g of mud and 5 g of the Jordan phosphate rock. The phosphate rock composition was described
in Table 1. Meanwhile, the other microorganisms were using the old coconut water and molasses
directly.

Table 1. Jordan phosphate rock test.

Parameter Unit Gradeb

H2O % 2.02
P2O5 % adbka 30.44
CaO % adbka 46.71
MgO % adbka 0.29
Na2O % adbka 0.64
K2O % adbka 0.03
Fe2O3 % adbka 0.25
Al2O3 % adbka 0.33
R2O3 % adbka 0.57
SO3 % adbka 1.06
a
on the basis of dry ingredients
b
average

2.2. Liquid material sources

The used materials of liquid were collected from coconut water waste of the porridge manufacturer
“Jenang Murni” in Ponorogo and side sugar of PT Energi Agro Nusantara (Enero) in Mojokerto –
Indonesia.

2.3. Fermentation process and manuring paddy hydroponic test

The liquid medium was prepared by mixing 7 L of old coconut water; 0.01 % v/v of molasses and
0.0024 % w/v of phosphate rock. The fermentation process for 8 days was conducted using the aerobic
reactor (Figure 1) inserted by consortium microorganisms as the changed variables. During the

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ICChEAS 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 845 (2020) 012007 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/845/1/012007

experiment, the pH and temperature were maintained at around 7 and 30oC, respectively with aeration
supply at a rate of 4 L/min. Three variables microbes used were including the enrichment cultures +
old coconut water + molasses (EOM); soil + old coconut water + molasses (SOM); and only old
coconut water + molasses (OM). The initial number of microbes were adjusted at 1010 cells/ mL
approximately with counting chamber method [7]. Every 4 days, the liquid bio-fertilizer was checked
N, P, K and C-organic contents. The organic contents were analyzed at t = 0 days, t = 4 days, and t = 8
days, then it was tested using paddy hydroponic system for 10 weeks. The manuring test was carried
out in the Islamic Boarding Institution (PP) Al-Ahsan, Jombang, East Java – Indonesia.

Figure 1. Aerobic bioreactor for

fermentation process equipped
with no 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were
dynamo agitator, aerator, agitator
air hose, reactor, and output
valve, respectively

Figure 2. Hydroponic system in PP Al- Ahsan,

Jombang, East Java – Indonesia.

3. Results and Discussion

In the research, it studies the manufacture of liquid fertilizers by utilizing materials and
microorganisms that are easily found originating from nature. Three consortium microbe variables
were carried out for making the fertilizer where the source of microorganisms from enrichment
cultures + old coconut water + molasses (EOM); soil + old coconut water + molasses (SOM); and only
old coconut water + molasses (OM). During the fermentation process, bio-fertilizer was analyzed for
N, P, K and C content every 4 days. After 8 days, the formed bio-fertilizer was applied to paddy plants
with a hydroponic system, in which the system can be seen in the figure 2. One L of organic fertilizer
was diluted within 50 L of water. There were three ways for manuring, such as after the paddy test
age of 7 days, 30 days, and 60 days. The manuring to the plant test was performed for 10 weeks.

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ICChEAS 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 845 (2020) 012007 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/845/1/012007

3.1. Observation N, P, K and C elements during the process.

There were some factors or parameters influenced to bio-fertilizer especially amount of N, P, K and C
elements during fermentation process, such as the initial element and concentration material sources
from coconut water and molasses, microbes used, duration and condition of incubation. The results
obtained from the N, P, K and C element analysis can be summarised in Table 2. Based on the analysis
component, it was found that the highest number on N, P, and K elements were achieved by EOM at t
= 8 days with concentrations of 0.09%, 0.04 % and 10.5 %, respectively and the greatest number on C
elements was obtained by OM at t = 8 days with level of 1.78 %.

As can be seen from the above table, the utilization of consortium microbes from enrichment
cultures + old coconut water + molasses (EOM) reported significantly more N, P, K percentages than
soil + old coconut water + molasses (SOM); and only old coconut water + molasses (OM). The result
indicated that consortium microorganisms from EOM especially enrichment culture from Lapindo
mud can enhance N, P, K compounds well. These culture from Lapindo Mud believed have a critical
role for increasing N, P, K components [8] as the nitrogen, phosphor, potassium contributors on the
plants. These microbes were believed as a diazotroph bacteria in which have a good role to fix
nitrogen [9] due to a nitrogenase enzyme which have capability on for nitrogen and hydrogen
combination [10, 11]. Furthermore, the consortium microorganisms (EOM) might be suitable microbe
combination to enhance phosphor element and increase potassium component where the condition
might be caused by the hydrolysis and proteolysis reactions so that it lead to release K + from the
organic matter [8]
Meanwhile, the highest percentage of C element (1.78%) during process incubation period was
obtained by OM. The carbon elements from coconut water and molasses were degraded into a simpler
compound with more stable for 8 days incubation period. The three designated variables provide the
decreased with enhancing the incubation period where the condition occurs might be caused by
absence of the added microorganisms that consume C-organic within coconut water and molasses to
enhance the microorganism metabolism as carbon sources [8] and at once as culture sources.

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ICChEAS 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 845 (2020) 012007 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/845/1/012007

3.2. Observation of height and leaf number on paddy test during manuring
The observation of manuring on paddy test for height and leaf number during 10 weeks can be seen in
the Figure 3 and Figure 4, respectively. Figure 3 shows that the paddy plant height increased with
increasing manuring time. The largest growth of plant height, it can be achieved by OM. Meanwhile,
Figure 4 presents that the number of leaves of rice plants increased until the fourth week then
relatively constant with increasing fertilization time. The highest number of rice leaves was also
experienced by OM.

Figure 3. Observation of height plant during paddy test.

Figure 4. Observation of leaf number during paddy test.

The condition of rice plants in the field with the hydroponic system before (0 week) and after
fertilizing (5 and 10 weeks) with variables EOM, SOM and OM can be seen in Figures 5, 6, 7,
respectively. From the pictures show that the production of liquid bio-fertilizer using natural culture
sources with all the variables have a positive response in the hydroponic paddy test, which was
indicated by the emergence of paddy fruit.

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ICChEAS 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 845 (2020) 012007 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/845/1/012007

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 5. Paddy test was conducted (a); (b) and (c) at 0 week, 5 weeks and 10 weeks,
respectively, using enrichment cultures + old coconut water + molasses (EOM).

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 6. Paddy test was conducted (a); (b) and (c) at 0 week, 5 weeks and 10 weeks,
respectively, using soil + old coconut water + molasses (SOM).

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 7. Paddy test was conducted (a); (b) and (c) at 0 week, 5 weeks and 10 weeks,
respectively, using only old coconut water + molasses (OM).

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ICChEAS 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 845 (2020) 012007 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/845/1/012007

4. Conclusion
The coconut waste water supplemented by molasses and natural microbes can be used as the potential
material and culture sources for generating liquid bio-fertilizer.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Islamic Boarding Institution (PP) Al-Ahsan, Jombang, East Java –
Indonesia for testing of paddy hydroponic system. Furthermore, we also acknowledge to the Institut
for Research and Community Services (LPPM) of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) on the
Program (Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat Berbasis Penelitian) for financial supporting with
agreement document No: 1344/PKS/ITS/2019

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Liquid Organic Fertilizer from Waste of Coconut Porridge Manufacturer and Molasses using
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[9] Marbun, Posma, Hardy G and Putri J A 2013 Universitas Sumatera Utara
[10] Yin T T, Pin U L and Ghazali A H A 2015 Trop. Life Scie. Res . 26 1
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