Abstract
Tempeh home industries have been established in residential areas, one of which is in the assisted village of PT Pertamina Internasional RU III Plaju Factory, Palembang, South Sumatra. Eco-enzyme is one of the methods for processing and reducing pollutant organic matter in liquid waste. This study aims to determine the eco-enzyme characteristics of Averrhoa bilimbi L. fruit and exploit its potential to reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solid (TSS), and total dissolved solid (TDS) in tempeh wastewater. Eco-enzymes are characterized by measuring pH, COD, TSS, TDS, and most probable number (MPN). The reduction in COD, TSS and TDS of tempeh wastewater was observed using a simple bioreactor which was treated with the addition of 10% eco-enzyme (three replicates) and without the addition of eco-enzyme (control). The characterization results showed that the eco-enzyme of A. bilimbi L. fruit had a pH of 1.84, COD of 85.33 mg/L, TSS of 440 mg/L, TDS of 15,800 mg/L, protein concentration of 0.459 U/mg, and MPN value of 0.03 CFU/100 mL. The COD value of tempeh liquid waste can be reduced from the initial COD of 256 to 154.67 mg/L. The TSS value of tempeh wastewater decreased by 60% from the initial value of 4,000 mg/L. It takes 18 days to reduce the TSS content below the quality standard. The TDS value of tempeh liquid waste can be reduced by 70% from the initial TDS of 7,333.33 to 1,666.67 mg/L.