Abstract
Wastewater contaminated by edible oils (lipids) is discharged from restaurants and food-processing facilities. Lipids have a very high biological oxygen demand and notably pollute public bodies of water such as rivers, lakes and seas. In general, lipids in wastewater are removed using a grease trap, however they are not completely eliminated. Consequently, lipids comtaminate public water bodies and generate oil balls in bays. Microorganisms capable of breaking down lipids would be useful for solving the problem. Thus far, there are many reports on microbial degradation of lipids, however, many problems remains in terms of practical use. In this paper, we describe the development of lipid-degrading microorganisms and issues regarding their treatment techniques and the perspective of microbial wastewater treatment, as well as the author's work.
