In this study, the influence of different concentrations of filtered and centrifuged palm oil mill effluent (POME) in sea water (1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 ) were investigated as an alternative medium for microalgal cell growth and lipid yield. Both I. galbana and P. lutheri had enhanced cell growth and lipid accumulation at 15 level with maximum specific growth rate (0.16 d- and 0.14 d-) and lipid content (26.3 ± 0.31 and 34.5 ± 0.82 ), respectively, after 16 days of cultivation. The microalgal cell growth was not only enhanced with POME feeding, the COD (74.5-80.1 ), BOD (68.3-82.5 ), TOC (43.1-62.3 ), TN (48.7- 59.9 ) and oil and grease (59.1-68.8 ), were also efficiently removed from POME. Copyright © 2014,AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.