RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 32 (2) June 2020, p. 286-293

PILOT SCALE INTEGRATED ANAEROBIC-AEROBIC TREATMENT OF PALM OIL MILL EFFLUENT

MUZZAMMIL, N* and LOH, S K*

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2020.0030
Published Online: 11 June 2020
ABSTRACT

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is abundantly generated from the palm oil milling process. Its stringent discharge limits of biological oxygen demand (BOD) of < 20 mg litre-1 has been the most prevalent issue faced in the course of extending palm oil business development. Conventional POME treatment system anaerobically in a series of ponding systems, topped with additional costly tertiary polishing system may not be able to meet this challenging standard due to inconsistent plant performance. A cost-effective POME treatment technology featuring full resource recovery and zero discharge/zero emissions is encouraged. This article examined the performance of an integrated anaerobic-aerobic zero discharge POME treatment pilot system in full operation for a year in a palm oil mill. The assessed system showed 100% compliance to BOD of 100 mg litre-1 and 80% for the more stringent BOD 20 mg litre-1 while generating renewable electricity from the combusted biogas and recycling boiler-grade water via reclamation.

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* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia. E-mail: muzzamil@mpob.gov.my