Pilot scale integrated anaerobic-aerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent

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.