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A comparison of treatment methods for palm oil mill effluent (POME) wastes
Author(s) -
Edewor J. O.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.280360503
Subject(s) - pome , chemical oxygen demand , anaerobic digestion , alkalinity , pulp and paper industry , aerobic digestion , biogas , environmental science , waste management , sewage treatment , effluent , anaerobic exercise , biochemical oxygen demand , chemistry , activated sludge , environmental engineering , engineering , methane , biology , physiology , organic chemistry
A study of the operational variables involved in the treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) was carried out. These included the acidic or alkaline nature of the POME discharged from the oil mills, the efficiency of the decay (or digestion) of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) contents of the POME, the economic benefits that could arise from the digested sludge and biogas and finally the net economic recovery abilities of the various treatment methods available. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) contents of the POME must be reduced to an acceptable level of 2000–3000 mg solids dm −3 of sludge before the latter can be used as a fertiliser material. In 10 days of operational periods various anaerobic digestion treatment methods gave COD reduction efficiencies of 76–96%, the batch pond anaerobic digestion mode gave an efficiency of 76.5%, the continuous pond modes 92.5–95.5% and the tank digester 93.8%. In all anaerobic operations the optimal pH values of the POME media were in the range 7.1–7.6 and a ratio of the volatile acids to the total alkalinity of the media (VA/TA) of 0.3 or less was found to enhance the performance of these digesters. Economic analyses carried out on all modes of treatment gave the following economic recovery abilities: the decanter/drier system gave a break‐even situation of 3 years, the tank digester system, 2 years, and the single stage anaerobic pond system, 6 years. The batch pond system appeared not to give a break‐even situation. Of the treatment methods examined the decanter/drier and tank digester systems were concluded to be optimal.