Abstract
Oil palm currently occupies the largest acreage of farm land in Malaysia. In 2011, the production of palm oil in Malaysia was recorded as 19.8 million tons which has led to a huge amount of wastewater known as palm oil mill effluent (POME). This work focuses on the ponding system which acts as wastewater treatment plant in order to treat POME. The conventional ponding system applied in mills consists of a series of seven ponds. The maintenance costs of the pond are expensive thus study of alternative methods is needed. POME treatment using zeolite shows a potential to overcome the problem. Samples collected from selected ponds are tested and analyzed using water analyzer method. Result from adsorption by zeolite shows a significant reduction of COD, BOD, Fe, Zn, Mn and turbidity. This shows that zeolite is highly potential to be applied as adsorbent in the POME treatment plants. The results here may lead to lower maintenance cost, lower quantity of treatment ponds and lesser land occupied for the treatment of POME in Malaysia.
Highlights
Palm oil is one of the world’s most rapidly expanding equatorial crops
In 2011, the production of palm oil in Malaysia was recorded as 19.8 million tons which has led to a huge amount of wastewater known as palm oil mill effluent (POME)
POME characteristics in Table 3 clearly shows that Pond 2 has the highest value of all parameters due to the presence of high degradable organic matter, which most probably caused by the presence of unrecovered palm oil
Summary
Indonesia and Malaysia are the two largest oil palm producing countries and is rich with numerous endemic, forest-dwelling species. Oil palm currently occupies the largest acreage of farmed land in Malaysia [1]. Palm oil processing in Malaysia annually produces a huge amount of wastewater known as palm oil mill effluent (POME). In the process of palm oil milling, POME is generated through sterilization of fresh oil palm fruit bunches, clarification of palm oil and effluent from hydrocyclone operations [3]. It is estimated that about 0.5 - 0.75 tons of POME are discharged from the mill for every ton of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) [4]. In Malaysia about 53 million m3 POME is being produced every year based on palm oil production since 2005. The challenge of converting POME into an environmental friendly waste requires an efficient treatment and effective disposal
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