Abstract
Abstract The direct discharge of palm oil mill effluent (POME) wastewater causes serious environmental hazards due to its high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand. This paper proposes a new approach for integrated technology of ultrasonic membrane for a POME treatment. The paper evaluated the economic viability based on the changes of the new design of ultrasonic membrane anaerobic system (UMAS) when a POME introduces this approach. Six steady states were attained as a part of a kinetic study that considered concentration ranges of 13,800–22,600 mg/L for mixed liquor suspended solids and 10,400–17,350 mg/L for mixed liquor volatile suspended solids. Kinetic equations from Monod, Contois and Chen and Hashimoto were employed to describe the kinetics of POME treatment at organic loading rates ranging from 1 to 15 kg COD/m3/d. throughout the experiment, the removal efficiency of COD was from 92.8 to 98.3% with hydraulic retention time from 500.8 to 8.6 days. The growth yield coefficient, Y, was found to be 0.73 gVSS/g COD, the specific microorganism decay rate was 0.28 day–1 and the methane gas yield production rate was between 0.27 and 0.62 L/g COD/d.
Highlights
The palm oil industry has grown tremendously in recent years and accounts for the largest percentage of oil and fat production in the world ( Jundika et al )
This indicates that the long Solid retention time (SRT) of ultrasonic membrane anaerobic system (UMAS) facilitated the decomposition of the suspended solids and their subsequent conversion to methane (CH4); this conclusion is supported by Abdurahman et al ( ) and Nagano et al ( )
palm oil mill effluent (POME) is always regarded as a highly polluting wastewater generated from palm oil mills; reutilization of POME to generate renewable energies has great potential, Figure 11 | Gas production and methane content
Summary
The palm oil industry has grown tremendously in recent years and accounts for the largest percentage of oil and fat production in the world ( Jundika et al ). Over the last few decades, the palm oil industry has been growing rapidly. Palm oil has risen to become the most produced and consumed vegetable oil in the world, widely used in food, cosmetic and hygienic products due to its affordable price, efficient production and high oxidative stability ( Jundika et al ). The industry continues to generate huge revenues for the producing countries.
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