Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Palm Oil Mill Waste Residues with Sewage Sludge for Biogas Production

Abstract

Empty fruit bunches (EFB), palm oil mill effluent (POME), sewage chemical sludge and sewage biological sludge were evaluated for methane production under liquid-state anaerobic digestion (L-AD) and solid-state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD). The highest methane yield of 456 mL CH4 g-1VS was achieved from co-digestion POME with sewage chemical sludge at a ratio of 99:1 under L-AD. The highest methane yield of 18 mL CH4 g-1VS was achieved from co-digestion EFB with sewage chemical sludge at a ratio of 95:5 and EFB with sewage biological sludge at a ratio of 95:5 under SS-AD. An increasing of sewage sludge content of 6-42% in both AD systems resulted in decreasing of methane yield. The L-AD system has 2-3 times higher volumetric methane productivity than the SS-AD system. The electricity production from 1-tonne a mixture of POME and sewage chemical sludge or sewage biological sludge would be 218 MJ or 60 kWh of electricity. Anaerobic co-digestion POME with sewage sludge has great potential for biogas production.