Production Biomethane from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) with Truncated Pyramid Digester in Fed Batch System

Abstract

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) production in Indonesia is estimated around 63 million ton/year [1]. Therefore it is a potential source of contamination when it directly discharged into the river. Even though, POME will be as raw resource biogas production. The aims of this research were to know the effect of fermentation time toward biogas production in truncated pyramid digester. The study was done in three combinations of feedstock with POME concentrations of 90, 80, and 70% and activated sludge concentrations of 10, 20, and 30%. A mixture of POME and activated sludge at 6 L/minutes for 30 days were fed into the digester. The result showed the fermentation time gave significant effect toward biogas production in the truncated pyramid digester. All combinations showed the upward trend in the volume of biogas during fermentation. The highest quantity of biomethane in biogas was 25% mol that the active microbes were added to POME in the ratio 1: 9 in a fed-batch system.