Treating palm oil mill effluent (POME): Opportunities, challenges, and sustainable practices

Globally, 45 million metric tonnes of palm oil has been produced in 2009. The production of 1 t crude palm oil requires 5 t of fresh fruit bunches (FFB). On average, processing of 1 t FFB in palm oil mills generates 230 kg empty fruit bunches (EFB) and 650 kg palm oil mill effluent (POME) as residues. These residues cause considerable environmental burdens, particularly greenhouse gas emissions. In order to reduce those emissions, four waste management options are compared in the present study using 1,000 kg of FFB as functional unit. A detailed life cycle model has been used to calculate the environmental impacts of POME and EFB treatment. The options under investigation are: (1) dumping EFB and storing POME and ponds, (2) returning EFB to the plantation and POME as before, (3) using EFB and POME for co-composting and returning the produced compost to the plantation, (4) generating biogas from POME and thereafter as in (3). The CML 2001 method included in the GABI 4.3 software package has been used for the impact calculations. Sensitivity analysis has been carried out in order to estimate the influence of good and poor management practice on the environmental performance. The main contributor to the GWP is methane from POME and EFB dumping. The GWP of palm oil mill waste treatment can be reduced from 245 kg CO2eq per ton FFB to up to 5 kg CO2eq per ton FFB due to reduced methane emissions and nutrient recycling. Co-composting of POME and EFB leads to considerable nutrient recovery, in addition to GWP reduction. Thus, the composting process reduces not only environmental burdens; it also leads to net environmental benefit regarding most environmental impact categories, e.g., acidification potential, eutrophication potential, ozone layer depletion potential, etc. due to the avoided emissions from inorganic fertilizer production. The recovery of nutrients in EFB can be achieved by solely returning it to the plantation, but only the combined treatment of EFB and POME allows nutrient recovery from POME while methane emissions from pond systems are avoided simultaneously. The fermentation of POME to produce biogas reduces environmental burdens when operating under best practice conditions. However, fugitive biogas emissions of more than 2% reverse that beneficial effect. A life-cycle-based comparison of conventional and advanced treatment systems for EFB and POME can support decision makers regarding waste treatment options and provide information on technology risks involved. The results of this study may be used as basic calculation data for clean development mechanism for palm oil mills. LCA is shown to be a powerful tool to estimate and compare environmental impacts of different options. Unfortunately, it is rarely used in the palm oil industry in order to improve or optimize palm oil production systems. This study has shown that nutrient recovery from POME and EFB offers considerable environmental and economic benefits to palm oil production systems. However, using EFB for energy production, as it is discussed and realized by some palm oil mills, prohibits environmental beneficial POME utilization. Best waste management practice reduces emissions at palm oil mills and consequently the carbon footprint of palm oil products. Co-composting of EFB and POME, with or without prefermentation of POME in a biogas plant, is a profitable way to use the nutrients from both POME and EFB.

The palm oil industry is one of the agro-based industries that has a high contribution to the global economy, including Malaysia.However, there is a negative impact on the environment caused by palm oil production, which results in high waste pollution known as palm oil mill effluent (POME).A common practice for the palm oil industry regarding the POME treatment is using conventional coagulant and flocculant agents due to their effectiveness and affordable cost.However, high usage of agents in wastewater treatment can threaten human and environmental health, such as air and soil pollution, water pollution, and disease transmission.The palm oil industry also produces other waste such as oil palm mesocarp (OPM) and oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) which have the potential to be utilized due to their existence of a hydroxyl group in cellulose and lignin.Therefore, this study provides a novel approach by utilizing naturally occurring functional groups in OPM-OPEFB to facilitate pollutant removal in POME as sustainable natural coagulants-flocculants.The effective treatment of POME is critical for reducing its environmental footprint, given the high organic content and large quantities generated by the palm oil industry.This study demonstrates the ability of these biopolymers to achieve significant reductions in turbidity and suspended solids, aligning with the principles of green chemistry.The effectiveness of lignocellulose biomass in enhancing coagulation-flocculation, offering a sustainability alternative to conventional chemical coagulants.For the coagulationflocculation treatment of POME, jar tests were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the process.The parameters measured for the untreated and treated POME are pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), turbidity (TUR), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), and ammoniacal nitrogen (AN).Removal efficiencies of pH, TUR, KeywordsPalm oil mill effluent (POME), Oil palm mesocarp(OPM), Palm oil empty fruit bunch (POEFB), coagulation-flocculation Int.Journal of Integrated Engineering Vol. 17 No. 1 (2025) p. 278-288 279 BOD, TSS, and AN were 7.39%, 41.28%, 53.14%, 62.69%, and 30.56% respectively for OPM-OPEFB.Results obtained from characterization show that the coagulation-flocculation mechanism was ruled by the existence of a hydroxyl group and hydrogen bond in cellulose and lignin that increase the rate of absorption and bonding.OPM-OPEFB demonstrates the potential to lower the organic contaminants.Therefore, optimizing contact time and coagulant dosage may enhance the effectiveness of the removal of organic pollutant in the POME.

Investigation of struvite crystals formed in palm oil mill effluent anaerobic digester

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current condition of palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment and utilization and to propose alternative scenarios to improve the sustainability of palm oil industries. The research was conducted through field survey at some palm oil mills in Indonesia, in which different waste management systems were used. Laboratory experiment was also carried out using a 5 m(3) pilot-scale wet anaerobic digester. Currently, POME is treated through anaerobic digestion without or with methane capture followed by utilization of treated POME as liquid fertilizer or further treatment (aerobic process) to fulfill the wastewater quality standard. A methane capturing system was estimated to successfully produce renewable energy of about 25.4-40.7 kWh/ton of fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by about 109.41-175.35 kgCO2e/tonFFB (CO2e: carbon dioxide equivalent). Utilization of treated POME as liquid fertilizer increased FFB production by about 13%. A palm oil mill with 45 ton FFB/hour capacity has potential to generate about 0.95-1.52 MW of electricity. Coupling the POME-based biogas digester and anaerobic co-composting of empty fruit bunches (EFBs) is capable of adding another 0.93 MW. The utilization of POME and EFB not only increases the added value of POME and EFB by producing renewable energy, compost, and liquid fertilizer, but also lowers environmental burden.

Bibliometric insights into palm oil mill effluent treatment by coagulation-flocculation: Research trends and future directions

Adoption of TiO2-photocatalysis for palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) and its practicality against traditional treatment in Malaysia

With the growing volume of palm oil production, palm oil mill effluent (POME) is an inevitable by-product that causes serious environmental hazards if discharged directly to the environment. This is mainly due to its high concentrations of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Note however that, with its high organic content, POME is a great source for biogas production. Therefore, POME pollution abatement coupled with biogas capture and utilisation are vital in order to promote sustainable development goal for the palm oil industry. Conventionally, POME is treated by employing open ponding system without capturing biogas released from the anaerobic process. This treatment system is inefficient, requires large footprint, long hydraulic retention time (HRT) and is unable to consistently comply with the proposed stringent BOD regulatory limit of 20 mg/L to be imposed by Department of Environment (DOE). Hence, the current POME treatment trend is gearing towards biogas capture technology and integrated POME treatment system with the ultimate aim of achieving zero discharge concept in the palm oil mill. This can be achieved by integrating several bioprocesses, with the aim to transform POME into value-added products. This chapter will discuss the current POME treatment and biogas capture technologies, as well as to identify issues and challenges faced by the palm oil miller which deters the development of biogas plants in the mill. Development of biogas from POME will no doubt contribute substantially in Malaysia’s renewable energy sector in the near future.

Malaysian economy relies on palm oil industries as a driver for rural development.However, palm oil mill effluent (POME) that is generated from palm oil processing stages causes major environmental challenges.Before being released to the environment, POME treatment is crucial to comply with standard discharge limit.Microalgae have demonstrated excellent potential for phycoremediating POME and capturing CO 2 .In this study, local microalgae isolate such as Chlamydomonas sp.UKM 6 and Chlorella spp.UKM 8 were used for POME treatment in 21 days with different inoculum sizes (5%, 10% and 15%).In addition, an integrated treatment process was performed by taking the treated POME supernatant for cultivation of Chorella spp.UKM 2, Chorella sorokiniana UKM 3 and Chlorella vulgaris for CO 2 sequestration study.Different CO 2 concentrations (5%, 10% and 15%) were used and the experiments were carried out in 10 days under continuous illumination.The results showed that among two species involves in POME treatment, Chlamydomonas sp.UKM 6 showed a great potential to remove pollutant such as COD (56%), nitrogen (65%) and phosphorus (34%).The biomass after POME treatment and CO 2 biofixation content high lipid (90 mg lipid/g biomass) which can be the potential source for biodiesel production.In CO 2 sequestration study, C. sorokininana UKM3 able to takes up to 15% CO 2 with CO 2 uptake rate of 273 mgL -1 d -1 .In this study, the integrated system of POME treatment and CO 2 sequestration were feasible using microalgae.

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is wastewater generated by palm oil milling. Due to its extremely polluting qualities, it must be treated before being discharged into the water course. This study was aimed to evaluate the bacterial growth of raw and treated POME as well as identifying indigenous microorganisms by determining the morphological characteristics of bacteria that were found in the POME. The bacterial growth was identified by bacterial enumeration of colony forming units (CFU). Besides, the morphological identification of bacteria was determined by using gram staining. The results show the best bacterial growth curve is from serial dilution factor of 10-6 with a total of 2.24 x 10-6 CFU/mL in raw POME and optimum growth on day seven. While for the treated POME, the total is 1.97 x 10-6 CFU/mL and recorded the optimum growth on day ten of incubation. The growth curve indicates the number of colonies in raw POME is higher than treated POME. It concluded that treated POME still has the bacteria although it has been treated. Apart from that, from the morphological identification by gram staining, the bacteria were Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Micrococcus luteus. From a gram staining, this research obtained all gram positive in purple colour from the POME samples. Two of them in treated POME were in Bacillus shape while the other two from raw and treated POME were in coccus shape, respectively.

Pollution control technologies for the treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) through end-of-pipe processes

Palm oil agricultural and industry activities generate a great amount of by product, known as palm oil mills effluent (POME). The treatment conducted using membrane bioreactor has successfully removed the heavy organic component of POME but the water that remains still contain colour as its by product. This paper proposed the use of a simple silent discharge ozonizer in colour removal of treated palm oil mill effluent (POME). The ozonizer chamber was developed from a simple planar metal dielectric barrier discharge construction. A simple high frequency power converter as power supply to the chamber was designed based on resonance phenomena. This power supply converted a direct current low voltage input into high frequency and high sinusoidal voltage output. This high voltage created micro electrical discharges inside chamber to generate ozone from oxygen molecules. At normal atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature, this ozonizer produced ozone concentration up to 1800 ppm. Ozone in a certain concentration was injected into the treated POME water through a diffuser for several minutes. As the result, the colour of treated POME water has successfully changed from 100 mg/l Pt. Co into 40 mg/l Pt. Co or lower. Visually, water colour below 40mg/l Pt. Co is considered clear. Extended the time of ozone treatment upto 15 minute has successfully reach colour abatement below 15 mL/l Pt. Co which accords to World Health Organiation (WHO) recommendation for Colour in drinking water.

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is one of the major sources of water pollution in Malaysia. POME is produced in large volumes by many palm oil mills and has acidic pH and high concentrations of COD, BOD, and suspended solids, which have adverse effect to the environment. Currently, the technology to treat POME is either physical, chemical, or biological. About 80% of palm oil mills treat their POME by using biological method. Recent studies have indicated that understanding the microbial community structure is of great importance to improve and control the biological treatment performance. Currently, the most popular molecular biology tools for microorganism community analysis are fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), cloning of 16S rDNA, and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). This chapter aims to review the current and ongoing treatments of POME (mainly anaerobic, aerobic, physicochemical, and membrane separation) and discuss the potential of using the molecular biology techniques in POME treatment. The importance and effectiveness of the microbiology tools are also discussed. The ability to monitor microorganisms and understand their ecology is essential to effectively control the startup and operation of biological treatment system in treating POME and eventually producing effluent of acceptable quality.

Feasibility of palm oil mill effluent elimination towards sustainable Malaysian palm oil industry

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) in palm oil industry has become a big issue of environmental pollution to be solved urgently and critically. This wastewater consists of water, oil, and natural sediments. Hence, in this study, the work was carried out to investigate ultrafiltration process feasibility for treating palm oil mill effluent. Palm kernel shell bioactivated carbon (PKS-AC) adsorbent was used in adsorption treatment (pre-treatment) was used to reduced solid particles in POME. For adsorption treatment, POME was stirred with 0.20 g/L of PKS-AC at 39.94 minute and sediment for one hour. Membrane separation was subsequently applied to further treat the pre-treated POME. In this study, the permeate flux was found to be dependent to pressure applied, solution pH and stirring speed. An optium conditions was achieved at pressure 2 bar, with solution pH 8 using stirring speed 600 rpm. Considerable amount of POME pollutant is also reduced by used membrane for TS, DS, SS, BOD5, COD and turbidity were 625.32 mg/L, 445.32 mg/L, 180 mg/L, 1296 mg/L, 541.76 mg/L, and 16.20 NTU respectively. Thus, this result show that the pollutant in POME was reduced significantly using this technique.

Due to rapid growth in population and societal development, the demand for energy is on the increase. The production of palm oil as one of the major edible oils consumed in the world has increased tremendously. Palm oil mill effluent (POME), a wastewater from the most significant agricultural industry is produced in tremendous amounts that requires proper management to mitigate its negative environmental effects. Studies have shown that Palm oil mill effluent (POME) possesses the properties of a good carbon feedstock for hydrogen generation in fermentation processes. In this study, several methods for biohydrogen production from Palm oil mill effluent (POME) were discussed. An apprehension into the different pre-treatment methods on POME including physicochemical, chemical and biological and their effects on the characteristics of POME including pH, temperature, sugar content, solid content, viscosity, nutrients and by-product toxicity on the biohydrogen production and effluent quality were reviewed. Various bioreactor designs were used for biohydrogen from POME, the modifications applied on the system design to increase the stability and productivity of POME treatment have been examined. The individual and interactive effects of pH, different temperatures of heat treatment, different inoculum sizes and substrate concentrations on biohydrogen production were discussed. Moreover, higher biohydrogen productivity could be obtained with the addition of nanoparticle nutrients and introducing genetically modified H2-producing bacteria. Finally, further investigation in the future shall focus on the development of a more inclusive and efficient POME treatment via DF process that favours biohydrogen production, environmental benign and economically viable.