Treatment of Palm Oil Mill Effluent Using Fenugreek Coagulant and Aloe-Vera Gel Flocculant

Abstract

POME is regarded as the largest pollution contributor to the nation’s rivers. Plant based coagulant and flocculant can be utilised to treat POME. In this study, fenugreek seeds and aloe vera gel were utilized as a natural coagulant and flocculant respectively for the treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME). Jar tests were carried out to study the effects of pH and coagulant-flocculant dosage on the removal efficiencies of turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Optimum conditions obtained for maximum removals were pH 4, 30 g coagulant dosage and 20 mL flocculant dosage. It was found that the highest removal efficiencies of turbidity, TSS and COD are 82.78, 83.08 and 32.06 %, respectively. Results of the study shows that fenugreek and aloe vera gel are effective natural substitutes for the treatment of POME.