Pretreated Palm Oil Mill Effluent Research Articles

Thermophilic biohydrogen production from optimized enzymatic pretreatment of palm oil mill effluent via box-behnken design

The demand for energy is increasing continuously due to the vast developments in many ways of life. Palm oil mill effluent (POME) seems to be a good carbon feedstock for hydrogen generation in fermentation processes. A biological pretreatment was applied to degrade the lignocellulose biomass in the anaerobic digestion process and improve the bioenergy production yield; one of the techniques is to use enzymes. In this study, enzymatic pretreatment was applied to POME to determine the optimum process parameters for producing reducing sugars (RS) to be used as a substrate in biohydrogen production. The Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to construct an experiment to optimize the pretreatment variables, such as reaction time (h), enzyme concentration (% w/v), and pH. The optimum experimental conditions were found to be 12 hr of reaction time, an enzyme concentration of 3.76% w/v, and pH 5. The result showed that POME treated with the optimal enzymatic pretreatment increased the RS content by 182%. Next, thermophilic biohydrogen production using a pretreated substrate was carried out at a temperature of 55 °C, mixing speed of 150 rpm, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) concentration of 29,100 mg/L, seed content of 18.2%, and initial pH 7.14. The biohydrogen production potential (Hmax) was significantly increased by 145% (177 mL H2/g reducing sugar) by using enzymatically pretreated POME as a substrate. This result indicated that the recovery of RS from recalcitrant POME via enzymatic pretreatment could enhance biohydrogen production. Hence, it is a useful proposal for further application in bioenergy conversion from organic waste.

Anaerobic treatment of ultrasound pretreated palm oil mill effluent (POME): microbial diversity and enhancement of biogas production.

In this study, palm oil mill effluent (POME) treated by ultrasonication at optimum conditions (sonication power: 0.88W/mL, sonication duration: 16.2min and total solids: 6% w/v) obtained from a previous study was anaerobically digested at different hydraulic retention times (HRTs). The reactor biomass was subjected to metagenomic study to investigate the impact on the anaerobic community dynamics. Experiments were conducted in two 5 L continuously stirred fill-and-draw reactors R1 and R2 operated at 30 ± 2°C. Reactor R1 serving as control reactor was fed with unsonicated POME with HRT of 15 and 20days (R1-15 and R1-20), whereas reactor R2 was fed with sonicated POME with the same HRTs (R2-15 and R2-20). The most distinct archaea community shift was observed among Methanosaeta (R1-15: 26.6%, R2-15: 34.4%) and Methanobacterium (R1-15: 7.4%, R2-15: 3.2%). The genus Methanosaeta was identified from all reactors with the highest abundance from the reactors R2. Mean daily biogas production was 6.79 L from R2-15 and 4.5 L from R1-15, with relative methane gas abundance of 85% and 73%, respectively. Knowledge of anaerobic community dynamics allows process optimization for maximum biogas production.

Application of artificial neural network to predict water flux from pre-treated palm oil mill effluent using direct contact membrane distillation

Using computational models, engineers and researchers are able to observe the results of their research beyond the range of their tested experimental parameters. Process modelling resembles the approximation behaviour. This paper reports the development of a mathematical model in predicting the water flux from Pre-Treated Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) using Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD). This model allows the identification for the range of feed temperature and feed velocity, in which optimal operating conditions (maximum production of water flux) can be obtained. An artificial neural network (ANN) was selected to predict the production of flux at various temperatures due to its capability to predict any nonlinear system. A multilayer Feedforward Artificial Neural Network (FANN) model consisting of 1 hidden layer with 13 hidden neurons, was developed with three input variables (feed temperature, feed velocity and membrane) and one output (permeate water flux) with 18 experimental data points. The lowest mean square error (MSE) obtained was 0.0034, while the regression coefficient (R) values for training, validation, and testing were 0.9859, 0.9986, and 0.9984, respectively. The most sensitive parameter was the feed temperature compared to feed velocity. The usage of this model may lead to the development of efficient and economical designs for separation processes.

Investigation of the growth of Chlorella vulgaris and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cultivated in pre-treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) as the culture medium

The application of microalgae in wastewater treatment has attracted the attention of researchers since a few decades ago. Palm oil industry is one of the lucrative main exporting industry in Malaysia which has drawn the attention of researchers in mitigating the polluting impacts caused by the palm oil mill effluent (POME) released from the oil palm processing. In this study, the growth of the green algae Chlorella vulgaris and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in the pre-treated POME was studied for 7 continuous days. The number of microalgae cells, chlorophylls and carotenoids contents were monitored throughout the cultivation period. The potential of both strains of microalgae as the water polisher for post-treatment of POME was investigated as well. The findings revealed that both microalgae showed lag phase at the beginning of cultivation and grew exponentially later. When monitoring the chlorophyll content, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b played a role in photosynthesis when the microalgae detected environmental changes. The carotenoids in the microalgae acted as the accessory pigments which assisted in light harvesting under poor light condition and as the antioxidant protecting the cells when there was excess light. C. vulgaris was able to remove 98.1 % of phosphate and 53.1 % of ammoniacal nitrogen while C. reinhardtii removed 90.1 % and 37.3 %, respectively. This study indicated that two microalgae species have a high potential to be integrated in the post-treatment for POME.

Dephenolization of palm oil mill effluent by oil palm fiber-immobilized Trametes hirsuta AK04 in temporary immersion bioreactor for the enhancement of biogas production.

The dephenolization of palm oil mill effluent (POME) with oil palm fiber-immobilized Trametes hirsuta AK 04 was conducted in a temporary immersion bioreactor to reduce the inhibitory effects of phenolics in anaerobic digestion. Longer immersion times provided greater removal of phenolics due to a higher release of manganese peroxidase. The most effective dephenolization was observed at 6 h immersed and 2 h non-immersed time (immersion ratio 6/8) with maximum removal of 85% from 1277 mg L-1 of phenolics in 4 days. The immobilized fungus maintained its high activity during multiple repeated batch treatments. The pretreated POME of 2 h showed higher methane yields compared with the untreated POME substrate. The methane yields increased with increasing pretreatment time and dephenolization levels. The results suggested that an increased abundance of methanogens was associated with the detoxification of phenolics. The fungal biomass contained crude protein, amino acids, and essential phenolics, which can be used as animal feed supplements.

Restoration of pretreated palm oil mill effluent using TiO2 based photocatalytic system: An optimization study

Phenolic compounds found in pretreated palm oil mill effluent (pre-POME) pose severe threat to aquatic ecosystem and human health due to their build-up in the environment and high toxicity. Thus, the removal of phenolic compounds from pre-POME is necessary to preserve environmental quality and protect human health. In this paper, the optimized degradation of phenolic compound, gallic acid (GA) from pre-POME under visible light assisted TiO2 based photocatalysis is reported. TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by chemical precipitation technique followed by characterization with X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectroscopy (DR-UV-Vis) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The effect of process variables such as loading of TiO2 and H2O2 dose on the degradation of GA from pre-POME was investigated and optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD). Spherical shaped anatase phase TiO2 NPs with size 45.47 nm and band gap (Eg) of 3.16 eV were obtained. The results demonstrated that both variables, TiO2 loading and H2O2 dosage showed positive effect on GA degradation. The highest removal of GA from pre-POME (71.20%), from 44.85 ppm of initial concentration was observed for the optimal TiO2 loading of 0.88 g/L, H2O2 dosage of 8.5 wt% and 2 h reaction under visible light irradiation. The use of H2O2 combined with TiO2 NPs indicated a great potential for the removal of GA, which has been pointed out as the major phenolic compounds in pre-POME.

Wet chemically synthesized ZnO structures for photodegradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent and antibacterial activity

Various ZnO structures including spherical-like, hexagonal rod-like, spindle-like and pompon-like structures engineering at different solution pHs were prepared using a facile and surfactant-free reflux fabrication technique. The samples were morphologically and structurally analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–Vis DRS), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The growth mechanism of pompon-like ZnO was delineated by the self-assembly attachment technique. Photoactivities of ZnO samples with varying morphologies were employed for the UV degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) and inactivation of Escherichia coli (E. coli). Especially, pompon-like ZnO synthesized at pH 12 showed excellent photoactivity as compared to those of other three samples. The PL spectra demonstrated that the pompon-like ZnO can efficiently separate the charge carrier. The cyclic and leakage of zinc ion tests showed that the pompon-like ZnO has stable recyclable ability up to five successive runs. Much effort was also emphasized on the ZnO photocatalytic inactivation of E. coli by assessing the antibacterial behaviour, biomolecule leakage and cell destruction assays. The trapping experiments implied that the hydroxyl radicals were the dominant reactive species for both photocatalytic and antibacterial activities. Overall, ZnO catalysts exceled in the distinct potential applications including photocatalysis and antibacterial activities with their tunable structures.

Operation performance of up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) bioreactor for biohydrogen production by self-granulated sludge using pre-treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) as carbon source

Palm oil mill effluent (POME), an agro-industrial wastewater with high solids content, was subject to hydrolysis by 1% (w/v) nitric acid in order to increase its solubility and the fermentable sugar content from its cellulosic component. POME hydrolysate was then evaluated in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) bioreactor for the production of biohydrogen gas via mixed culture under thermophilic conditions. The bioreactor was fed with pre-treated POME under varied hydraulic retention time (HRT) between 48 and 3 h at constant cycle length of 24 h to test the productivity of H2 and the stability of UASB; no washout of biomass occurred at any cycle and the system managed to recover its H2 production rate (HPR) after initial fluctuations. In this study, H2-producing granules (HPGs) were formed shortly after the start-up period, and were analysed by FESEM, FTIR, SEM-EDX, and their extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) content. The maximum HY and HPR achieved were 2.45 mol-H2/mol-sugar and 11.75 LH2/LPOME d−1, respectively, at HRT 6 h. Acetic acid was found to be the major by-product at all HRTs, followed by butyric acid, while Clostridium spp. was found to be the most dominant H2-producing bacteria in the system. Results suggest that UASB has a good potential for stable H2 production with high POME digestion rate.

Photo-oxidation of pre-treated palm oil mill Effluent using cylindrical column immobilized photoreactor

Abstract Photooxidative degradation of pre-treated Palm oil mill effluent for removal of chemical oxygen demand, biological oxygen demand and color by UV/TiO2 system has been investigated in a cylindrical glass photoreactor whose outer surface has been coated with titanium dioxide whereas the UV source has been placed inside the glass tube. The removal of these pollutants indicators has been found to follow pseudo-first-order kinetics and hence the electrical energy per order (EEO) figure-of-merit is used to calculate approximately the electrical energy efficiency of the advanced oxidation process system. The higher dissolved oxygen (10 mg/L), lower initial concentration (6 mg/L) and acidic medium (pH = 3) have been found favorable to the photocatalytic degradation of palm oil mill effluent.

Pretreatment conditions of palm oil mill effluent (POME) for thermophilic biohydrogen production by mixed culture

The availability of fermentable sugars in POME is one of the critical factors that determine the fermentative biohydrogen production yield. This study was carried out to determine the pretreatment conditions viz., temperature, hydrolysis time and acid concentration that can yield the highest monomeric sugars, to be utilized for production of biohydrogen from POME by mixed culture dark fermentation. Two different acids were used, nitric acid and phosphoric acid in the pretreatment of POME. Batch fermentation was performed to determine the potential of pretreated POME as a substrate for the production of biohydrogen under the tested pretreatment conditions. Higher hydrogen yield was successfully achieved using pretreated POME as compared to raw POME by mixed culture. Maximum hydrogen production was 0.181 (mmol/L/h), which corresponded to the yield of 1.24 mol H2/mol glucose achieved at 0.8% (w/v) phosphoric acid with initial total reducing sugar concentration of 18.47 g/L. Hence, the results implied that POME pretreated with 0.8% (w/v) phosphoric acid is a potential substrate for efficient biohydrogen fermentation yield that is 97% higher than untreated POME. While POME pretreated with 1% (w/v) of nitric acid showed 65% improvement in biohydrogen yield as compared to untreated POME. Therefore, the results implied that both pretreatment methods of POME showed significant increase in the biohydrogen production.

Modeling and optimization of photocatalytic treatment of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) in a UV/TiO2 system using response surface methodology (RSM)

This study aimed at the degradation of COD, BOD and Color present in palm oil mill effluent (POME) using UV/TiO2 system. A Statistical tool called face-centered central composite design has been ru...

Removal of phenolic compounds from palm oil mill effluent by thermophilic Bacillus thermoleovorans strain A2 and their effect on anaerobic digestion

Anaerobic digestion is commonly used for the treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) due to its efficiency in removing high organic content with the production of renewable energy in the form of methane. The presence of phenolic compounds in the POME has inhibitory effects on anaerobic bacterial growth. The major POME phenolic compounds were identified as gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, caffeic acid, syringic acid, vanillic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid and phenol. In this study, to reduce their toxicity, pretreatment of POME with the thermophilic phenol-degrading bacteria, Bacillus thermoleovorans strain A2, was performed. The A2 strain was able to aerobically degrade the phenolic compounds over a wide range of temperatures and pH values but the optimum conditions were found at 60 °C and pH 7. The maximum efficiency of the removal of phenolic compounds was 61.1% with a degradation rate of 4.03 mg L−1 h−1. This aerobic pretreatment was able to partially degrade all the individual phenolic compounds but to different extents. Some of the remaining phenolic compounds were further reduced by the anaerobic process. The anaerobic digestion of the aerobically pretreated POME was able to produce a methane yield 1.7–10.8 times higher than that of untreated POME. The results show that the inhibitory effects of phenolic compounds can be detoxified by pretreatment with thermophilic bacteria.

Preparation of titania doped argentum photocatalyst and its photoactivity towards palm oil mill effluent degradation

This paper reports on the photocatalytic degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) over titania loaded with photocatalyst. The argentum loading on the titania was varied from 0.25 to 1.0 wt% via wet-impregnation technique. X-ray diffraction characterization of all the photocatalysts showed that the photo-active rutile phase was still intact after the photocatalyst synthesis. In addition, the UV–Vis diffuse reflectance measurements indicate an improved visible light energy absorption and that the band gap energy was significantly reduced (averaging 2.50 eV) when titania was loaded with argentum, compared to the pristine titania that recorded a reading of 3.20 eV. The 0.50 wt% argentum/titania photocatalyst offered the most effective degradation of pre-treated POME under the irradiation of 100 W of UV light (25.0%) and also visible light (16.0%), respectively, over a loading of 0.2 g/L. Significantly, the maximum photocatalyst loading determined from the current work was 1.0 g/L.

Evaluation of the photocatalytic degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) over Pt-loaded titania

This paper reports the photocatalytic degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) over a Pt-doped titania photocatalyst. Pt loading on the titania was varied from 0.25 to 1.0wt% via alcohol reduction of chloroplatinic acid (H2PtCl6). XRD characterization of the photocatalysts showed that the photo-active anatase phase was still intact after the photocatalyst synthesis while the XPS spectrum confirmed that the deposited Pt was free from the Cl and existed as Pt0 and Pt4+. In addition, the UV–vis diffuse reflectance measurement indicated an improved light energy absorption in the visible light spectrum. Moreover, the band gap energy (3.16–3.17eV) was reduced when titania was doped with Pt, compared to the pristine titania with 3.20eV. The 0.5wt% Pt/TiO2 photocatalyst offered the most effective degradation of pre-treated POME under the irradiation of 100W of UV light (10%) and also visible light (11%), respectively, over a loading of 0.2g/L. Significantly, the maximum 0.5wt% Pt/TiO2 photocatalyst loading determined from the current work was 1.0g/L.

Biohydrogen Production from Palm Oil Mill Effluent Pretreated by Chemical Methods Using Thermoanaerobacterium-Rich Sludge

The effect of alkaline and acid pretreatment on solubilization of solid organic matter in palm oil mill effluent (POME) and hydrogen production by Thermoanaerobacterium-rich sludge was studied. Organic matter solubilization of alkaline and acid pretreatments were increased up to 28 and 15.7% of initial soluble COD in POME, respectively. That corresponds to carbohydrate solubilization of 41 and 32% of initial soluble carbohydrate in POME, respectively. A maximum hydrogen production yield of 4.6 l H /l-POME was achieved 2 from POME pretreated with 1.5% w/v NaOH, which was 3-fold greater than raw POME and 1-fold greater than POME pretreated with 1.5% w/v HCl. Optimum conditions for biohydrogen production from alkaline pretreated POME using Thermoanaerobacterium-rich sludge was found at initial pH 5.5 and temperature of 60°C, which gives a maximum hydrogen production yield of 5.2 l H /l-POME and increased 51% as compared to raw POME. 2 The biogas was mainly composed of hydrogen and carbon dioxide with the percentage of hydrogen ranging from 55-60% of biogas and free of methane. During the conversion of alkaline pretreated POME into hydrogen, the acetic and butyric acids were main by-products in the metabolism. The results showed that alkaline pretreatment is an effective pretreatment methods for enhancing the hydrogen production yield from POME. The use of Thermoanaerobacterium-rich sludge is promising for future engineering practice of biohydrogen production from alkaline pretreated POME.

Ultrasonic pretreatment of palm oil mill effluent: Impact on biohydrogen production, bioelectricity generation, and underlying microbial communities

Substrate bioavailabity is one of the critical factors that determine the relative biohydrogen (bioH2) yield in fermentative hydrogen production and bioelectricity output in a microbial fuel cell (MFC). In the present undertaking, batch bioH2 production and MFC-based biolectricity generation from ultrasonically pretreated palm oil mill effluent (POME) were investigated using heat-pretreated anaerobic sludge as seed inoculum. Maximum bioH2 production (0.7mmolH2/gCOD) and COD removal (65%) was achieved at pH 7, for POME which was ultrasonically pretreated at a dose of 195J/mL. Maximum value for bioH2 productivity and COD removal at this sonication dose was higher by 38% and 20%, respectively, than unsonicated treatments. In batch MFC experiments, the same ultrasound dose led to reduced lag-time in bioelectricity generation with concomitant 25% increase in bioelectricity output (18.3W/m3) and an increase of COD removal from 30% to 54%, as compared to controls. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) tests on sludge samples from batch bioH2 production reflected an abundance of gene fragments coding for both clostridial and thermoanaerobacterial [FeFe]-hydrogenase. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) tests on sludge from MFC experiments showed Clostridium spp. and Thermoanaerobacterium spp. as the dominant microflora. Results suggest the potential of ultrasonicated POME as sustainable feedstock for dark fermentation-based bioH2 production and MFC-based bioelectricity generation.

Kinetics of Biohydrogen Production from Ozonated Palm Oil Mill Effluent Using <i>C. butyricum</i> and <i>C. acetobutylicum</i> Co-Culture

Kinetics of mesophilic biohydrogen production from ozone-pretreated palm oil mill effluent (POME) using C. butyricum and C. acetobutylicum co-culture was investigated. All experiments were setup in 0.5-L batch reactors under mesophilic condition (37°C), pH 6, and POME concentration of 5,000-30,000 mg COD L-1. At the concentration of 15,000 mg COD L-1, maximum hydrogen production yield for non-ozone pretreated POME and ozone pretreated POME were 318 and 122 mL g-1 CODremoved, respectively. Acetic and butyric acids were dominant fermentation products in liquid phase. Ozone-pretreatment of POME showed no significant improvement on the hydrogen production by the co-culture.

The use of pretreated palm oil mill effluent for acetone–butanol–ethanol fermentation by Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) was used as an acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation medium using Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4. Various pretreatment methods were applied on POME to increase the amount of fermentable sugars leading to enhanced ABE production. Sulfuric acid-treated POME (SA-POME) method was found to give the highest yield of total reducing sugars (glucose, cellobiose, xylose, and arabinose) as compared to other pretreatment methods. An increment in the concentration of H2SO4 from 1 to 2% resulted in the enhanced release of reducing sugars (18.3, 26.3 g/L, respectively). However, the treatment of POME with 3% H2SO4, decreased the reducing sugars to 21.6 g/L and consequently, the total ABE production was also reduced. The highest yield of ABE was observed from a culture grown with POME treated by 1% H2SO4. The total ABE production from 1, 2, and 3% SA-POME was obtained as 2.2, 0.45, and 0.41 g/L, respectively. Although, enzymatically treated POME (EH-POME) could produce 4.42 g/L glucose, sulfuric acid treatment (1%) was able to liberate only 1.76 g/L glucose, ABE production was higher when 1% SA-POME was used. Low yield of ABE from enzymatically treated POME can be attributed to the production of some inhibitors during hydrolysis of POME. When EH-POME was treated with XAD-4 resin to nullify the inhibitors, the production of ABE was increased to 4.29 g/L, and ABE yield was also increased to 0.29 g/g. In conclusion, enzymatic hydeolysis of POME followed by elution to XAD-4 column can be proposed as the best pretreatment method for highest productivity of ABE. It was found that addition of P2 medium to the POME hydrolysates was able to improve the production of butanol except in raw POME and sulfuric acid hydrolysates.

Optimization of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent digestion in an up-flow anaerobic sludge fixed film bioreactor: A comparative study

An up-flow anaerobic sludge fixed film (UASFF) bioreactor was used to treat physically and chemically pre-treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) under different operating conditions. In physical pre-treatment, POME was pre-settled for 2 h and the supernatant was fed to the reactor. In chemical pre-treatment, optimum dosages of a cationic and an anionic polymer were used. Experiments of pre-treated POME digestion were conducted based on a central composite face-centered design (CCFD) with two independent operating variables, feed flow rate ( Q F) and up-flow velocity ( V up). The operating variables were varied to cover a wide range of organic loading rates (OLR) from 3.8 to 29 g COD/(l d). Six dependent parameters were either directly measured or calculated as response. These parameters were total COD (TCOD) removal, effluent pH, effluent total volatile fatty acid (TVFA), effluent bicarbonate alkalinity (BA), methane yield ( Y M), and solids retention time (SRT). The performance of the reactor was compared for the pre-settled and chemically pre-treated POME. The chemical pre-treatment approach was shown to be more predictable, reliable and practical as the sludge produced was very compressible and was easy to separate. At a comparable range of Q F and V up, the pre-settled POME yielded slightly better reactor performance in terms of COD removal (%), bicarbonate alkalinity and methane yield. At an OLR of about 16.5 g COD/(l d), higher COD removal efficiency (90–94%) was achieved compared to that of the chemically pre-treated POME (82–88%) despite about 33% of organics in the pre-settled POME was contributed by suspended solids. The optimum conditions for digestion of the pre-settled and chemically pre-treated POME were determined as Q F of 1.65 l/d, V up of 0.6 and Q F of 2.45 l/d, V up of 0.75, respectively. The experimental findings were in close agreement with the model prediction.

Mathematical modeling of multiple solutes system for reverse osmosis process in palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment

Abstract A membrane transport model suitable for the multiple solutes system in reverse osmosis is developed for unsteady-state simulation and prediction of membrane filtration dynamics in terms of permeate flux and concentration of each solute. This model is based on coupling the concentration polarization model using unsteady-state differential material balance and extended Spiegler-Kedem model. This model is characterized by the parameters solute diffusivity in the concentration polarization layer (Dbi), reflection coefficient (σi), osmotic constant (ai), hydraulic permeability constant (Lp), mass transfer coefficient (ki) and solute permeability coefficient (Pii). These parameters are estimated by using the Levenberg–Marquardt method coupled with the Gauss–Newton algorithm using the experimental data. The experimental data were obtained from the treatment of pretreated palm oil mill effluent (POME) as a feed in the pilot plant scale reverse osmosis system. The pretreated POME composed of a ternary system with the solutes of carbohydrate constituents, protein and ammoniacal nitrogen. The simulation results show a good agreement with the experimental data. The proposed model is suitable for predicting the performance of multiple solutes in a reverse osmosis process. The concentration of each solute present is correlated with the COD of the permeate stream.