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Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Treatment—Current Technologies, Biogas Capture and Challenges

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Green Technologies for the Oil Palm Industry

Part of the book series: Green Energy and Technology ((GREEN))

Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial supports from Havys Oil Mill Sdn. Bhd. and Eureka Synergy Sdn Bhd for funding the pre-commercialised scale IAAB project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Centre of Sustainable Palm Oil Research (CESPOR), University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia

    Yi Jing Chan & Mei Fong Chong

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  1. Yi Jing Chan
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  2. Mei Fong Chong
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Correspondence to Yi Jing Chan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia

    Dominic C.Y. Foo

  2. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia

    Mustafa Kamal Tun Abdul Aziz

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Chan, Y.J., Chong, M.F. (2019). Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Treatment—Current Technologies, Biogas Capture and Challenges. In: Foo, D., Tun Abdul Aziz, M. (eds) Green Technologies for the Oil Palm Industry. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2236-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2236-5_4

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