Large volumes of untreated palm oil mill effluent (POME) pose threat to aquatic environment due to the presence of very high organic content. The present investigation involved two pilot-scale anaerobic expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactors, continuously operated for 1 year to treat POME. Setting HRT at 9.8 d, the anaerobic EGSB reactors reduced COD from 71179 mg/L to 12341 mg/L and recycled half of sludge by a dissolved air flotation (DAF). The average effluent COD was 3587 mg/L with the consistent COD removal efficiency of 94.89%. Adding cationic polymer (PAM) dose of 30 mg/L to DAF unit and recycling its half of sludge caused granulation of anaerobic sludge. Bacilli and small coccid bacteria were the dominant microbial species of the reactor. The reactor produced 27.65 m3 of biogas per m3 of POME which was utilized for electricity generation.
Palm oil is one of the most important agroindustries in Malaysia. Huge quantities of palm oil mill effluent (POME) pose a great threat to aqueous environment due to its very high COD. To make full use of discharged wastes, the integrated “zero discharge” pilot-scale industrial plant comprising “pretreatment-anaerobic and aerobic process-membrane separation” was continuously operated for 1 year. After pretreatment in the oil separator tank, 55.6% of waste oil in raw POME could be recovered and sold and anaerobically digested through 2 AnaEG reactors followed by a dissolved air flotation (DAF); average COD reduced to about 3587 mg/L, and biogas production was 27.65 times POME injection which was used to generate electricity. The aerobic effluent was settled for 3 h or/and treated in MBR which could remove BOD3 (30°C) to less than 20 mg/L as required by Department of Environment of Malaysia. After filtration by UF and RO membrane, all organic compounds and most of the salts were removed; RO permeate could be reused as the boiler feed water. RO concentrate combined with anaerobic surplus sludge could be used as biofertilizer.
Several wastewater treatments, including direct ozonation and a combination of ozonation with either slow sand filtration, dissolved air flotation, or diatomaceous earth (DE) filtration, were tested for their ability to recondition broiler process waters. The quality of broiler prechiller overflow water was significantly improved with all wastewater treatments examined, surpassing the USDA's recycling requirements in nearly all trials. A combination of screening, DE filtration, and ozonation yielded the highest quality water. With this treatment, significant reductions in chemical oxygen demand, total solids, and the total microbial load including conform bacteria and salmonellae of 87, 65, and 99.9%, respectively, were detected in the reconditioned prechiller water. Percentage of light transmission at 500 nm (%T) of treated water increased to 97 % of tap water and compared favorably with %T of potable water. This same water treatment was tested on final carcass rinse and neck chiller overflow waters. The quality of these treated waters was also significantly improved. It was concluded that poultry process waters could be effectively reconditioned for recycling by screening, DE filtration, and ozonation. Furthermore, wastewater organic loads discharged to wastewater treatment facilities can be effectively reduced through these reconditioning practices. (
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