Zero discharge treatment technology of palm oil mill effluent (POME)

In palm oil milling, the treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) is very critical to conserve the environment due to the emissions of biogas from POME and the concern on quality of the final discharge to the watercourse. Department of Environment (DOE) has set a very stringent discharge standards i.e. BOD 20ppm for POME final discharge especially in Sabah, Sarawak and other environmental sensitive areas. The current BOD requirement is 100ppm which most of the mills consistently achieved. Whilst the present tertiary treatment technologies are able to meet the regulatory watercourse discharge standards of 1OOppm when they are managed and operated optimally, most of the technologies do not meet 100% compliance onBOD 20ppm. Due to the increasing pressure introduced by DOE, oil palmindustry is forced to investigate a wide range of approaches for the treatment of POME. In this context, the innovative approach towards zero-effluent discharge or zero-emissions will enable problem free mill operation. Judging the vast potential of this technology in the near future, a collaboration between Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Ronser Bio-Tech Sdn. Bhd. and Shanghai Jiaotong University has been initiated to provide a more economical and environmental friendly treatment through anaerobic digestion and aerobic treatment. The environmental impact of POME cannot be overemphasized; hence the need for treatment measures to reduce these impacts before discharge. AnaEG™ and BioAX™ are the state-of-art technology for treatment of both organic and biological wastes. This treatment technology has been successfully used for treatment of domestic waste (sewage) and other industrial waste. Therefore this paper reviews the key benefits of this treatment technology which claims to provide a friendly and healthy environment besides contributing as one of the solutions associating with POME environmental impacts. On top of that, this effective treatment ofPOME is able to yield useful products such as methane (biogas), organic fertilizers and animal feeds.