Sustainable Approach Of Recycling Palm Oil Mill Effluent Using Integrated Biofilm Membrane Filtration System For

Internal Plant Usage

Student : Sajjad Khudhur Abbas P81540 Supervisor: Dr. Teow Yeit HaanCo-supervisor: Prof. Abdul Wahab bin Mohammad

Research Title

By

In Malaysia, oil palm is a very significant crop. In the worldwide, the biggest palm oil exporter and producer is Indonesia and Malaysia is the 2nd exporter and producer. the production of crude palm oil (CPO) was increased significantly from 92,000 tonnes in year 1960 to 17.6 million tonnes in year 2009, The process to extract the palm oil needs massive and huge water quantity to sterilize the fresh fruit bunches (FFB) and clarify the extracted oil.

Palm Oil Production

Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)

95-96% of water

0.6-0.7% of oil

2-4% of suspended solids

POME highest sources

Clarifier sludge

hydro cyclone

sterilizer condensation

POME impact

)Ma A. N., 2000 (

)Singh G. a., 1999 (

the stocks of local fish in lakes and rivers are declining

bathing and water sources turned into

brown colour smelt foul

Fresh POME

Acidic Colloidal Suspension

Hot

Brownish

High Solids Amount (40,000 mg/l)

COD (50,000 mg/l)

BOD (25,000 mg/l) ref

Parameter Parameter limits (second schedule)

Unit

Ammonia nitrogen 20 mg/lOil and grease 10 mg/lSuspended solids 100 mg/lChemical oxygen demand (COD)

200 mg/l

Biochemical Oxygen demand (BOD, 3 days, 30 °C)

50 mg/l

POME discharge Standards

ACCEPTABLE CONDITIONS OF Effluent DISCHARGE OF STANDARDS

refDOE

Problem Statement

Briefly, the highly polluted wastewater is causing a severe pollution to the :

Waterways

Aquatic Habitats Impacted Human Health

Affected Aquatic Life

POME biological treatment (by media) ‘ the process’

Swimming

Attachment EPS

Feeding

Decomposition

Treatment Process

Biofilm treatment has many advantages compared to conventional POME treatment methods such as :

Features

Resilience To The Environmental Changes

Reduced Hydraulic Retention Time

Low Space Required

Flexibility In The Treatment Operation

ref(Lazarova V. a., 2000)

Biofilm

Complex

Structured Community Of Micro-organism Cells

Densely Crowded

Adhered To Surface

ref(Takriff, 2014)

the feasibility of integrated

biofilm treatment/membrane

filtration process in producing

recyclable and reusable water.

Objectives

To investigate :

the optimum operating

conditions of biofilm

treatment.

Employing biofilm bacteria to treat POME to gain high treatment

efficiency and producing treated POME with possible low COD range.

Scope

Media

Characteristics Black Media Hexafilter MediaAppearance

Material Polypropylene Polyethylene

Density (kg/m3) 0.888 1.034

Specific surface area (m2/m3) 450 320

Surface area (mm2) 1400 1460

Mass (g) 0.654 1.034

Height (mm) 10 12

Process overflow

Biofilm Acclimatization

POME Biological Treatment

Membrane Treatment

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 270

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000COD vs Time

COD 'hexafilter' COD 'Black'

Time (Day)

CO

D (m

g/L

)

% reduction Day Hexafilter Black media

1 0% 0%3 44% 46%5 48% 50%7 53% 55%9 56% 56%11 63% 56%13 67% 56%15 67% 58%17 63% 60%19 64% 62%21 64% 63%23 63% 63%25 67% 55%27 67% 55%

Biofilm Acclimatization

COD vs Time

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 270.000

0.002

0.004

0.006

0.008

0.010

0.012

0.014

0.016 MLSS vs Time

Hexafilter Black media

Time (Day)

ML

SS (

gm)

% Reduction Day Hexafilter Black media1 0% 0%3 (+) 24% (+)8%5 19% 13%7 46% 28%9 68% 50%11 72% 51%13 75% 55%15 78% 65%17 73% 74%19 70% 73%21 75% 75%23 80% 76%25 73% 81%27 74% 83%

Biofilm Acclimatization

MLSS vs Time

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 270

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000Turbidity vs Time

HexafilterBlack media

Time (day)

Tur

bidi

ty (N

TU

)

% Reduction Day Hexafilter Black media

1 0% 0%3 70% 73%5 82% 77%7 91% 80%9 95% 84%11 96% 90%13 97% 92%15 97% 95%17 97% 97%19 96% 97%21 97% 98%23 97% 98%25 98% 99%27 98% 99.5%

Biofilm Acclimatization

Turbidity vs Time

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 270

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Ammonia range vs Time

HexafilterBlack media

Time (Day)

NH

3-N

(mg/

L)

% ReductionDay Hexafilter Black media1 0% 0%3 64% 66%5 68% 70%7 70% 73%9 75% 76%11 77% 78%13 77% 78%15 79% 82%17 80% 84%19 88% 91%21 88% 90%23 89% 89%25 91% 92%27 91% 94%

Biofilm Acclimatization Ammonia vs Time

Parameters Unit ValueCOD mg\l 4310Turbidity NTU 879.7pH mg\l 5.681MLSS gm 0.011Ammonia mg\l 380Temperature °C 25.1Dissolved oxygen mg\l 0.88TSS mg\l 4000

  Hexafilter Black mediaProperties 24 hr. 48 hr. 72 hr. 24 hr. 48 hr. 72 hr.COD 2150 1740 2320 2480 2340 1860TSS 230 370 200 170 440 340MLSS 0.0032 0.0053 0.0036 0.0037 0.0054 0.004DO 0.6 0.77 0.95 0.86 0.59 0.74Ammonia 410 477 475 228 215 289Turbidity 98.6 137 69.33 90.65 168 113.52pH 7.149 5.791 6.125 7.959 6.957 6.003

Biological Treatment Stage

High COD range

Before

After

Parameters Unit ValueCOD mg\l 1450Turbidity NTU 87.9pH mg\l 8.021MLSS gm 0.006Ammonia mg\l 101Temperature °C 25.7Dissolved oxygen mg\l 2.03TSS mg\l 290

  Hexafilter Black mediaProperties 24 hr. 48 hr. 72 hr. 24 hr. 48 hr. 72 hr.COD 760 1130 850 690 910 1040TSS 140 420 405 340 470 410MLSS 0.0031 0.0025 0.0025 0.0035 0.0026 0.0032DO 1.88 2.49 2.71 2.38 1.79 2.57Ammonia 93 100 107 102 86 93Turbidity 140 122 93 130 111 76pH 7.258 7.422 7.651 7.654 7.973 7.855

Biological Treatment Stage

Low COD range

Before

After

Properties\Technology Value UnitsCOD 923 mg/lTSS 409.5 mg/lMLSS 0.003 mg/lDO 2.6 mg/lAmmonia 98 mg/lTurbidity 80 NTUpH 7.81 -

Properties\Technology Value Standards UnitsCOD 19 200 mg/lTSS 0 100 mg/lMLSS 0.0003 - mg/lDO 4.44 - mg/lAmmonia 1.19 20 mg/lTurbidity 0.381 - NTUpH 6.473 - -

Membrane Treatment Stage

Before

After

Black Media

Biofilm carriers at the 2nd day of the bacteria growth

stage

Bacteria growth after 15 days at the media surface

Bacteria growth after one month at the media surface

Footages from different sections

Footage (Black Media)

Hexafilter Media

Biofilm carriers at the 2nd day of the

bacteria growth stage

Bacteria growth after 15 days at the media surface

Bacteria growth after one month at the media surface

Footages from different sections

Footage (Black Media)

Footage (Treated POME samples )

Discussion

Acclimatization duration

Biofilm Media

Biological Treatment duration

NANO membrane

CONCLUSION

surface area

crimpy surface

narrow corners

Mixing

Moisture

NF membrane

Points

1. Series reactors 2. Sedimentation system 3. Catalyst 4. Fixed temperature5. Deep reactor for biofilm growth stage 6. Short depth reactor for POME treatment stage7. Closed system8. Treatment age not longer than 24 hours 9. Using media with high surface area

Recommendations

Using :

Q & A

Thank You