Utilising oil palm biomass as an efficient bioadsorbent for treating final discharge of palm oil mill effluent

The abundance of agricultural waste from Malaysia palm oil industry, as the world's second-largest palm oil producer, presents an opportunity to convert it into value-added products. However, the discharge of palm oil mill effluent (POME), a substantial liquid waste, poses a challenge to achieving a sustainable palm oil industry. Treating POME is difficult for palm oil mill owners due to the stringent discharge limits set by the Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia regarding pollutants and colour levels. This study focuses on the utilisation of oil palm kernel shell activated carbon (OPKS-AC), derived from oil palm biomass, as a tertiary treatment for POME final discharge through adsorption. The results indicated a successful reduction of pollutants and colour within the POME final discharge, achieving up to 91% reduction in biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), 87% reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD), 74% reduction in total suspended solids (TSS), and 97% reduction in colour after treatment with OPKS-AC. The isotherm and kinetic analyses demonstrated that OPKS-AC exhibited significant adsorption capabilities for removing pollutants and colour from POME final discharge, making it a promising renewable bioadsorbent alternative to commercial activated carbon. The isotherm data of BOD, COD, TSS, and colour adsorption onto OPKS-AC are fitted well to the Langmuir model with R2=0.996, 0.994, 0.999, and 0.993 and c2=3.964x10-4, 0.034, 7.430x 10-4, and 0.495. Meanwhile, the kinetic adsorption of BOD, COD, TSS, and colour onto OPKSAC can be modelled by using the pseudo-second order (PSO) model, (R2 = 0.991, 0.983, 0.982, and 0.994) and (c2= 0.7x10-4, 0.012, 0.009 and 0.188). In addition to the batch adsorption method, the study explored a continuous adsorption system, which is crucial for assessing the suitability of OPKS-AC as an alternative tertiary treatment for POME management. The continuous adsorption approach offers flexibility for larger-scale experiments and requires less time. Meanwhile, the batch adsorption method helps to understand the adsorption mechanism of adsorbates onto OPKS-AC. Process optimisation was carried out using Design Expert 11.0 software to evaluate the significant operational variables and their interactive effects on pollutant (COD and TSS) and colour removal from POME final discharge. The optimal operational conditions for pollutant and colour removal were determined as a flow rate of approximately 30.31 ml min-1, an adsorbent quantity of 2.13 kg, and a treatment duration of 3.62 hr resulting in optimal removal percentage of 98.05, 98.80, and 99.20% for COD, TSS and colour from POME final discharge, respectively. In conclusion, the use of OPKS-AC as a bioadsorbent for treating POME final discharge offers significant potential for reducing pollutants and colour levels, contributing to the sustainability of the palm oil industry in Malaysia. The continuous adsorption system, in combination with the batch adsorption method, provides valuable insights into the adsorption process and enables optimisation of operational variables for enhanced treatment efficiency

Text 124826.pdf Download (805kB) Official URL or Download Paper: https://ethesis.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/18783

Actions (login required)

View Item