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Aerobic Post-treatment of Different Anaerobically Digested Palm Oil Mill

Effluent (POME)

Article  in  International Journal of Environmental Science and Development · January 2016

DOI: 10.18178/ijesd.2016.7.7.830

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 International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 7, No. 7, July 2016

Aerobic Post-treatment of Different Anaerobically

Digested Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)
Kian Weng Chou, Siew Wei Tan, Norhashimah Morad, Teng Tjoon Tow, Mohd Omar Abdul Kadir,
and Norli Ismail

 thermophilic temperature feasible. Both mesophilic and

Abstract—This study presents an investigation of the effect of thermophilic anaerobic digestion of POME using different
aerobic post-treatment on different anaerobically digested palm treatment system were extensively investigated [1]. Generally,
oil mill effluent (POME) using lab scale aerobic digesters.
thermophilic digestion able to tolerate hogher organic loading
Anaerobically digested POME was collected from anaerobic
digesters operated at room temperature, mesophilic and and to produce more methane compared to mesophilic
thermophilic conditions, respectively. The experimental results digestion.
showed the performance of each aerobic digester in term of Conversely, there is insufficient of literature regarding the
chemical oxygen demand (COD), biodegradation rate, TSS and aerobic post-treatment of anaerobically digested POME.
VSS removal. Room temperature digested POME was slightly
However, activated sludge reactor [3] and sequencing batch
more accessible to COD, TSS and VSS removal than others;
whereas thermophilic digested POME was easier to be reactor [4], [5] were proposed to be used as post-treatment
biodegraded than others. after anaerobic digestion of POME. Vijayaraghavan et al. [3]
investigated aerobic post-treatment of anaerobically digested
Index Terms—Aerobic, palm oil mill effluent (POME), POME and diluted raw POME using activated sludge reactor
post-treatment. with a fixed biomass concentration of 3900 mg/L. The aerobic
treatment reduced 98 and 93 % of influent COD and BOD,
respectively, at HRT of 60 hours. However, the influent COD
I. INTRODUCTION and BOD concentration was only 3908 and 1720 mg/L,
Malaysia has adopted wet process in palm oil milling for respectively, which is very different to literature [4], [5].
large scale production of crude palm oil (CPO). Therefore, the feasibility of application and performance of
Approximately 5 to 7 tonnes of water are required to produce activated sludge reactor treating high organic strength
one tone of CPO, and more than half of this water ends up as anaerobically digested POME remains unclear. Later, Chan et
palm oil mill effluent (POME) [1]. POME when fresh, it is a al. [4] shows the sequencing batch reactor is an effective
thick brownish colloidal mixture of water, oil and solids post-treatment of anaerobically digested POME, which can
which are mainly debris from palm mesocarp. Currently, achieve COD, BOD and TSS removal, ranging from 91 to
anaerobic-aerobic treatment by open ponding system is the 96 %, 92 to 99 % and 94 to 99 %, respectively. At optimum
most common method adopted in Malaysia to treat the high conditions, the treated effluent quality was below local
organic strength POME. This treatment system requires a vast discharge limit, in terms of BOD, TSS, pH and TN. The
area to accommodate a series of different facilities such as effects of temperature on aerobic treatment of anaerobically
de-oiling tank, holding/equalization ponds, acidification pond, digested POME were investigated by Chan et al. [5]. The
facultative-anaerobic ponds, aerobic ponds and polishing results show that the performance of sequencing batch reactor
pond. Along with this, it has other disadvantages including was better at mesophilic temperature (28 °C) compared to
long hydraulic retention time, greenhouse gaseous emission
thermophilic temperature (55°C). They observed that the
and foul smell. However, the conventional poor managed
COD, BOD and TSS concentration of treated effluent was
treatment system is difficult to meet local discharge standard
increased with temperature.
[2]. Well controlled closed treatment systems are gaining
To our knowledge, aerobic treatment of mesophilic and
attraction toward local palm oil mills due to it benefits from
thermophilic digested POME has not yet been investigated
carbon emission reduction by methane recovery and
and there is the need of deeper efforts in comparing the
utilization.
performance of these treatments. Thus, the objective of this
At present, most of the closed anaerobic digestion systems
study is to investigate the aerobic treatment of different
treating POME are operating at ambient temperature (without
temperature digested POME.
control) and only very few are controlled in temperature range.
POME is discharged at temperature about 80 tp 90 °C and this
makes anaerobic digestion of POME at mesophilic and
II. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY

Manuscript received April 23, 2015; revised September 1, 2015. This A. Sample Collection
work was supported by the Research University Grant (RUI) Three types of anaerobically digested POME, viz. R, M
1001/PTEKIND/814147.
The authors are with Environmental Technology Division, School of and T were used in this study:
Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Pulau 1) R refers to anaerobically digested POME collected from
Pinang, Malaysia (e-mail: [email protected]).

doi: 10.18178/ijesd.2016.7.7.830 511

 International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 7, No. 7, July 2016

an existing lab scale facultative-anaerobic digester and thermophilic temperature (55 ºC), respectively. Both
operating at room temperature (28 ± 2 ºC) with HRT of digesters were daily fed with raw POME by using
50 – 60 days and working volume of 20 L. The digester peristaltic pump. Mixing (150 rpm, 15 min/165 min) was
was daily fed with raw POME and manual mixed to provided by an overhead stirrer installed on the top of
mimic the conventional facultative-anaerobic treatment each digester.
condition in palm oil mill; All samples were stored in refrigerator at 4 ºC to minimize
2) M and T refer to anaerobically digested POME collected further biodegradation due to microbial action. The
from existing lab scale anaerobic digester with HRT of characteristics of all anaerobically digested POME were
16 – 20 days, operating at mesophilic temperature (35 ºC) analyzed and summarized in Table I.

TABLE I: CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT ANAEROBICALLY DIGESTED POME

R M T
Parameters
Min. Max. Mean ± SD Min. Max. Mean ± SD Min. Max. Mean ± SD
pH 7.5 7.7 7.6 ± 0.1 7.6 7.8 7.7 ± 0.1 7.6 7.8 7.7 ± 0.1
COD, g/L 7.84 12.62 10.60 ± 1.61 8.53 11.18 10.27 ± 0.63 6.63 11.93 9.22 ± 1.54
TSS, g/L 3.76 8.24 6.15 ± 1.75 4.68 8.16 6.95 ± 1.17 3.04 6.90 4.87 ± 1.17
VSS, g/L 1.56 5.52 3.99 ± 1.30 1.84 5.28 4.17 ± 1.15 1.36 4.36 3.12 ± 1.06

summarized in Table II. All aerobic digesters were operated

B. Experimental Setup
in parallel at HRT of 18 days, 12 days, 9 days and 7.2 days
Three 2 L borosilicate glass laboratory bottles with which equivalent to feeding rate of 100 mL/d, 150 mL/day,
effective working volume of 1.8 L were used as aerobic 200 mL/day and 250 mL/day, respectively. The feeding rate
digesters, viz. AeD-R, AeD-M and AeD-T, which was stepwise increased to minimize organic shock loading in
corresponding to aerobic digester treating R, M and T, aerobic digesters. The pH was left unregulated in this
respectively. All aerobic digesters were operated at room experiment, however the aerobic microorganisms seems able
temperature (28 ± 2 ºC). An aquarium air pump with total air to self-adjust to its optimum pH range and remained constant
flow rate of 4.0 – 4.4 L/min was used to supply air through at 8.9 to 9.0. The results are supported by previous study [4],
plastic air stone diffusers that was located above the base of [5] which showed that the COD removal of aerobic system
each aerobic digester. Semi-continuous mixing (15 min/45 were more than 90 % although the operating pH were between
min) was achieved by using a magnetic stirring plate to 7.5 and 9.2. Along the experimental period, the sludge
enhance homogeneity of the mixture. All aerobic digesters bulking and foaming problems due to overgrowth of the
were covered with aluminum foil to minimize water lost due
filamentous microorganisms are not encountered due to high
to aeration and evaporation.
DO concentration [4], recorded to be in the range of 3.83 to
C. Experimental Procedures 5.99 mg/L in all aerobic digesters, which is greater than
Experiments were started with biological seeding of 1.8 L adequate concentration of 2 mg/L for an aerobic biological
different inoculum into each aerobic digester. In this system [6]. Due to the different operating conditions in
experiment, acclimatization phase of each aerobic digester anaerobic digestion, the fluctuations in COD, TSS and VSS
was neglected because the inoculums were obtained from concentrations in different digested POME (Table I) along the
existing lab scale aerobic digesters that already operated at experimental period were noticed. This may contribute a
steady state condition for more than 6 months. After that, the minor effect on each aerobic digester as the OLR was not
experiments were carried out at different HRT and OLR. inclined in same ratio as shown in Table II. However, this
Distilled water was added into each anaerobic digester before study was not designed to evaluate the corresponding effect
withdrawal of sample to maintain a constant working volume. hence it remains unclear. Generally, the MLVSS represents
One hour of settling time was allowed to obtain supernatant. the microbiological suspension in the biological wastewater
Both mixed effluent and supernatant were analyzed. treatment plant because the microbial cellular materials are
volatilizes at 550 °C. The F/M ratio of 0.13 to 0.46 g COD/g
D. Chemical Analysis MLVSS applied in this study are high due to the relatively
The chemical oxygen demand (COD) of samples was lower MLVSS concentration compared to previous studies
determined according to colorimetric method (HACH using sequencing batch reactors [4], [5] where the mixed
Method 8000) which is USEPA approved for wastewater liquor was allowed to settle for two hours before the clarified
analysis. Total suspended solids (TSS) and volatile suspended supernatant was discharged from the reactor. Therefore, the
solids (VSS) were determined according to Standard Method MLVSS could be controlled at a desired concentration to
2540 D and E, respectively. pH and temperature were optimize the process performance. In this study, the HRT is
measured by using a HACH Sension3 pH meter with equal to the solid retention time therefore the completed
temperature probe. Dissolved oxygen (DO) was measured by mixing before effluent withdrawal flushed out both degraded
using a DO meter (YSI model 5000, USA). and undegraded solids.
Theoretically, the increase of OLR will lead to lower COD
removal after reaching the maximum level [4]. In this study,
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION the COD removal determination was based on the supernatant
The operating conditions of each aerobic digester were after settling of one hour. As shown in Fig. 1 (a), (b) and (c),

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 International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 7, No. 7, July 2016

the COD removals of all aerobic digesters were less sensitive biodegradation rate at HRT of 12 days implies the increasing
to the increasing OLR applied in this experiment. The COD OLR provide more food to stimulate the microorganisms’
removals observed along the experiment were 84.6 % to activities. The biodegradation rate of each aerobic digester
92.9 %, 74.8 % to 84.8 & and 77.6 % to 88.8 % for AeD-R, showed a tendency to fall with a further increase of OLR [4].
AeD-M and AeD-T respectively. The COD remained in The biodegradation rates observed along the experiment were
treated effluent supernatant of AeD-R, AeD-M and AeD-T 32.2 to 42.5 %, 21.4 to 38.7 & and 17.1 to 43.3 % for AeD-R,
were 824 to 1308 mg/L, 1959 to 2610 mg/L and 1143 to 1779 AeD-M and AeD-T respectively. This revealed that there
mg/L respectively. The discharge of treated effluent more biodegradable organic matters, such as volatile fatty
supernatant with high COD concentration might deplete acids, organic compounds and residue oil, remained in R
surface water quality although COD is not included in local compared to M and T due to lower biodegradation rate at
discharge standard. Nevertheless, AeD-R demonstrated better room temperature. It is necessary to conduct further analysis
COD removal than AeD-M and AeD-T. Chan et al. [4] to identify the remaining organic compounds in anaerobically
observed a higher COD removal as a result of higher MLVSS digested POME as well as to evaluate the corresponding
concentration and longer setting time in SBR. Conversely, the impact of these organic compounds in aerobic post-treatment.
biodegradation rate of all aerobic digesters demonstrates a By excluding the effect of variation of influent COD
similar trend (Fig. 1). These biodegradation rates which concentrations, it is cleared that, at the best practice, only less
distinct from COD removal were determined based on the than half of the organic matters are biodegradable under
mixed effluent and it represents the fraction of organic matter aerobic condition despite the other half were removed by
which been utilized by microorganisms. Previous studies [4], settling. Overall, thermophilic digested POME is slightly
[5] only reported the COD removal of anaerobically digested more accessible to aerobic biodegradation which may be due
POME after aerobic treatment hence the corresponding the advanced solubilization and hydrolysis of organic matters
biodegradation rates of anaerobically digested POME at in thermophilic anaerobic digestion. However, there are
different conditions were questionable. The COD removal is a limited investigations reported the similar observations.
combination of both biological COD utilization Further study should be focus on analyzing the chemical
(biodegradation) and physical COD reduction (settling). It is components and physical properties of anaerobically digested
important to distinguish these two terms especially when POME and those after aerobic post-treatment.
COD value is need for bio-kinetic evaluation. The increased

TABLE II: HRT AND OLR OF DIFFERENT AEROBIC DIGESTERS

Aerobic digester Parameter HRT=18d HRT=12d HRT=9d HRT=7.2d
pH 8.9 ± 0.1 8.9 ± 0.1 8.9 ± 0.1 9.0 ± 0.1
DO, mg/L 5.74 ± 0.17 4.73 ± 0.38 4.40 ± 0.27 4.92 ± 0.30
AeD-R MLVSS, g/L 3.00 ± 0.50 2.64 ± 0.82 5.18 ± 0.32 5.12 ± 0.28
OLR, g COD/L/d 0.47 ± 0.04 0.89 ± 0.10 1.34 ± 0.08 1.55 ± 0.16
F/M, g COD/g MLVSS 0.16 ± 0.03 0.37 ± 0.14 0.26 ± 0.02 0.30 ± 0.02
pH 8.9 ± 0.0 9.0 ± 0.0 9.0 ± 0.0 9.0 ± 0.0
DO, mg/L 5.99 ± 0.20 4.56 ± 0.29 4.24 ± 0.55 4.78 ± 0.36
AeD-M MLVSS, g/L 4.31 ± 0.13 2.21 ± 0.40 4.90 ± 0.05 5.13 ± 0.18
OLR, g COD/L/d 0.57 ± 0.06 0.84 ±0.02 1.17 ± 0.03 1.44 ± 0.08
F/M, g COD/g MLVSS 0.13 ± 0.00 0.37 ± 0.07 0.24 ± 0.00 0.28 ± 0.01
pH 8.9 ± 0.0 9.0 ± 0.1 9.0 ± 0.0 9.0 ± 0.0
DO, mg/L 5.84 ± 0.33 4.52 ± 0.24 3.83 ± 0.54 4.95 ± 0.20
AeD-T MLVSS, g/L 2.79± 0.19 1.62 ± 0.19 4.12 ± 0.20 3.96 ± 0.29
OLR, g COD/L/d 0.39 ± 0.01 0.74 ± 0.01 1.21 ± 0.11 1.39 ± 0.04
F/M, g COD/g MLVSS 0.14 ± 0.01 0.46 ± 0.06 0.29 ± 0.01 0.35 ± 0.03

Based on Fig. 2., it can be evidently seen that the TSS

concentration in digested POME significantly influences the
MLSS concentration of aerobic digesters. There are very
limited portion of TSS could be biodegraded espectically at
higher OLR because the POME were previously anerobically
degraded. Even though, most of the suspended solids will be
settled after 1 hour. Previously, Metcalf and Eddy [6]
suggested a desired biomass concentration of 3000 to 6000
mg/L for effective functioning of an activated sludge reactor.
In fact, this amount of biomass seems not sufficient when
treating anaerobic digested POME due to its high organic
strength [4]. The findings reported in the literature showed an
optimum performance of sequencing batch reactor operated at
MLVSS of 17500 to 20000 mg/L to achieved COD removal
of 98.2 to 98.9 %.

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 International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 7, No. 7, July 2016

such as menbrane filtration, advance oxidation and

coagulation-flocculation process could be included to
emphasize the discharge limit compliance [7].

Fig. 1. COD removal (dark colour) and biodegradation rate of aerobic

digester (a) Ae-R, (b) Ae-M and (c) Ae-T, respectively.

Fig. 3. TSS (dark colour) and VSS (light colour) removal in aerobic digesters
(a) Ae-R, (b) Ae-M and (c) Ae-T, respectively.

IV. CONCLUSION
The well controlled aerobic digester could be an effective
Fig. 2. TSS or MLSS concentration of digested POME (blue), mixed effluent
(red) and effluent supernatant (green) in aerobic digester (a) Ae-R, (b) Ae-M post-treatment of different anaerobically digested POME
and (c) Ae-T, respectively. which can achieve appreciable COD, TSS and VSS removal.
Both AeD-R and AeD-T demonstrated slightly better COD,
It appears that AeD-R and AeD-T able to produce effluent TSS and VSS removal than Ae-M. This study shows that the
with better settling capability. However, the effluent aerobic treatment of different anaerobically digested POME
supernatant of all aerobic digesters barely meet the local could be operated at HRT up to 7.2 day. Further investigation
discharge standard of TSS concentration of 400 mg/L. After should be focused on optimization of aerobic post-treatment
two hours of settling, the TSS remained in the effluent of different anaerobically digested POME. Comprehensive
supernatant of AeD-R, AeD-M and AeD-T were 410 to 910 physio-chemical, microbiological and morphological analysis
mg/L, 835 to 1590 mg/L and 315 to 740 mg/L, respectively. should be conducted in order to determine limiting factors of
These values are much high than previous research reported the corresponding process.
only 150 to 250 mg/L TSS remained in the final effluent. This
remarkable TSS removal may be caused by a higher MLVSS REFERENCES
concentration as well as longer settling time.Besides that, the [1] T. Y. Wu, M. Abdul Wahab, J. M. Jahim, and N. Anuar, “Pollution
TSS and VSS removals (Fig. 3a, b and c) were less affected by control technologies for the treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME)
inclined OLR which is coincided with COD removal through end-of-pipe processes,” Journal of Environmental
aforementioned. The TSS removals for AeD-R, AeD-M and Management, vol. 91, pp. 1467-1490, 2010.
[2] K. K. Chin, S. Lee, and H. H. Mohammad, “A study of palm oil mill
AeD-T were 85.5 to 94.8 %, 81.6 to 90.0 % and 86.9 to effluent treatment using a ponding system,” Water Science and
94.9 %, respectively. Hence, higher OLR could be applied Technology, vol. 34, pp. 119-123, 1996.
bcacause the aerobic digesters have not yet to reach its [3] K. Vijayaraghavan, D. Ahmad, and M. E. A. Aziz, “Aerobic treatment
of palm oil mill effluent,” Journal of Environmental Management, vol.
maximum operational limit. 82, pp. 24-31, 2007.
Generally, a polishing system applied as tertiary treatment [4] Y. J. Chan, M. F. Chang, and C. L. Law, “Biological treatment of
of POME after anaerobic and aerobic degradation. The anaerobically digested palm oil mill effluent (POME) using a lab-scale
sequencing batch reactor (SBR),” Journal of Environmental
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large surface area to allocate a series of pond or lagoon due to [5] Y. J. Chan, M. F. Chang, and C. L. Law, “Effect of temperature on
longer operational HRT. Thus, physio-chemical treatment aerobic treatment of anaerobically digested palm oil mill effluent

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 International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 7, No. 7, July 2016

(POME),” Industrial & Engenerring Chemistry Research, vol. 49, pp. Norli Ismail was born in Malaysia on September 25,
7093-7101, 2010. 1971. She holds a bachelor degree in environmental
[6] G. Tchobanoglous, F. L. Burton, H. D. Stensel, Metcalf, and Eddy, science from Universiti Putra Malaysia, masters
Wastewater Engineering: Treatment and Reuse, 4th ed., Metcalf and degree in chemical processes and a PhD in
Eddy Inc, 2003. environmental technology from Universiti Sains
[7] W. L. Liew, M. A. Kassim, K. Muda, S. K. Loh, and A. C. Affam, Malaysia.
“Conventional methods and emerging wastewater polishing She joins the School of Industrial Technology,
technologies for palm oil mill effluent treatment; A review”, Journal of Universiti Sains Malaysia as a lecturer attached to
Environmental Management, vol. 149, pp. 222-235, 2015. Environmental Technology Division. Now she occupies the position of a
professor at the same department.
Kian Weng Chou was born in Malaysia on March 19, She has research experienced collaboration on hydrothermal gasification
1985. He held his bachelor’s and master degree in of palm oil mill effluent (POME) with Osaka Gas Ltd., Japan, at the
environmental technology in Universiti Sains Malaysia Eco-energy department. Her current research fields of interest are an
in 2008 and 2012, respectively. Currently, he is enhancement of biogas production from agricultural biomass through
conducting his PhD studies in School of Industrial anaerobic fermentation processes and bioflocculant production for water,
Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia. His current wastewater and solid waste treatment.
interests include anaerobic and aerobic treatment of
palm oil mill effluent.

Siew Wei Tan was born in Malaysia on March 31,

1991. She holds a bachelor degree in environmental
technology from Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2014.
Currently she is a process engineer at Fuji Electric (M)
Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia.

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