1. Research Title
Sustainable Approach Of Recycling Palm Oil Mill Effluent Using Integrated Biofilm Membrane Filtration System For Internal Plant Usage By
Student : Sajjad Khudhur Abbas P81540
Supervisor: Dr. Teow Yeit Haan
Co-supervisor: Prof. Abdul Wahab bin Mohammad

2. Palm Oil Production
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.

3. Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)
95-96% of water
2-4% of suspended solids
% of oil
Clarifier sludge
hydro cyclone
POME highest sources
sterilizer condensation

4. POME impact Fresh POME ref
the stocks of local fish in lakes and rivers are declining
bathing and water sources turned into
brown colour
smelt foul
Acidic Colloidal Suspension
Hot
Fresh POME
Brownish
High Solids Amount (40,000 mg/l)
COD (50,000 mg/l)
ref
(Ma A. N., 2000) (Singh G. a., 1999)
BOD (25,000 mg/l)

5. POME discharge Standards
ACCEPTABLE CONDITIONS OF Effluent DISCHARGE OF
STANDARDS
Parameter
Parameter limits (second schedule)
Unit
Ammonia nitrogen 20
mg/l
Oil and grease 10
Suspended solids
100
Chemical oxygen demand (COD)
200
Biochemical Oxygen demand (BOD, 3 days, 30 °C) 50
DOE
ref

6. Problem Statement Waterways Affected Aquatic Life Aquatic Habitats
Briefly, the highly polluted wastewater is causing a severe pollution to the :
Waterways
Affected Aquatic Life
Aquatic Habitats
Impacted Human Health

7. POME biological treatment (by media) ‘ the process’
Decomposition
Treatment Process
Swimming
Feeding
Attachment
EPS

8. Features
Biofilm treatment has many advantages compared to conventional POME treatment methods such as :
Resilience To The Environmental Changes
Flexibility In The Treatment Operation
Reduced Hydraulic Retention Time
Low Space Required
(Lazarova V. a., 2000)
ref

9. Biofilm Complex Adhered To Surface
Structured Community Of Micro-organism Cells
Densely Crowded
(Takriff, 2014)
ref

10. Objectives To investigate :
the optimum operating conditions of biofilm treatment.
the feasibility of integrated biofilm treatment/membrane filtration process in producing recyclable and reusable water.

11. Scope
Employing biofilm bacteria to treat POME to gain high treatment efficiency and producing treated POME with possible low COD range.

12. Media Characteristics Black Media Hexafilter Media Appearance 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
Height (mm) 10 12

13. Process overflow Biofilm Acclimatization POME Biological Treatment
Membrane Treatment

14. Biofilm Acclimatization
COD vs Time
% reduction
Day
Hexafilter
Black media 1 0% 3
44%
46% 5
48%
50% 7
53%
55% 9
56% 11
63% 13
67% 15
58% 17
60% 19
64%
62% 21 23 25 27

15. Biofilm Acclimatization
MLSS vs Time
% Reduction
Day
Hexafilter
Black media 1 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% 21 23
80%
76% 25
81% 27
83%

16. Biofilm Acclimatization
Turbidity vs Time
% Reduction
Day
Hexafilter
Black media 1 0% 3
70%
73% 5
82%
77% 7
91%
80% 9
95%
84% 11
96%
90% 13
97%
92% 15 17 19 21
98% 23 25
99% 27
99.5%

17. Biofilm Acclimatization
Ammonia vs Time
% Reduction
Day
Hexafilter
Black media 1 0% 3
64%
66% 5
68%
70% 7
73% 9
75%
76% 11
77%
78% 13 15
79%
82% 17
80%
84% 19
88%
91% 21
90% 23
89% 25
92% 27
94%

18. Biological Treatment Stage
High COD range
Parameters
Unit
Value
COD
mg\l
4310
Turbidity
NTU
879.7 pH
5.681
MLSS gm
0.011
Ammonia
380
Temperature °C
25.1
Dissolved oxygen
0.88
TSS
4000
Before
Hexafilter
Black media
Properties
24 hr.
48 hr.
72 hr.
COD
2150
1740
2320
2480
2340
1860
TSS
230
370
200
170
440
340
MLSS
0.0032
0.0053
0.0036
0.0037
0.0054
0.004 DO
0.6
0.77
0.95
0.86
0.59
0.74
Ammonia
410
477
475
228
215
289
Turbidity
98.6
137
69.33
90.65
168
113.52 pH
7.149
5.791
6.125
7.959
6.957
6.003
After

19. Biological Treatment Stage
Low COD range
Parameters
Unit
Value
COD
mg\l
1450
Turbidity
NTU
87.9 pH
8.021
MLSS gm
0.006
Ammonia
101
Temperature °C
25.7
Dissolved oxygen
2.03
TSS
290
Before
Hexafilter
Black media
Properties
24 hr.
48 hr.
72 hr.
COD
760
1130
850
690
910
1040
TSS
140
420
405
340
470
410
MLSS
0.0031
0.0025
0.0035
0.0026
0.0032 DO
1.88
2.49
2.71
2.38
1.79
2.57
Ammonia 93
100
107
102 86
Turbidity
122
130
111 76 pH
7.258
7.422
7.651
7.654
7.973
7.855
After

20. Membrane Treatment Stage
Properties\Technology
Value
Units
COD
923
mg/l
TSS
409.5
MLSS
0.003 DO
2.6
Ammonia 98
Turbidity 80
NTU pH
7.81 -
Before
Properties\Technology
Value
Standards
Units
COD 19
200
mg/l
TSS
100
MLSS
0.0003 - DO
4.44
Ammonia
1.19 20
Turbidity
0.381
NTU pH
6.473
After

21. Footage (Black Media)

22. Footage (Black Media)

23. Footage (Treated POME samples )

24. Discussion Biofilm Media Biological Treatment duration
Acclimatization duration
NANO membrane
Biofilm Media
Biological Treatment duration

25. CONCLUSION surface area crimpy surface narrow corners Mixing Moisture
Points
narrow corners
Mixing
Moisture
NF membrane

26. Recommendations Using : Series reactors Sedimentation system Catalyst
Fixed temperature
Deep reactor for biofilm growth stage
Short depth reactor for POME treatment stage
Closed system
Treatment age not longer than 24 hours
Using media with high surface area

27. Q & A

28. Thank You