Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)

Palm oil mill effluent (POME), refer to the effluent from the final stages of
palm oil production
It includes various liquid, dirties, residual oil and
suspended solids
BOD ranges from 25000 to 35000 mg/L
POME generated from sterilization condensate,
fruit washing water, fiber cyclone drain off ,
boiler blow down and decanter drain
Composition:
Water : 93- 95%
Solid: 3-4%
Oil- 0.5- 2%

Wastewater Treatment
FPESB Bidor used the specific system for their wastewater treatment.
They used a series of anaerobic ponds followed by aerobic pond
This system consists of a series of ponds connected in series for different
purposes. The effluent after oil trapping is retained in an cooling pond for
about two or three days
The resulting effluent is then treated in an anaerobic pond with hydraulic
retention time of 30- 80 days.
This digested liquid is further treated in a series of facultative ponds until it
reach the polishing pond before discharge. The BOD at the discharge point is
expected to be below than 100 mg/L. The total retention time can be from
90- 120 days.
Wastewater Treatment Layout
Function for each treatment pond
Cooling Pond
The optimum temperature
for anaerobic treatment is 37C.
The pond depth should not exceed 1.5 m
otherwise the cooling efficiency decreases.
The hydraulic retention time of the cooling
pond should be at least 1 day.
pH at exit should be 6.7 min

Mixing Pond
Anaerobic Pond
Sludge formation happen here
COD reduce when flowing from one pond to
another
Needs regular desludging.
Inlet & outlet should be made to facilitate
uniform flow across the pond.
Pond depth should be 3 - 5 m
pH control 6.7 - 7.4
Minimum retention 45 days
Temperature range 37 ~42

Aerobic Pond
Aerobic ponds are necessary to further
reduce BOD concentration in order to effluent
that complies with standard.
The COD in the outlet from the anaerobic
pond is around 13,000 - 15,000mg COD/litre.
So in order to reduce the BOD level, aerobic
pond is needed
Polishing Pond
Desludging Pond
Air Emission
Air emission from the oil palm mills are from the
boilers and incinerators and are mainly gases with
particulates such as tar and soot droplets of 20-100
microns and a dust load of about 3000 to 4000 mg/nm.
Incomplete combustion of the boiler and incinerator
produce dark smoke resulting from burning a mixture of solid waste fuel
Air emission are biogas released by POME in the
ponds during anaerobic digestion and boiler ash. The
biogas is a mixture of mainly methane and carbon
dioxide.
Other waste that generated from the
palm oil mill
Empty fruit bunches:
Empty bunch is a solid waste product of the oil palm milling process and has a
high moisture content of approximately 55-65% and high silica content, from
25% of the total palm fruit bunch
Decanter Cake
Decanter cake is the solid waste produced from palm oil milling company after
decanting the palm oil mill effluent
Mesocarp Fiber and Shell
The mesocarp fiber and shell materials are used as solid fuel feedstock for steam
generation and electricity.
The steam generated is used for the mill operation. Palm oil mills, in general, are self-
sufficient in energy generation due to the voluminous solid fuel feedstock available