Treatment of POME by pilot plant anaerobic fluidised bed reactor
A pilot scale anaerobic fluidised bed reactor (AnFBR) of 2000 L capacity was studied to determine its ability to treat palm oil mill effluent (POME). The pilot plant was operated at ambient temperature with diluted POME as substrate. It took 17 days for the start-up of the reactor with pre-seeded...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
International Islamic University Malaysia
2008
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/57013/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/57013/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/57013/1/45%20Paper%20POME%20IIUM%20EJ.pdf |
| Summary: | A pilot scale anaerobic fluidised bed reactor (AnFBR) of 2000 L
capacity was studied to determine its ability to treat palm oil mill effluent (POME). The
pilot plant was operated at ambient temperature with diluted POME as substrate. It took
17 days for the start-up of the reactor with pre-seeded sand media. The mean influent
concentration of BOD, COD and TSS were 1110, 2194 and 1004, respectively. The
AnFBR was capable to remove a large portion of organics at relatively shorter retention
time. Maximum and minimum COD removal efficiency of 85% and 65% were attained
at a loading rate of 4.0 and 13.8 kgCOD/m3.d. BOD and TSS removal rates varied within
the range of 64% - 91% and 68% - 89%, respectively. The average residual COD, BOD
and TSS concentration was 330, 95 and 110 mg/L, respectively. The AnFBR exhibited
less sludge production with lower values of sludge volume indices (SVI). Maximum and
minimum effluent indices for the effluent were 35 mL/g and 11 mL/g, respectively. Low
SVI values indicated that, anaerobic fluidised bed reactors generate less sludge with fast
settling properties. Promising performance at ambient temperature and for detention time
shorter than the present practices supported the possibility of AnFBR to pretreat POME
to meet the new requirement set by the DOE Malaysia. |
|---|