Calculation of the release of total organic matter and total mineral using the hydrodynamic equations applied to palm oil mill effluent treatment by cascaded anaerobic ponds

Abstract

Anaerobic treatment processes to remove organic matter from palm oil mill effluent (POME) have been used widely in Malaysia. Still the amounts of total organic and total mineral released from POME that may cause degradation of the receiving environment need to be verified. This paper proposes the use of the hydrodynamic equations to estimate performance of the cascaded anaerobic ponds (CAP) and to calculate amounts of total organic matter and total mineral released from POME. The CAP efficiencies to remove biochemical oxygen demands, chemical oxygen demands, total solids and volatile solids (VS) as high as 94.5, 93.6, 96.3 and 98.2 %, respectively, are estimated. The amounts of total organic matter and total mineral as high as 538 kg VS/day and 895 kg FS/day, respectively, released from POME to the receiving water are calculated. The implication of the proposed hydrodynamic equations contributes to more versatile environmental assessment techniques, sometimes replacing laboratory analysis.