Modeling, Simulation And Design Of Membrane Based Palm Oil Mill Effluent (Pome) Treatment Plant From Pilot Plant Studies
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Date
2007-02
Authors
Mei Fong, Chong
Journal Title
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Abstract
If untreated, the discharge of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) into the
environment leads to serious pollution problems and the membrane based POME
treatment process has been suggested as a solution. The present research proposed
the membrane based POME treatment plant design based on the experimental data
obtained from the pilot plant study.
The proposed direct flocculation process has proven that the organic dual
polymers could replace Alum in POME treatment with 3.6 times lower cost. The
optimum cationic polymer dosage was 300 mg/L at stirring of 200 rpm for 3 min and the
optimum anionic polymer dosage was 50 mg/L at stirring of 150 rpm for 1 min. The
direct flocculation shows high treatment efficiency with 99.7%, 58.0%, 99.7% and
82.1% of suspended solids, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), oil & grease removal
and water recovery respectively.
POME was considered as a multiple solute system and the transport models
developed for the multiple solutes system include ( 1) Population Balance Model for
direct flocculation, (2) coupled model of Homogeneous Surface Diffusion with
Adsorbed Solution Theory for granular activated carbon adsorption, (3) coupled model
of Back Transport Analysis with Filtration theory for ultrafiltration (UF) membrane
system and (4) coupled model of Extended Spiegler-Kedem Model with Concentration
Polarization Model for reverse osmosis (RO) membrane system. The model
parameters were evaluated from the experimental data obtained from the pilot plant
study. The simulation results show a good agreement with the experimental data. Three different types of designs for industrial scale membrane based POME
treatment plant were proposed by the integration of the transport models via mass
balance, equipment sizing, costing and optimization analysis. Designs A, B and C were
distinguished by the membrane systems proposed. Design A consisted of UF ceramic
membrane and RO polymeric membrane system whereas the Design B consisted of
UF polymeric membrane and RO polymeric membrane system. In the Design C, twopass
RO polymeric membrane system was employed. In the pretreatment process,
sludge was recovered as an organic fertilizer and the membrane system was used for
the recovery and purification of water.
The mass balance results at optimum condition proved that the quality of the
recovered water for all the designs met the effluent discharge standards imposed by
the Department of Environment. The treated water of Design C met the drinking water
quality standard of U.S. Environment Protection Agency. The sizing and costing
analysis at the optimum condition show that the total treatment cost for Design A was
the highest (RM 115.11/m3
), followed by Design 8 (RM 23.64/m3
) and Design C (RM
7.03/m3
). Therefore, the Design C was chosen as the optimal design.
The operating profit gained per ton of Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) processed is
RM 209.77. With cost saving due to water recycling, the total treatment cost of Design
C is only 1.5% of this amount (RM 3.22/ton FFB processed). A cost effective, feasible
and promising industrial scale membrane based POME treatment plant design is
proposed in the present research.
Description
Keywords
Plant , Palm Oil Mill Effluent , POME