Sequential peroxi-coagulation-nanofiltration treatment of anaerobically treated palm oil mill effluent (POME)

The increased demand for palm oil poses an environmental threat through palm oil mill effluent (POME) discharge, especially when inappropriately treated. Effective integrated treatment systems are necessary since the various approaches for treating POME such as biological processes, filtration and oxidation have their limitations. In order to better remove organic and inorganic contaminants from POME and reduce nanofiltration (NF) membrane fouling, this study evaluates the compatibility of the peroxi-coagulation (PC) process as a pre-treatment unit to NF membrane system. At POME initial pH 3, PC process showed the highest efficacy with the presence of dosed hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The PC-H2O2-NF system demonstrated encouraging performance, achieving 86.27 % reduction in total COD and an over 99 % removal of color, turbidity, and suspended particles. With <20 Pt/Co pigmentation remained, the treated POME resolved the color problem that palm oil mills frequently faced. Moreover, the treatment system effectively decreased membrane fouling, as evidenced by a 96 % flux recovery ratio (FRR) and a 62 % total fouling ratio (Rt). This resulted from PC process's breakdown of soluble contaminants and the precipitation of destabilized colloids. Therefore, upon larger scale application, this integrated laboratory approach is promising for enhancing the quality of treated POME.