Integrated bipolar electrocoagulation and PVC-based ultrafiltration membrane process for palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment

In this study, the effectiveness of integrating electrocoagulation (EC) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes for palm oil mill effluent (POME) wastewater treatment was investigated. The impact of various parameters on contaminant removal efficiency, including electrode configuration (monopolar and bipolar), number of anodes, agitation rate, and current density, was studied. The findings demonstrated that using bipolar (BP) electrodes in the EC reactor improved coagulation efficiency. However, an increase in agitation rate led to a decrease in removal efficiency. The electrode configuration of 2A-2C–2B achieved high contaminant removal with a lower electrode consumption compared to the 4A-2C and 4A-2C–2B configurations. The removal efficiencies for total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and biological oxygen demand (BOD) were 59.1%, 99.9%, 96.8%, and 96%, respectively. The operating cost for the electrode configuration of 2A-2C–2B was estimated to be 2.71 US$ m−3 at an effluent capacity of 50 m3 d−1 and 20 h d−1 of operating time, while the energy requirement was 6.20 kWh m−3. An increase in operating time from 5 to 24 h d−1 raised the specific operating cost from 2.17 to 2.85 US$ m−3. This study provides valuable insights into optimizing EC and UF processes for POME wastewater treatment, which could have significant implications for sustainable industrial practices. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd