A.Y. Zahrim

Decolourisation of palm oil mill biogas plant wastewater using Poly-Diallyldimethyl Ammonium Chloride (polyDADMAC) and other chemical coagulants

Palm oil mill effluent was expected as a future source of renewable biogas. Nevertheless,colours in palm oil mill biogas plant wastewater (POMBPW) causes negative perception among the public and the wastewater is difficult to be treated biologically. In this study, the performance of various chemical coagulants i.e., calcium lactate, magnesium hydroxide, ferric chloride, aluminium chlorohydrate i.e. CK-800, CK-1000, and polyDADMAC, forPOMBPW colour removal were investigated. PolyDADMAC (1,000 mg/L) shows best colour removal (~48%). The main coagulation process with polyDADMACcould be due to charge neutralization-bridging mechanism. The zeta potential analysis supports the finding where the value became positive as the dosage increases. The addition of polyDADMAC has increased the conductivity of the treated wastewater up to 9.22%; however, the final pH is maintained (8.0-8.3). It can be deduced that polyDADMAC has potential to treat POMBPW at low dosage.

A review on palm oil mill biogas plant wastewater treatment using coagulation-ozonation

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) generated from the palm oil industry is highly polluted and requires urgent attention for treatment due to its high organic content. Biogas plant containing anaerobic digester is capable to treat the high organic content of the POME while generating valuable biogas at the same time. This green energy from POME is environmental-friendly but the wastewater produced is still highly polluted and blackish in colour. Therefore a novel concept of combining coagulation with ozonation treatment is proposed to treat pollution of this nature. Several parameters should be taken under consideration in order to ensure the effectiveness of the hybrid treatment including ozone dosage, ozone contact time, pH of the water or wastewater, coagulant dosage, and mixing and settling time. This review paper will elucidate the importance of hybrid coagulation-ozonation treatment in producing a clear treated wastewater which is known as the main challenge in palm oil industry

Tubular nanofiltration of highly concentrated C.I. Acid Black 210 dye

Tubular nanofiltration membrane performance to treat water for reuse was carried out by choosing C.I. Acid Black 210 dye as a model dye. It has been shown that increasing pH causes reduction in irreversible fouling factor (IFF) and the dye removal is also affected by solution pH. The total organic carbon removal for pH 4, pH 7, pH 8 and pH 10 is 97.9, 92.3, 94.5 and 94.6%, respectively. The conductivity removal for pH 4, pH 7, pH 8 and pH 10 is 85.1, 88.3, 87.8 and 90.7% respectively. The increase in the initial dye concentration causes rapid increase in fouling until 100 mg/l. Then the fouling increases gradually as it reaches a maximum IFF around 13%. This study also shows that the colour of permeate changes from colourless to light greenish/yellowish (initial concentration of 2,000 and 4,000 mg/l) as the initial dye concentration increases. The conductivity removal was also reduced as the initial dye concentration increased due to screening of the Donnan effect with the presence of salt.

Determination of optimum polymeric coagulant in palm oil mill effluent coagulation using multiple-objective optimisation on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA)

The main limitation of a conventional palm oil mill effluent (POME) ponding system lies in its inability to completely decolourise effluent. Decolourisation of effluent is aesthetically and environmentally crucial. However, determination of the optimum process parameters is becoming more complex with the increase of the number of coagulants and responses. The primary objective of this study is to determine the optimum polymeric coagulant in the coagulation–flocculation process of palm oil mill effluent by considering all output responses, namely lignin–tannin, low molecular mass coloured compounds (LMMCC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), pH and conductivity. Here, multiple-objective optimisation on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA) is employed to discretely measure multiple response characteristics of five different types of coagulants as a function of assessment value. The optimum coagulant is determined based on the highest assessment value and was identified as QF25610 (cationic polyacrylamide). On the other hand, the lowest assessment value was represented by AN1800 (anionic polyacrylamide). This study highlights the simplicity of MOORA approach in handling various input and output parameters, and it may be useful in other wastewater treatment processes as well.

Ammonia nitrogen removal from aqueous solution by local agricultural wastes

Excess ammonia nitrogen in the waterways causes serious distortion to environment such as eutrophication and toxicity to aquatic organisms. Ammonia nitrogen removal from synthetic solution was investigated by using 40 local agricultural wastes as potential low cost adsorbent. Some of the adsorbent were able to remove ammonia nitrogen with adsorption capacity ranging from 0.58 mg/g to 3.58 mg/g. The highest adsorption capacity was recorded by Langsat peels with 3.58 mg/g followed by Jackfruit seeds and Moringa peels with 3.37 mg/g and 2.64 mg/g respectively. This experimental results show that the agricultural wastes can be utilized as biosorbent for ammonia nitrogen removal. The effect of initial ammonia nitrogen concentration, pH and stirring rate on the adsorption process were studied in batch experiment. The adsorption capacity reached maximum value at pH 7 with initial concentration of 500 mg/L and the removal rate decreased as stirring rate was applied.

Estimation of Melanoidin concentration in palm oil mill effluent ponding system and its treatment using Calcium Lactate

Colour removal from wastewater is among the major challenge in water and wastewater treatment. Among others, melanoidin could be the source of colour in wastewater. In this study, the estimation of melanoidin concentration in conventional palm oil mill effluent (POME) ponding system was investigated. Melanoidin was analyzed by detecting its absorption using double beam UV-Vis spectrophotometer. For melanoidin, the maximum absorption is 330nm. From the analysis, the melanoidin concentration decrease from anaerobic pond 1 to anaerobic pond 3 and slightly increase in anaerobic pond 4 and aerobic pond 1. After that, the melanoidin concentration decreased from aerobic pond 1 to final discharge. It is estimated that the anaerobic pond 1 had the highest melanoidin concentration which was 87.3 mg/L. Finally, the effectiveness of melanoidin removal using a coagulation/flocculation process was also studied. Calcium lactate was used as a coagulant and low molecular weight anionic polyacrylamide was used as a coagulant aid. The jar test experiment was carried out by using 0.3g/L calcium lactate solution and dosage of anionic polyacrylamide was altered in order to find out the best melanoidin removal. Experiments carried out by using sedimentation time of 20 minutes showed that the highest percentage removal of melanoidin was 80.93% at the dosage of 0.3g/L of calcium lactate without any anionic polyacrylamide being added. This result concluded that the addition of anionic polyacrylamide as coagulant aids is not significant when compared to the use of calcium lactate only.

Adsorption study of Ammonia Nitrogen by watermelon rind

The utilization of fruit waste for low-cost adsorbents as a replacement for costly conventional methods of removing ammonia nitrogen from wastewater has been reviewed. The adsorption studies were conducted as a function of contact time and adsorbent dosage and it were carried out on four different adsorbents; fresh watermelon rind and modified watermelon rind with sodium hydroxide (NaOH), potassium hydroxide (KOH) and sulphuric acid (H2SO4). Adsorbents were tested for characterization by using zeta potential test and all samples shows negative values thus makes it favourable for the adsorption process. The batch experimental result showed that adsorption process is rapid and equilibrium was established within 40 minutes of contact time. The ammonia nitrogen removal rate amounted in range of 96% to 99%, and the adsorption capacities were in range of 1.21 to 1.24 mg/g for all four different types of adsorbents used.