| Abstract |
Palm oil is one of the two most important vegetable oils in the world’s oil and fats market. The extraction and purification processes generate different kinds of waste generally known as palm oil mill effluent (POME). The environmental impact of POME cannot be over emphasized; hence, the need for treatment measures to reduce these impacts before discharge. There are various methods such as tank digestion and facultative ponds; tank digestion and mechanical aeration; decanter and facultative ponds; anaerobic digestion and facultative ponds, each with its merits and demerits in application. The aim of this research is to develop a system with “zero discharged” where treated water will be recycled back to the plant boiler or used for cleaning purposes. Meanwhile the solid sludge will be used as a fertilizer for palm trees. The treatment method includes the oil recovery system, cooling system, de-freezing system, purification system and lastly, the sludge drying system for fertilizer production. The main treatment technique is freezing and de-freezing of the raw POME. During the freezing time, the density of the suspended solid will increase more than water, and will sink to the bottom of the freezing chamber.This will be physically separated during the de-freezing time, and the treated water will be pumped into the purification system, with the sludge being transferred to the drying area for fertilizer production. |