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Anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent in a two stage up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) system

Anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent in a two stage up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) system
Anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent in a two stage up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) system
A high rate anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) was achieved in a two-stage up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. The acidogenic reactor acclimated rapidly to the wastewater and was tolerant to a suspended solids (SS) concentration of 5.4 g l?1 in the influent wastewater. Loading was gradually increased over a period of 100 days resulting in a satisfactory hydrolysis and acidification giving a maximum rate of acid production of 4.1 g l?1 d?1 acetic acid at a loading rate of 16.6 g l?1 d?1 COD at a hydraulic retention time of 0.9 days. An increase in alkalinity throughout the acclimatization maintained the effluent from the reactor at around pH 5.8. The methanogenic reactor was initially fed on dilutions of the effluent from the first stage reactor after pH adjustment. The loading was gradually increased, and then stepwise, to 60 g l?1 d?1 COD at which point COD removal efficiency had declined significantly and an accumulation of long-chain volatile fatty acids was observed. It was concluded that the reactor could work efficiently up to loadings of 30 g 1?1 d?1 COD, whilst producing a good methane yield and a COD reduction of greater than 90%. Effluent recirculation alleviated the need for alkali additions to the feed of the methanogenic reactor and a direct coupling of the two reactors was achieved towards the end of the experimental run of 175 days. Both reactors showed granule formation with distinct morphological characteristics; these were observed to be formed after 80 days in the acidogenic reactor and after 110 days in the methanogenic reactor.

palm oil mill effluent (pome), anaerobic treatment, two-stage uasb system, ph control
0168-1656
125-135
Borja, Rafael
68c613c6-300d-4663-b6ec-7f9357b7221b
Banks, Charles J.
5c6c8c4b-5b25-4e37-9058-50fa8d2e926f
Sanchez, Enrique
b0bfe6d0-7509-47dd-b23d-15437eb4fb9a
Borja, Rafael
68c613c6-300d-4663-b6ec-7f9357b7221b
Banks, Charles J.
5c6c8c4b-5b25-4e37-9058-50fa8d2e926f
Sanchez, Enrique
b0bfe6d0-7509-47dd-b23d-15437eb4fb9a

Borja, Rafael, Banks, Charles J. and Sanchez, Enrique (1996) Anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent in a two stage up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) system. Journal of Biotechnology, 45 (2), 125-135. (doi:10.1016/0168-1656(95)00154-9).

Record type: Article

Abstract

A high rate anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) was achieved in a two-stage up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. The acidogenic reactor acclimated rapidly to the wastewater and was tolerant to a suspended solids (SS) concentration of 5.4 g l?1 in the influent wastewater. Loading was gradually increased over a period of 100 days resulting in a satisfactory hydrolysis and acidification giving a maximum rate of acid production of 4.1 g l?1 d?1 acetic acid at a loading rate of 16.6 g l?1 d?1 COD at a hydraulic retention time of 0.9 days. An increase in alkalinity throughout the acclimatization maintained the effluent from the reactor at around pH 5.8. The methanogenic reactor was initially fed on dilutions of the effluent from the first stage reactor after pH adjustment. The loading was gradually increased, and then stepwise, to 60 g l?1 d?1 COD at which point COD removal efficiency had declined significantly and an accumulation of long-chain volatile fatty acids was observed. It was concluded that the reactor could work efficiently up to loadings of 30 g 1?1 d?1 COD, whilst producing a good methane yield and a COD reduction of greater than 90%. Effluent recirculation alleviated the need for alkali additions to the feed of the methanogenic reactor and a direct coupling of the two reactors was achieved towards the end of the experimental run of 175 days. Both reactors showed granule formation with distinct morphological characteristics; these were observed to be formed after 80 days in the acidogenic reactor and after 110 days in the methanogenic reactor.

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More information

Published date: 28 February 1996
Keywords: palm oil mill effluent (pome), anaerobic treatment, two-stage uasb system, ph control

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 75301
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/75301
ISSN: 0168-1656
PURE UUID: 8949eb19-2d5e-4d59-97da-66d5031e50c7
ORCID for Charles J. Banks: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6795-814X

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Date deposited: 11 Mar 2010
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:39

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Contributors

Author: Rafael Borja
Author: Enrique Sanchez

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