Production of Biogas and Performance Evaluation of Ultrasonic Membrane Anaerobic System (UMAS) for Palm Oil Mill Effluent Treatment (POME)

This study proposes a new approach for integrated technology of ultrasonic and membrane for a palm oil mill effluent treatment. This study evaluated the performance of the new design of ultrasonic membrane anaerobic system (UMAS) when a palm oil mill effluent (POME) introduces this approach. To fit kinetic study, six steady states were investigated and the results have shown that the mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSSs) range from 10,400 to 17,350 mg/l while the mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSSs) range from 13,800 to 22,600 mg/l. Three kinetic models of Monod, Contois, and Chen and Hashimoto were used to evaluate the integrated system at organic loading rates ranging from 1 to 15 kg COD/m3/day. The percentage efficiency of COD removal was from 92.8 to 98.3%, and hydraulic retention time (HRT) was from 500.8 to 8.6 days. The influent COD concentrations of the POME ranged from 70,400 to 90,200 mg/l.The integrated technology of UMAS is a more attractive one as it avoids membrane fouling problems.