The removal of nutrient from palm oil effluent (POME) using clay

• Main Author: Emra Elinda, Jefferson
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2015
• Subjects: QD Chemistry
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/27370/1/Emra%20Elinda%20Jefferson%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/27370/

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) often contains high nutrients and other pollutants. These pollutants if not treated properly could adversely affect our environmental system which leads to eutrophication and groundwater pollution. However if properly treated the nutrient could be treated that can be used in land sustainability. One of the growing interests is using natural filter media to remove pollutants from POME. Therefore, this study investigates the efficiency of clay to remove nutrients from POME. It examines the medium efficiency and the optimum retention time of clay treatment. The study adopted a quantitative and qualitative analyses using single column treatment. Composites of clay soils were used as medium in column. Nutrient content was analysed in at retention time of 1 to 7 days. The results found that the NH3-N removal efficiency of sandy clay composite medium with 7:1 clay soil: sand ratio was 76.5% and sandy loam composites of 7:1 and 1:1 clay soil: sand ration were 60.63% and 57.68% respectively. It was also found that sandy clay loam composite and sandy clay loam composite both gave excellent removal efficiency of 99.09% and 99.14%, respectively for 7 days retention time for phosphorus. This study suggested that clay soil is effective in removing nutrients from POME.