Finding of coefficients and oxidizable nitrogen from palm oil mill effluent (POME) for activated sludge models(ASMs)

Activated Sludge Models (ASMs) have been widely used as a basis for further model development in wastewater treatment processes. Values for parameters to be used are vital for the accuracy of the modeling approach. The objective of this study is to determine coefficients of the system, and oxidizable nitrogen of palm oil mill effluent (POME). A continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), with continuous flow for 20 hours, was used in this study. The DO profile for 11 days was monitored. The total, soluble, insoluble COD and soluble ammonia nitrogen were measured at the beginning and end of the experiment. Also, the coefficients and oxidizable nitrogen fractions are determined

Comparative studies of landfill leachate treatment using aerobic, anaerobic and adsorption systems

PhD ThesisLandfill leachate with its variable and complex characteristics poses a well established threat to the environment. Enhancement of the environmental quality through the minimization of the leachate problem should therefore be the major objective of good landfill management. The need to control and manage landfill leachate has resulted in various treatment alternatives which include both biological and physical-chemical processes. The research described in this thesis discusses the feasibility of biological and physical-chemical treatment of leachate based on laboratoryscale reactors. After a short introduction, a review of the relevant literature on solid waste disposal including landfilling, leachate generation and the treatment alternatives was presented. Comparative experimental studies were then carried out using an aerobic rotating biological contactor (RBC), an upflow anaerobic filter (UAF) and an activated carbon (AC) adsorption column for treating landfill leachate. The effect of a range of parameters on the performance and operation of the RBC, the UAF and the AC column has been evaluated in the study From the experimental results, an RBC was found to achieve a better performance when treating a low strength (LS) leachate, whereas a high strength (HS) leachate would be much better treated by a UAF. For the LS leachate treatment, a COD removal of 80% at a loading rate of 6 kg COD/m3.d was achieved by the RBC as compared to only 60% by the UAF. Whereas for the HS leachate the RBC achieved a COD removal of only 50% at the loading rate of 14 kg COD/m3.d as compared to 60% by the UAF. Direct physical-chemical treatment process in treating leachate using an AC adsorption was also investigated. The results obtained showed that the adsorption process was not capable of achieving the desired effluent requirement, with 20% residual organic fractions still remaining in the effluent. The need to remove this biodegradable organic matter by biological processes was found to be necessary. It is suggested that to achieve satisfactory treatment, anaerobic UAF treatment of leachate followed by aerobic RBC and a final polishing with AC column should be used.Universiti Teknologi, Malaysia

Behaviours of natural organic matter in membrane filtration for surface water treatment : a review

Membrane application in surface water treatment provides many advantages over conventional treatment. However, this effort is hampered by the fouling issue, which restricts its widespread application due to increases in hydraulic resistances, operational and maintenance costs, deterioration of productivity and frequency of membrane regeneration problems. This paper discusses natural organic matter (NOM) and its components as the major membrane foulants that occur during the water filtration process, possible fouling mechanisms relating to reversible and irreversible of NOM fouling, current techniques used to characterize fouling mechanisms and methods to control fouling. Feed properties, membrane characteristics, operational conditions and solution chemistry were also found to strongly influence the nature and extent of NOM fouling. Findings of such studies are highlighted. The understanding of the combined roles of controlling factors and the methods used is very important in order to choose and optimize the best technique and conditions during surface water treatment. The future potential of membrane application for NOM removal is also discussed

Nutrient removal in grey water from wet market using sequencing batch reactor

Fresh water scarcity has become an important issue in this world today. Water reuse was known as one of the strategies to overcome this problem. Grey water is one of the sources of reused water. Several researches were carried out on water reuse, but limited attention was focused on reusing grey water from wet market, which contains high nutrient and organic matters. This study was carried out on nutrient removal from grey water using sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The grey water sample was taken from a wet market (Pasar Peladang, Skudai). About 1L of grey water was fed into the reactor with a total volume of 4L. Anoxic-aerobic phase were divided with a ratio of 30%-70% of total time respectively. Mixing was maintained at 30 rpm during the start of each cycle until settling phase to achieve uniform condition. Influent and effluent were set for 30 minutes. The SBR was operated with 3 cycles/day, temperature 30°C, cycle time 8 hours and hydraulic retention time (HRT) 1.2 days. Aeration at 35 L/min was induced for ammonia conversion and nitrification purpose. The results show that the bacteria growing in alternating anoxic/aerobic systems could remove organic substrates and nutrient. The COD, Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus removal efficiencies were maximum at the levels of 94%, 88% and 70% respectively. Anaerobic-Aerobic-Anoxic phase was proposed to increase the removal percentage

Microbial Biopolimerization Production from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)

Malaysia is one of the world leaders in the production and export of crude palm oil. In Malaysia, the oil palm industry has contributed vastly towards the country’s economic well being. During the economic crisis in the late 1990s, the industry has helped to cushion the impact of the economic downturn through its export-oriented activities, which provided the much needed foreign exchange for the country. Crude palm oil (CPO) production has increased from only 1.3 million tonnes in 1975, to 4.1 million tonnes in 1985 and 7.8 million tonnes in 1995 to 17.56 million tonnes in 2009 (Malaysian Palm Oil Board-MPOB, 2010)

Integrated Approaches in Water Quality Monitoring for River Health Assessment: Scenario of Malaysian River

Current practice of determining river water quality in Malaysia is based mainly on physicochemical components. Perhaps, owing to the lack of information on habitat requirements and ecological diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates and on unearthly taxonomic key of benthic macroinvertebrates in this region makes it less popular than conventional methods. The study took place in three rivers in the state of Johor, Southern Peninsula of Malaysia, which exhibited different degrees of disturbances and physical properties, namely Sungai Ayer Hitam Besar, Sg Berasau, and Sg Mengkibol. Benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled using rectangular dipnet with frame dimension 0.5 m × 0.3 m. Although physicochemical elements such as water temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen (DO) were measured using a YSI Professional Plus handheld multiparameter instrument, other parameters such as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solid (TSS), and ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3N) were tested using the procedure of APHA Standard Method. The study found that the status of water quality varies among the three rivers. A multivariate analysis, the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), was applied to elucidate the relationships between biological assemblages of species and their environment using PAST (version 2) software. The present findings reveal that human-induced activities are the ultimate causes of the alteration in macroinvertebrate biodiversity

The effect of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) on biofouling in a hybrid membrane bioreactor for the treatment of high concentration organic wastewater

Biofouling is a crucial factor in membrane bioreactor (MBR) applications, particularly for high organic loading operations. This paper reports a study on biofouling in an MBR to establish a relationship between critical flux, J(c), mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) (ranging from 5 to 20 g L(-1)) and volumetric loading rate (6.3 kg COD m(-3) h(-1)) of palm oil mill effluent (POME). A lab-scale 100 L hybrid MBR consisting of anaerobic, anoxic, and aerobic reactors was used with flat sheet microfiltration (MF) submerged in the aerobic compartment. The food-to-microorganism (F/M) ratio was maintained at 0.18 kg COD kg(-1) MLSSd(-1). The biofouling tendency of the membrane was obtained based on the flux against the transmembrane pressure (TMP) behaviour. The critical flux is sensitive to the MLSS. At the MLSS 20 g L(-1) the critical flux is about four times lower than that for the MLSS concentration of 5 g L(-1). The results showed high removal efficiency of denitrification and nitrification up to 97% at the MLSS concentration 20 g L(-1.) The results show that the operation has to compromise between a high and a low MLSS concentration. The former will favour a higher removal rate, while the latter will favour a higher critical flux

Photosynthetic microbial granules developed from palm oil mill effluent (POME)

In the 1980s, carbon dioxide (CO2) gas was proven to be one of the most hazardous greenhouse gases (GHG) as it increases from 57 to 80% of the current GHG contribution to global warming. In Malaysia, one of the major sources of GHG is from industrial wastewater treatment such as the ponding system to treat palm oil mill effluent (POME). Alternatively, this study looks into the possibility of applying biogranulation technology by growing photosynthetic bacteria to consume CO2 gas within a treatment system. The photosynthetic microbial granule was cultivated for 100 days in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system by applying an organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.53 kg COD/m3. day, hydraulic retention time (HRT) at 8 hours and superficial air velocity of 0.58 cm/s. The results showed the morphological structure of sludge evolved from dispersed loose shaped into a more stable and smoother compact granular form with good settling properties. The settleability of the sludge improved from 18.0 to 103 m/h periodically due to the increased of biomass concentrations (6.90 - 8.25 g/L) as well as achieving maximum granule size of 2.8 mm. The granules also displayed great physical characteristics in strength and stability, which attained low integrity coefficient (2.22%). Based on the pigment analysis using the UV-Vis spectrophotometer (380-1100 nm), the presence of purple non-sulfur photosynthetic bacteria were detected in the sludge. The average wavelength adsorption obtained was within 976 to 1050 nm which implied the existence of bacteriochlorophyll

Formation and characteristics of microbial granules containing photosynthetic bacteria using palm oil mill effluent (POME)

The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of applying bacterial photosynthesis using granulation technology method in minimizing carbon dioxide (CO2) gas emitted within a treatment system. By using a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system with palm oil mill effluent (POME) as feeding, the photosynthetic microbial granules were developed after 100 days at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.53 kg COD/m3. day and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 8 hours (cycle time = 4 h). In terms of the morphological structure, the sludge evolved from dispersed loose shaped into a more stable and smoother compact granular form with good settling properties. The sludge settleability also improved from 0.50 to 2.88 cm/s periodically due to the increased of biomass concentrations (6.90 - 8.25 g/L) with a maximum granule size of 3.2 mm obtained. Other than that, the physical characteristics of the granules displayed great strength and stability as they attained low integrity coefficient at 2.22%. Based on the pigment analysis result using the UV-Vis spectrophotometer, the bacteriochlorophyll and carotenoids were found to correspond to that of purple non sulphur bacteria within the ranges of 801nm to 865nm (the existence of bacteriochlorophyll b) and 400nm to 500nm respectively