POME contains soluble materials such as CH4, SO2, NH3, halogens, or soluble liquids with their concentration above the threshold value that are harmful to the environment.
Researcher said, Indonesian palm oil mills emit nearly 2,000 metric tons of methane every day, a powerful greenhouse gas, from the waste treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME), which cannot be discharged in its raw form.
Regarding to this, it is very important to treat these effluents before being discharged into the environment.
The most common techniques for POME treatment is usually performed by a series of anaerobic, facultative and aerobic ponds system.
Baca Juga: Adopt Best Agro-Management Practices and Streamlining Operation
This system has several drawbacks such as the requirement of a wide land area for the lagoons and extra cost for handling the sludge in the bottom of the lagoons.
Estimated that from each ton of FFB, about 5 tonne of water is required and about 50 % end up as POME. This implies that about 2.5 tonne of POME will be generated per ton of CPO production. According to the previous study, 1 tonne of POME may give approximately 28 m3 biogas.
Renewable Energy Mix
Palm oil is the best alternative energy source to replace old fossil energy sources since high productivity and is environmentally friendly. Palm-based energy sources can be one of the strategic choices to meet electricity needs in Indonesia.
Baca Juga: Adopt Best Agro-Management Practices and Streamlining Operation