Factorial Design for Optimization and Performance Evaluation of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) using Electrocoagulation

• Published in: Biointerface Research in Applied Chemistry
• Main Author: Kasmuri N.; Kasim Z.; Aziz A.A.; Ismail N.A.; Zait M.S.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AMG Transcend Association 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85153083702&doi=10.33263%2fBRIAC136.564&partnerID=40&md5=0989825e5f2c686db841f8b8e098964b

The palm oil industry needs a more effective method to treat palm oil mill effluent (POME) before being released into the river without polluting the environment. Thus, the best possible solution for treating POME is using electrocoagulation. This study focused on the factorial experimental design for optimization and performance evaluation in electrocoagulation treatment. This technique uses a direct current source between metal electrodes immersed in the effluent, which causes the dissolution of electrode plates into the effluent. At an appropriate pH, the metal ions can form a wide range of coagulated species and metal hydroxides that destabilize and aggregate the particles, which later precipitate and adsorb the dissolved contaminants. The results showed that the characteristics of untreated pollutants exceeded the Department of Environment (DOE) standard limit. Therefore, the pollutants need to undergo several treatments before being released into the river. After going through the electrocoagulation process, R2 values of 0.7262 and 0.6566 shows a good agreement between experimental and predicted values of responses. Besides, the best removal for this process was recorded at a POME concentration of 10%. This study confirmed that the electrocoagulation process of POME could be treated even in high pollutants concentration, and the effluent discharge quality was achieved well below the standard limits of DOE. © 2023 by the authors.