Ewelike et al., J. Appl. Biosci. 2019 Affordable Treatment System for Palm Oil Mill Effluent
Journal of Applied Biosciences 142: 14560 - 14563
ISSN 1997-5902
Affordable Treatment System for Palm Oil Mill Effluent
Ewelike Nicholas .C.1, Uche I.C2 and Okechukwu R.I3
Department of Microbiology, Federal University Of Technology, Owerri Department of Microbiology, Federal University Of Technology, Owerri Department of Biological Sciences, Federal University Of Technology, Owerri Correspondence; cewelyke@gmail.com, +2348063289845
Original submitted in on 30th March 2017. Published online at www.m.elewa.org/journals/ on 31st October 2019 https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jab.v142i1.8
ABSTRACT
Objectives: The aim of this project is to design a low-cost, high performance filtration system from biological raw materials for the treatment of palm oil mill effluent.
Methodology and results: Seedless maize cobs were laid in a column of 5.0cm diameter and 65cm height. Distilled water was allowed to drain out through the packed column to displace air bubbles.
Untreated palm oil mill effluent was filtered through the column and was analyzed before and after filtration. Microbiological analyses of the effluent after filtration showed that the system was capable of providing about 86% reduction in the effluent microbial load. The filter unit produced a clarified effluent, which was odourless and colourless. Further analysis of the effluent after filtration showed a considerable reduction in the concentration of the following parameters; oil and grease was reduced by 99.9%, BOD5 by 99.8%, COD by 99.8%, Nitrate by 97.4%, sodium by 99.3%, potassium by 99.3%, phosphate by 98.5% and sulphate by 99.5%. The filter also provided 100% reduction in the concentrations of various metals.
Conclusion and application of findings: The results obtained by the operation of this treatment system have conclusively shown that it can produce a high quality treated effluent, which can be disposed to the environment without any adverse effects or associated human health risks. The filtration unit provided clarified effluent, which was odourless and colourless. This could be a very efficient and natural method of treating palm oil mill effluent and could be applied in the recycling of other types of wastewater. Maize cob is an agricultural solid waste, which in itself needs management, but is here being converted into good use. The raw material is readily available and cheap to procure; hence, it is cost effective to use it for the treatment of POME. The use of this locally sourced material in the fabrication of the filter unit that efficiently treated palm oil mill effluent makes the operation cheap, affordable and of great economic importance
