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POME as a Source of Biomethane

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By Jort Langerak | September 1, 2015 - 11:34 am |

During the production of crude palm oil, large

amount

of

waste

and

by-products

are

generated. The solid waste streams consist of

empty fruit bunch (EFB), mesocarp fruit fibers
(MF) and palm kernel shells (PKS). Reuse of
these waste streams in applications for heat,
steam, compost and to lesser extent power
generation are practised widely across Asia. This
article will focus on the more underutilized
liquid waste stream, known as POME or Palm Oil Mill Effluent, which is generated during the
palm oil extraction/decanting process and often seen as a serious environmental issue.
Therefore, discharge of POME is subject to increasingly stringent regulations in many palm
oil-producing nations.

Anaerobic Digestion of POME

POME is an attractive feedstock for biomethane production and is abundantly available in all
palm oil mills. Hence, it ensures continuous supply of substrates at no or low cost for biogas
production, positioning it as a great potential source for biomethane production. (Chin May Ji,
2013). POME is a colloidal suspension containing 95-96% water, 0.6-0.7% oil and 4-5% total
solids, which include 2-4% suspended solids. Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) generally
ranges between 25,000 and 65,714 mg/L, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) ranges between
44,300 and 102,696 mg/L. Most palm oil mills and refineries have their own treatment systems
for POME, which is easily amenable to biodegradation due to its high organic content. The
treatment system usually consists of anaerobic and aerobic ponds. (Sulaiman, 2013).
Open pond systems are still commonly applied. Although relatively cheap to install, these
system often fail to meet discharge requirements (due to lack of operational control, long
retention time, silting and short circuiting issues). Moreover, the biogas produced during the
anaerobic decomposition of POME in open pond systems is not recovered for utilization. The
produced gas dissipates into the atmosphere where it causes adverse environment
effects (due
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to the fact that CH4 is a twenty times stronger greenhouse gas then CO2 (Chin May Ji, 2013).
Biogas captured from POME can be carried out using a number of various technologies
ranging in cost and complexity. The closed-tank anaerobic digester system with continuous
stirred-tank

reactor

(CSTR),

the

methane

fermentation

system

employing

special

microorganisms and the reversible flow anaerobic baffled reactor (RABR) system are among the
technologies offered by technology providers. (Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 2015). Gas production
largely depends on the method deployed for biomass conversion and capture of the biogas,
and can, therefore, approximately range from 5.8 to 12.75 kg of CH4 per cubic meter of POME.
Application of enclosed anaerobic digestion will significantly increase the quality of the
effluent/ discharge stream as well as the biogas composition, as mentioned in table below.
Table: Performance comparison between open and closed digester systems

Parameters

Open digester

Closed anaerobic

system

digester

COD removal efficiency (%)

81%

97%

HRT (days)

20

10

Methane utilization

Released to

Recoverable

atmosphere

Methane yield (kg CH4/kg

0.11

0.2

Methane content (%)

36

55

Solid discharge (g/L)

20

COD removed)

*This table has been reproduced from (Alawi Sulaiman, 2007)

A closed anaerobic system is capable of producing and collecting consistently high quality of
methane rich biogas from POME. Typical raw biogas composition will be: 50-60 %Translate
CH4, 40-50
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CO2, saturated with water and with trace amounts of contaminants (H2S, NH3, volatiles, etc.).

Potential in Southeast Asia

The amount of biomethane (defined as methane produced from biomass, with properties close
to natural gas) that can be potentially produced from POME (within the Southeast Asian region)
exceeds 2.25 billion cubic meter of biomethane (on a yearly basis). Especially Indonesia and
Malaysia, as key producers within the palm oil industry, could generate significant quantities of
biomethane. An impression of the bio-methane potential of these countries including other
feedstock sources is being highlighted below (VIV Asia, 2015).
Indonesia (4.35 billion m3 of biomethane):
25 billion m3 of biomethane from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME).
2 billion m3 of bio-methane from Sewage Treatment Plant (STP).
9 billion m3 of bio-methane from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW).
Malaysia (3 billion m3 of biomethane):
1 billion m3 of biomethane from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME).
2 billion m3 of biomethane from Sewage Treatment Plant (STP).
8 billion m3 of biomethane from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW).
The Asian Pacific Biogas Alliance estimates that the potential of conversion of biomass to
biomethane is sufficient to replace 25 percent of the natural gas demand by renewable biogas
(Asian Pacific Biogas Alliance, 2015).
To sum up, due to the high fraction of organic materials, POME has a large energetic potential.
By unlocking the energetic potential of these streams through conversion/ digesting and
capture of bio-methane, plant owners have the opportunity to combine waste management
with a profitable business model.
Co-Authors: H. Dekker and E.H.M. Dirkse (DMT Environmental Technology)

References
Alawi Sulaiman, Z. B. (2007). Biomethane production from pal oil mill effluent (POME) in a
semi-commercial closed anaerobic digester. Seminar on Sustainable Palm Biomass initiatives.
Japan Society on Promotion of Science (JSPS).
Asia Biogas Group. (2015, 08 15). Retrieved from Asia Biogas : http://www.asiabiogas.com
Asian Pacific Biogas Alliance. (2015). Biogas Opportunities in South East Asia. Asian Pacific
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Biogas Alliance/ICESN.
Chin May Ji, P. P. (2013). Biogas from palm oil mill effluent (POME): Opportunities and
challenges from Malysias perspective. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews , 717-726.
Malaysian Palm Oil Board. (2015, 08 26). Biogas capture and CMD project implementation for
palm

oil

mills.

Retrieved

from

Official

Portal

Of

Malaysian

Palm

Oild

Board:

http://www.mpob.gov
Sulaiman, N. A. (2013). The Oil Palm Wastes in Malaysia. In M. D. Matovic, Biomass Now
Sustainable Growth and Use. InTech.
VIV Asia. (2015, 08 26). The international platform from feed to food in Asia. Retrieved from
http://www.vivasia.nl
Note: This is the first article in the special series on Sustainable Utilization of POME-based
Biomethane by Langerak et al of DMT Environmental Technology (Holland)

Tagged Anaerobic digestion, Bioenergy, Biogas, Biogas from POME, biomethane, BOD, COD, digester, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Methane, palm oil mill effluent, Palm Oil Mills, POME, Southeast Asia

Properties and Uses of POME

By Salman Zafar | June 23, 2015 - 8:42 am |

1 Comment

Palm Oil processing gives rise to highly

polluting waste-water, known as Palm Oil Mill
Effluent (POME), which is often discarded in
disposal ponds, resulting in the leaching of
contaminants that pollute the groundwater and
soil, and in the release of methane gas into the
atmosphere. POME is an oily wastewater
generated by palm oil processing mills and
consists of various suspended components. This
liquid waste combined with the wastes from
steriliser condensate and cooling water is called palm oil mill effluent.
On average, for each ton of FFB (fresh fruit bunches) processed, a standard palm oil mill
generate about 1 tonne of liquid waste with biochemical oxygen demand 27 kg, chemical
oxygen demand 62 kg, suspended solids (SS) 35 kg and oil and grease 6 kg. POME has a very
high BOD and COD, which is 100 times more than the municipal sewage.

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POME is a non-toxic waste, as no chemical is added during the oil extraction process, but will
pose environmental issues due to large oxygen depleting capability in aquatic system due to
organic and nutrient contents. The high organic matter is due to the presence of different
sugars such as arabinose, xylose, glucose, galactose and manose. The suspended solids in the
POME are mainly oil-bearing cellulosic materials from the fruits. Since the POME is non-toxic as
no chemical is added in the oil extraction process, it is a good source of nutrients for
microorganisms.

Biogas Potential of POME

POME is always regarded as a highly polluting wastewater generated from palm oil mills.
However, reutilization of POME to generate renewable energies in commercial scale has great
potential. Anaerobic digestion is widely adopted in the industry as a primary treatment for
POME. Biogas is produced in the process in the amount of 20 m3 per ton FFB. This effluent could
be used for biogas production through anaerobic digestion. At many Palm-oil mills this process
is already in place to meet water quality standards for industrial effluent. The gas, however, is
flared off.
Palm Oil mills, being one of the largest industries in Malaysia and Indonesia, effluents from
these mills can be anaerobically converted into biogas which in turn can be used to generate
power through gas turbines or gas-fired engines. A cost effective way to recover biogas from
POME is to replace the existing ponding/lagoon system with a closed digester system which
can be achieved by nstalling floating plastic membranes on the open ponds
As per conservative estimates, potential POME produced from all Palm Oil Mills in Indonesia
and Malaysia is more than 50 million m3 each year which is equivalent to power generation
capacity of more than 800 GW.

New Trends
Recovery of organic-based product is a new approach in managing POME which is aimed at
getting by-products such as volatile fatty acid, biogas and poly-hydroxyalkanoates to promote
sustainability of the palm oil industry. It is envisaged that POME can be sustainably reused as a
fermentation substrate in production of various metabolites through biotechnological advances.
In addition, POME consists of high organic acids and is suitable to be used as a carbon source.
POME has emerged as an alternative option as a chemical remediation to grow microalgae for
biomass production and simultaneously act as part of wastewater treatment process. POME
contains hemicelluloses and lignocelluloses material (complex carbohydrate polymers) which
result in high COD value (15,000100,000 mg/L). Utilizing POME as nutrients source to culture
microalgae is not a new scenario, especially in Malaysia. Most palm oil millers favor the culture
of microalgae as a tertiary treatment before POME is discharged due to practically low cost and
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high efficiency. Therefore, most of the nutrients such as nitrate and ortho-phosphate that are
not removed during anaerobic digestion will be further treated in a microalgae pond.
Consequently, the cultured microalgae will be used as a diet supplement for live feed culture.
In recent years, POME is also gaining prominence as a feedstock for biodiesel production,
especially in the European Union. The use of POME as a feedstock in biodiesel plants requires
that the plant has an esterification unit in the back-end to prepare the feedstock and to
breakdown the FFA.

Tagged Anaerobic digestion, Biodiesel, Biogas, Biogas from POME, Biohydrogen, Bioremediation, COD, Indonesia, Industrial
Wastewater, Malaysia, Microalgae, Palm Biomass, Palm Oil Biomass, Palm Oil Industry, palm oil mill effluent, Properties of
POME, Southeast Asia, Uses of POME, wastewater, What is POME

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