ANAEROBIC DIGESTION APPLICATIONS

Anaerobic digestion has been widely used for POME treatment as it is recognized as a clean development mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto protocol, with large emphasis placed on capturing the methane gas released as a product of this biodegradation treatment method.

The digestion process follows four (4) major steps which are hydrolisis, acidogenesis, ace- togenesis, and methanogenesis. Most of the dewatered POME dried sludge (the solid end product) can be recycled or returned to the plantation as fertilizer.

Factors of biogas production depend on anaerobic digestion temperature, retention time, organic loading rate and so on. The main purpose of measuring COD at this stage, besides the goal of meeting local effluent regulations, is to monitor the effectiveness of the bioreactor design in reducing COD and the results can be used as reference to optimize the anaerobic treatment of POME.