Efficiency enhancement of electrocoagulation, ion-exchange resin and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane filtration by prior organic precipitation for treatment of anaerobically-treated palm oil mill effluent.

Anaerobically-treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) still has unacceptable properties for water recycling and reuse, with an unpleasant appearance due to the brownish color caused by tannins and phenolic compounds. This study proposes an approach for treating anaerobically-treated POME for water recycling by combining organic precipitation, electrocoagulation (EC), and ion-exchange resin, followed by reverse osmosis (RO) membrane filtration in series. The results indicated that the organic precipitation enhanced the efficiency of EC treatment in reducing the concentrations of tannins, color, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the anaerobically-treated POME effluent, with reductions of 95.73%, 96.31%, and 93.96% for tannin, color, and COD, respectively. Moreover, organic precipitation affected the effectiveness of Ca and Mg ion removal using ion exchange resin and RO membrane filtration. Without prior organic precipitation, the ion-exchange resin process required a longer contact time, and the RO membrane filtration treatment was hardly effective in removing total dissolved solids (TDS). The combined process gave a water quality that meets the criteria set by the Thailand Ministry of Industry for industrial boiler use (COD 88 mg/L, TDS <0.001 mg/L, water hardness <5 mg-CaCO/L, and pH 6.9).