EFFECT OF HYDRAULIC RETENTION TIME ON PALM

OIL MILL EFFLUENT TREATMENT IN HORIZONTAL

SUB-SURFACE FLOW CONSTRUCTED WETLAND

Siti Kamariah Md Sa’at

School of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, USM
 PRESENTATION OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION

CONSTRUCTED WETLAND TREATMENT

PALM OIL MILL EFFLUENT

MATERIAL AND METHOD

RESULT & ANALYSIS

CONCLUSION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 INTRODUCTION
Constructed Wetland (CW) Treatment Systems

• Phytoremediation is a process that uses green plant in the

treatment of soil, water, and wastewater through the biological,
physical and chemical process in plants and microbes.
• Constructed wetland (CW) is one techniques of
phytoremediation, where the interaction between plants, substrate
and microorganism function to treat wastewater
• CW is economical, efficient and environment friendly technology for
wastewater treatment.
• Had been used in domestic, agricultural, industrial wastewater
treatment, landfill leachate, storm water treatment
• Typeof CW (according to the flow of water): SF, SSF (HF or VF),
hybrid, intensified CW
• Type of plant: floating, emergent and submerge
Constructed Wetland Treatment Systems (CWTS)
• Essential Component
• Plant
• Supply oxygen to the rootzone for microbial growth
• Plant root provide optimum condition and surface area for microorganism
• Plant root filter the solids in pollutant
• Plant absorb nutrients for plant growth
• The plant selected must tolerance of waterlogged-anoxic and hyper-eutrophic
conditions and have capacity of pollutant absorption
• Substrate
• Role of substrate: Medium for biofilm formation. Adsorption of P
• The selection of substrates: hydraulic permeability and capacity of absorbing
pollutants

• Operating parameter
• HRT, pollutant loading, feeding mode (batch, continuous, intermittent) and
design of setup
• Effect of HRT may differ between constructed wetland depending on the
plant species that may affect the hydraulic function of constructed wetland
 Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)
• Effluent from palm oil extraction process at palm oil mill
• Dark
brown effluent with foul smell, high organics and
suspended solid concentration
• Major sources of pollution to the nearby water stream
• Current treatment: Ponding treatment
Phytoremediation Systems for POME Treatment

Plant Species Sources of HRT/ Batch/ Sources

(Type of Plant) POME Duration Recirculation

Eichhornia crassipes Raw and diluted 6-week Batch Chukwunonso

(Floating) effluent et.al, (2014)

Pistia stratiotes Anaerobic pond 1-5 days Recirculation Hadiyanto et.al,

(Floating) (2013, 2014)

Salvinia molesta Pre-treated 16 days Recirculation Ng and Chan,

(Floating) POME from SBR (2016)

Lemna minor POME 14 days Batch Kamyab et al.

(Floating) (2017)

Vetiver grass Palm Oil Mill 4 week Batch Darajeh et. al,
(Emergent) Secondary (2014)
Effluent
Objectives
• Determine the effect of HRT in horizontal flow CW for POME
treatment

• Determine
the effect of vegetation (Cyperus alternifolius) in
CW for POME treatment
MATERIAL AND
METHOD
 Experimental Setup

Storage Tank Constructed Wetland Systems Settling Tank

• Design setup: Horizontal sub-surface flow CW

• Recirculation treatment
• Media: Gravel and sand in 1:1 ratio
• HRT 3,6 and 12 days
• Control and Planted Systems
POME Collection
• POME samples was collected from United Oil Palm Industries,
Nibong Tebal
• From Polishing pond (final pond before discharge)
 Plant Preparation
• Umbrella sedge or Cyperus
alternifolius
• Has strong and complex root
• Propagated from the shoot for the
young Filled with
Cutting shoot
tapwater
• Using younger plant (4-5 weeks old)

Young plant Young plant

Substrate Preparation
• Gravel
and sand was clean with tap water and sun-dried for a
week before layered in the constructed wetland tank.
• The gravel and sand was in 1: 1 ratio of depth
Analytical Analysis
• ThePOME samples were analyzed for SS, COD, NH3-N, TN
and TP

𝐶𝑡 −𝐶0
• Percentage Removal, 𝑅 % = × 100
𝐶0

• Plant growth: Plant weight, Plant height, number of plant

RESULT & ANALYSIS
 Physicochemical Properties of POME
No Parameter Unit Aerobic POME Polishing CPO Discharge
POME Standarda)
1 pH - 7.98±0.05 8.25±0.21 5-9
2 Color Pt-Co 7630±127 5360±113 -
3 SS mg/L 54245±10627 217±2.8 400
4 COD mg/L 13995±1195 833±42 1000
5 Ammoniacal mg/L 192.5±5.3 110±22 100
Nitrogen
6 Total Nitrogen mg/L 430±7.07 153±9.89 50
7 Total Phosphorus mg/L 41.5±10.4 29.5±6.01 -
8 Turbidity NTU 251±7.07 116±0.7 -

a) Environmental Quality (Prescribe Premise) (Crude Palm Oil) (Amendment) Regulation 1997
Effect of HRT on Pollutant Removal
 Effect of C.alternifolius on Pollutant Removal
120.00

100.00

80.00
Removal Efficiency (%)

60.00

40.00

20.00

0.00
Control Exp Control Planted Control Planted Control Planted Control Planted
SS COD NH3-N TN TP
-20.00
HRT (days)

3 days 6 days 12 days

 Plant Growth Rate

Initial After harvesting Growth %

Parameter/ 3 6 12 3 6 12 3 6 12
HRT (days)

Height 83.8 43 13 90 45 14 6.9 4.4 7.1

Weight 95.2 34 14.2 98.58 45.12 24.6 3.4 24.6 42.3

No of plant 7 5 3 10 10 5 30.0 50.0 40.0

Conclusion
• Theresult showed that horizontal flow CWTS with umbrella
sedge has promising potential to treat polishing POME.
• Greatremoval efficiencies achieved by the COD and ammonia
with 95% removal in planted systems at high HRT (12 days).
At 6 days HRT, highest removal of SS and TP achieved by
93% and 71%, respectively.
• Thus,
HRT significantly affect the organic, solids and nutrients
removal performance in horizontal CWTS.
• The umbrella sedge in planted systems CWTS in POME
treatment also have the significant effect.
• The plant growth in term of plant weight also have linear
relationship with the HRT.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by financial support by
Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia and Universiti
Sains Malaysia through FRGS Grant No 2017/0284.
ctkamariah@gmail.com