Electrocoagulation of palm oil mill effluent

Melissa Agustin, Weerachai Phutdhawong, Waya Sengpracha

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

Abstract

Electrocoagulation (EC) is an electrochemical technique which has been employed in the treatment of various kinds of wastewater. In this work the potential use of EC for the treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) was investigated. In a laboratory scale, POME from a factory site in Chumporn Province (Thailand) was subjected to EC using aluminum as electrodes and sodium chloride as supporting electrolyte. Results show that EC can reduce the turbidity, acidity, COD, and BOD of the POME as well as some of its heavy metal contents. Phenolic compounds are also removed from the effluent. Recovery techniques were employed in the coagulated fraction and the recovered compounds was analysed for antioxidant activity by DPPH method. The isolate was found to have a moderate antioxidant activity. From this investigation, it can be concluded that EC is an efficient method for the treatment of POME.
Original languageEnglish
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume5
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)177
Number of pages180
ISSN1661-7827
Publication statusPublished - Sep 2008
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

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