title: Optimization of coagulation-flocculation process for palm oil mill effluent using response surface methodology.
abstract: The coagulation-flocculation process incorporated with membrane separation technology will become a new approach for palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment as well as water reclamation and reuse. In our current research, a membrane pilot plant has been used for POME treatment where the coagulation-flocculation process plays an important role as a pretreatment process for the mitigation of membrane fouling problems. The pretreated POME with low turbidity values and high water recovery are the main objectives to be achieved through the coagulation-flocculation process. Therefore, treatment optimization to serve these purposes was performed using jar tests and applying a response surface methodology (RSM) to the results. A 2(3) full-factorial central composite design (CCD) was chosen to explain the effect and interaction of three factors: coagulant dosage, flocculent dosage, and pH. The CCD is successfully demonstrated to efficiently determine the optimized parameters, where 78% of water recovery with a 20 NTU turbidity value can be obtained at the optimum value of coagulant dosage, flocculent dosage, and pH at 15 000 mg/L, 300 mg/L, and 6, respectively.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. chlatif@eng.usm.my
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhatia
mesh_terms: D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D005374:Filtration; D005427:Flocculation; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007220:Industrial Waste; D009391:Nephelometry and Turbidimetry; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000073878:Palm Oil; D010938:Plant Oils; D010944:Plants; D012995:Solubility; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D010938:Plant Oils; D014873:Water Pollutants; D000073878:Palm Oil