Electrocoagulation of Palm Oil Mill Effluent

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.