Application of Palm Kernel Shell Activated Carbon for the Removal of Pollutant and Color in Palm Oil Mill Effluent Treatment

Introduction: Application of palm kernel shell activated carbon (PKSAC) in reducing the pollutant in palm oil mill effluent (POME) wasstudied as the alternative treatment system. Aim: The objective of this study was to determine the optimum PKSAC dosage and treatment timefor its capability to treat the effluent. Methods: The study was carried out in batch and continuous systems. For batch system, activated carbondosage ranging from 1% to 15% (w/v) was added into 200 mL of POME and agitated at 160 rpm for 24–120 h treatment time. As for continuoussystem, POME samples were fed into 2000 mL fixed‑bed glass column and run continuously for 8 h/cycle. Results: For the batch study, resultsshowed that the PKSAC works with maximum removal of pollutant at very high dosage up to 15% (w/v) in 72 h treatment time. Meanwhile,for fixed‑bed treatment, POME was fed to the column with flow rate of 15 mL/min. The initial chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color ofsamples were in the range of 450–910 mg/L and 3500–6500 Pt/Co, respectively, and after the treatment, the maximum COD and color removalwere 75% and 76%, respectively. The PKSAC became saturated after 8 treatment cycle. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the palm‑basedactivated carbon was able to remove the organic pollutant and color of POME in both batch and continuous adsorption treatments. Being theraw material available in the palm oil mill, the PKS can be converted into activated carbon and used as sustainable practice to treat POME.

Keywords:

Adsorption , fixed bed , palm kernel shell activated carbon , palm oil mill effluent , treatment