Prediction of Anaerobic System Stability for Palm Oil Mill Effluent Treatment With Limited Parameter Input Using IWA Anaerobic Digestion Model No.1

Abstract

The palm oil industry in Indonesia generates 20% of its waste as OPEFB and 80% as POME from total production, with >85% of treatment systems still relying on conventional pond systems. The research integrated a UASB–OPEFB Adsorption–Modified RBC system to enhance the efficiency of POME treatment. The ADM1 modeling method was applied to the UASB unit to predict acetate (Sac) accumulation using a limited parameter input. Variations in UASB (HRT 2, 4, and 6 d) achieved high removal efficiencies with TSS at 97.92%, O&G at 95.12% ± 0.03% (HRT 6 d), and SCOD at 11.86% ± 0.07% (HRT 2 d). The results showed a decrease in TVFA from 12280 to 4693 mg/L (61.77%), propionate/acetate ratio (from 0.57 to 0.05), and an increase in Sac dominance to 28.5%. The ADM1 model validation yielded a Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.6257 and ANOVA p?=?0.2442. Methane production at an HRT of 6 d (29188 ppm), with the highest SMP (38150 µL CH4/gCOD removed) and an average (19.63 mL CH4/gCOD) confirming the effectiveness of the model and reactor system in improving POME treatment performance.