Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production from Palm oil mill effluent (POME) fermentation

Abstract

© 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, London. This study was to examine the optimum Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) for POME fermentation to achieve high Volatile Fatty Acids (VFAs) production. Two sets of POME fermentation (with and without Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate (SDBS) addition) were conducted. Each set composed of four lab-scale anaerobic digesters operated with HRTs of 6, 15, 30 and 60 days, respectively. In case of no SDBS addition, the highest VFA yield of 0.28 mg/mg of influent SCOD was found when operating HRT was 30 days, while the HRT of 15 days showed the second high yield of 0.27 mg/mg of influent SCOD. Similarly, the HRT of 30 days presented the highest VFA yield (0.31 mg/mg of influent SCOD) when SDBS was added with the dosage of 0.02 g/g of TSS. Nevertheless, the HRT of 15 days that provide the second high of VFA yields were recommended as the optimum HRT due to economical reason.