Membrane-based zero-sludge palm oil mill plant

The palm oil industry is one of the most important agro-industries for tropical countries because of the unique properties and wide range of uses of palm oil for various end products. In a palm oil extraction process, a large quantity of water is required, of which half the quantity will end up as effluent. This palm oil mill effluent (POME) has an extremely high content of organic matter, which can cause severe pollution of waterways and other environmental problems. Disposal of this highly polluting effluent has become a major problem for the palm oil mills. Therefore, several methods have been proposed either to treat the POME so it could comply with environmental regulation while discharged or to recover water and other valuable components from the effluent. Membrane technology has emerged as a feasible alternative to conventional treatment in vegetable oil processing because of its attractive features such as low energy consumption, reduction in the number of processing steps, high separation efficiency, and improvement of the final product quality. In the case of POME treatment, an integrated membrane-based process promises efficient water recycling and total solid recovery from the effluent, thus eliminating the environmental problem. Recently, a novel concept combining oil–oil extraction and continuous filtration using a superhydrophobic membrane has been proposed to achieve a zero-sludge palm oil mill. In this concept, the huge wastewater effluent generated from the conventional process can be eliminated and the palm oil milling process simplified. Furthermore, the superhydrophobic membrane enables the production of high-purity palm oil. In this paper, we review the prospect of a zero-sludge palm oil mill concept and strategies to achieve the proposed concept. In addition, we also highlight the development of the superhydrophobic membrane and phytonutrient recovery.

Pemberian Sludge Palm Oil (SPO) dan Penggunaan Metode Tanam Hazton, Sri dan Konvensional terhadap Produksi dan Hasil Padi

Alokasi kegiatan pengembangan tanaman pangan tahun 2016 Provinsi Kalimantan Barat selain mengembangkan padi Hazton sebanyak 44.500 hektar juga kegiatan padi organik seluas 160 hektar. Metode tanam Hazton merupakan metode yang baru diterapkan dan belum semua petani mengaplikasi metode tanam tersebut. Pertanian organik sulit dilaksanakan karena petani mengalami kesulitan dalam pengadaan bahan organik. Sludge palm oil yang merupakan limbah pabrik minyak kelapa sawit banyak terdapat di Kalimantan Barat dapat dijadikan pupuk organik. Tujuan penelitian adalah untuk mengetahui pemberian sludge palm oil dan beberapa metode tanam terhadap pertumbuhan dan hasil tanaman padi. Penelitian ini menggunakan rancangan kelompok faktorial terdiri dari dua faktor yaitu pemberian sludge palm oil terdiri atas 5 taraf yaitu 0,10,20,30 dan 40 ton.ha-1 dan dan metode tanam yang terdiri atas 3 taraf yaitu Hazton, SRI dan konvensional. Jumlah total perlakuan adalah 15 kombinasi pelakuan, tiap perlakuan diulang lima kali sehingga diperoleh 75 satuan percobaan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pemberian sludge palm oil dan metode tanam memberikan interaksi yang nyata untuk variabel pengamatan tinggi tanaman, berat kering gabah kering dan berat 1000 biji. Sedangkan jumlah anakan, jumlah malai dan berat basah berangkasan batang berpengaruh nyata tetapi tidak terdapat interaksi.