Modeling Solid Settling Rate in Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Treatment
In this paper, we study and investigate the effect of process treatment conditions (i.e. heating at different temperatures, treatment with HCl, etc) on the rate of solid settling in palm oil-solid-water mixture of different concentrations. In this study, we review the earlier discoveries on the characteristics of different POME components and oil-water-solid emulsions. Then the experimental work was conducted for different temperatures such as 75-80C, 80-85C and 85-90C, and for the emulsion of different ratio of 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, 50:50, 40:60, 30:70 and 20:80. The HCl treatment was conducted on the rate of solid settling in palm oil sludge mixture at different temperatures and different concentrations of emulsified mixture. Based on the experiment data, we derive a solid settling rate model. The model is then used to understand the behavior of solid particles in POME under the studied conditions so that some new insights are gained for a more efficient treatment system.