Biogas production from POME by using low intensity sonic wave / Raja Nor Syuhada Raja Anzac

Oil palm industry is the main agricultural industry in Malaysia. In 2006, Malaysia's palm oil mills created more than 58 million tonnes of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME). POME categorize as complex waste because of high concentration insoluble organic solids and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Open lagoons treatment at high ambient temperatures has widely ben used nowadays that cause to the uncontrolled generation of methane and carbon dioxide that both gas contribute to green-house environmental problem. It is crucial to create an alternative process to treat the POME as the increase of the environmental concern principally to the greenhouse gasses emission. Now days, anaerobic digestion has extensively been used to treat the POME because it is a low cost process and capabilities to create biogas. However, anaerobic process is a slow process because of the biological degradation rate is very slow. This result in long fermentation time and can cause to a lower biogas yield. This rate-limiting process mainly happen at the hydrolysis step where the degradation of POME happen in anaerobic digestion. Broad studies had been conducted to improve the anaerobic digestion of POME and it has been discover that by using the low intensity ultrasonic wave pre-treatment can improve and speed up the hydrolysis first stage process in POME anaerobic digestion.