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Unraveling the Chemical Transformation Pathway of Palm Oil Mill Effluent in Removing Sulfate via Synthesized Natural
Nurul Afifah Md Shukri1,2, Nabilah Aminah Lutpi1,2, Yee-Shian Wong1,2
1Faculty of Civil Engineering & Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Arau, Perlis, Malaysia.
Abstract:
This study unravels the intermolecular mechanistic degradation of palm oil mill effluent (POME) in sulfate removal, utilizing a distinctive coagulant derived from naturally abundant limestone (CaCO3), which was activated into calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)2] through calcination and exothermic reactions. Sulfate was reduced from POME by 88.76% with the optimal conditions (pH 5, 200 g/L Ca(OH)2 dosage, and 135 min settling time) with strong correlation (r = 0.8237) and statistically significant (p = 0.0064) of Pearson's correlation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) revealed an ideal morphology and elemental composition with reduction of 4.4753 m2/g surface area in Ca(OH)2 to slurry. Kinetic studies evaluated that sulfate removal at 4400 mg/L strongly followed the second-order model with a high coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.9883). Analysis using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) detected the formation of 2-isopropyl-5-methyl-1-heptanol (C11H24O). Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of Ca(OH)2 from CaCO3 as an efficient material for POME additional treatment, helping reduce VOCs and improve the value of industrial wastewater.
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