Transformation of Palm Oil Mill Effluent: Simulating High-Purity Biogas Production Process for Power Generation

As the largest palm oil producer in the world, Indonesia is currently facing environmental challenges associated with the produced Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME), which can pollute the environment. To address this issue, one practical approach is to convert POME into a valuable resource through appropriate techniques. POME contains high organic content that can be processed and utilized for biogas power generation. This study aims to design an effective biogas production process from POME for industrial-scale high-purity biogas power generation. The design process uses SuperPro Designer v13 to simulate the production process and economic evaluation. Decomposing organic materials in POME to produce biogas uses anaerobic microorganisms. This process involves several stages: hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis, and methanogenesis. The result from this study shows that the plant can operate 182.5 batches/year with a batch time of 42.50 h, producing biogas with the composition of 3.86% carbon dioxide, 0.164% hydrogen sulfide, 0.089% hydrogen, 78.51% methane, and 2.028% water. Based on the analysis of economic indicators, such as Net Present Cost (NPC), Internal Return Rate (IRR), and Payback Period (PBP), it has been suggested that these projects are economically feasible. By utilizing methane gas generated from POME as biogas power generation, the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere can be significantly reduced. The Biogas power plant from POME can be an alternative solution for electricity generation and sustainable palm oil industrial waste management.