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BMP testingBy-products of the agri-food industry

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) — BMP: 2 studies, weighted mean 431 m³ CH₄/t VS

POME is effluent from palm oil mills, very rich in organic matter; in Poland it does not occur as a local substrate, and the results concern tropical oil production.

CH₄ ≈ 63 % (estimate)

Published Updated 3 min readFeedstockData Editorial Team

Illustration: FeedstockData (AI, Google Gemini)

Weighted mean
431m³ CH₄/t VS
Range
397–465m³ CH₄/t VS
Records
2studies
Publications
2sources
Temperatures
35 °Cof the test

Methane in biogas

High methane content · ≈ 6.3 kWh/m³ of biogas

estimate from the substrate type The collected studies contain no measurement. The interval follows from the approximate composition (carbohydrate-dominated (no protein or fat characteristics); fat-rich (process classification)) and the yields of compound groups according to FNR.

How we calculate it and what the zones mean

Rating for biogas plants

not rated — editorial rating for biogas plants

Not rated: no dry matter or volatile solids in the data. We calculate the rating when the dry matter and volatile solids of the material are known.

Editorial rating per the methodology

Add to the co-digestion calculator CSV data

BMP curves from 2 studies

Weighted mean Individual records

BMP curves: Palm oil mill effluent (POME)Cumulative methane production over time for 2 records and the weighted mean of 431 m³ CH₄/t VS. 2 of the curves are model curves (first-order kinetics).02004006000510152025303540time [d]m³ CH₄/t VSKim et al. (2013): 397 m³ CH₄/t VS (model curve)Ramón Vanegas et al. (2023): 465 m³ CH₄/t VS (model curve)mean431

Dashed lines are a model curve (first-order kinetics, B(t) = B₀·(1 − e−kt)); the end point comes from the publication. All curves are model curves.

Cumulative methane production over the test [m³ CH₄/t VS]. The thick line is the weighted mean of all records (431); dots mark the end values given in the publications. Point at the chart to read values; click a legend item to hide or show a record.

Records and sources

Download CSV
SourceBMP
m³ CH₄/t VS		TemperatureSampleCurve
Kim et al. (2013) DOI397—Palm oil mill effluent (POME), BMPend point (model curve)
Ramón Vanegas et al. (2023) DOI46535 °C · mesophilicPOME (palm oil mill effluent)end point (model curve)
Weighted mean431arithmetic mean 431, SD 48

Process properties

  • fat-rich
  • dilutes the feed (low DM)
  • acidic
  • tendency to foam
  • editorial classification

Low confidence: the description is based on general characteristics of the substrate group, not on studies of this material. Treat it as a hint to be verified.

Advantages

  • Methane potential in the Substraty.pl BMP dataset: weighted mean 431.0 m³ CH₄/t VS (SD 48.1; 2 records, 2 sources).
  • Hot, COD-rich palm oil mill effluent; digestion is the standard process in the tropics (Poh and Chong 2009).

Drawbacks and risks

  • Excess lipids give acidification, a floating crust and LCFA (Poh and Chong 2009; Long et al. 2012).
  • Not available in Poland.

Co-digestion — what to combine it with, what to watch out for

Dosing

No source threshold.

Introduce gradually, starting with a small dose and monitoring the process (e.g. FOS/TAC, pH, gas composition).

Sources of the process data

  1. Hagos et al. (2017). Anaerobic co-digestion process for biogas production: progress, challenges and perspectives. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev.
  2. Weiland, P. (2010) Biogas production: current state and perspectives. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
  3. Poh, Chong (2009). Development of anaerobic digestion methods for palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment. Bioresour. Technol.
  4. Long et al. (2012). Anaerobic co-digestion of fat, oil, and grease (FOG): A review of gas production and process limitations. Process Saf. Environ. Prot.

The co-digestion calculator will assess a specific mixture containing this substrate.

What it is and where it comes from

POME (palm oil mill effluent) is effluent from mills processing oil palm fruit (Elaeis guineensis). It arises mainly in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Colombia and West African countries. It consists of hot, acidic and thick suspensions with water, fat and residues of pulp. This waste has long been considered as a biogas raw material: anaerobic lagoons and biogas plants operate at many tropical mills. In Poland POME does not occur as a local substrate, and this entry describes only literature results from producing countries.

Properties relevant to digestion

POME is characterised by a very high organic load (COD, BOD) and a low pH. It contains lipids, which can give a lot of methane, but in excess cause acidification, formation of a floating crust and inhibition by long-chain fatty acids. It also contains fibre from the pulp, protein and mineral components, including potassium. The waste comes out hot, which makes it easier to maintain the process temperature, but it requires cooling to work in the mesophilic range.

How to read the spread of results

The records come from several studies, from different plants and countries. In one the temperature is not given in the compilation, in the other the trials were run at mesophilic temperature. The composition of POME changes depending on the mill technology, the season, the amount of process water and the degree of fat separation. In addition the result is affected by the substrate-to-inoculum ratio, the adaptation of the sludge to lipids and the way of converting to volatile solids in a liquid with a low dry matter content.

In biogas plant practice

For projects in Europe POME is of comparative significance only. In producing countries reactors adapted to industrial wastewater are used (e.g. suspended-growth reactors or granular sludge reactors), often with biogas recovery for energy production for the mill's needs. The digestate from POME should be assessed for its nutrient content and local regulations. The data in this entry do not replace BMP tests on local effluents.

Methodology in brief

BMP is the amount of methane obtained from volatile solids (VS) in a batch test, given in m³ CH₄ per tonne of VS (numerically the same as NmL CH₄/g VS in the publications) and converted to normal conditions (0 °C, 101.325 kPa). The weighted mean gives each publication a total weight of 1, split equally between its results for the substrate — a paper testing twenty varieties does not outweigh a paper with a single sample. In inter-laboratory programmes the unit is the laboratory (total weight 1), and within it the weight of a test grows with the number of bottles (replicates). Results after pretreatment (e.g. thermal, chemical, enzymatic) are shown separately and are not included in the mean.

Solid lines are curves measured in the tests. Where a publication gives only the final result, we draw a first-order kinetic model, B(t) = B₀·(1 − e−kt): only the end point comes from the publication, and the shape of the curve serves purely as visualisation — do not read the production on a particular day from it. For this substrate k = 0.091 d−1 was assumed (no kinetic data for the group – the median of all available rate constants k (93 values) was used).

The statistics describe the spread of published results — a descriptive compilation, not a meta-analysis or a guarantee of plant yield.

Full methodology and correction policy

Bibliography

  1. Kim, S.H.; Choi, S.M.; Ju, H.J.; Jung, J.Y. (2013). Mesophilic co-digestion of palm oil mill effluent and empty fruit bunches. Environmental Technology 34(13-14), 2163–2170. DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2013.826253 DOI
  2. Ramón Vanegas, A.A.; Vásquez, J.E.; Delgado, J.M.; Domínguez-Carvajal, D.; Mosquera-Mena, A.M.; Molina, F.; Peñuela-Vásquez, M. (2023). Evaluation of Potential Substrates for Biogas Production in Colombia using Anaerobic Digestion Systems. Ingeniería e Investigación 43(2), e100834. DOI: 10.15446/ing.investig.100834 DOI

All sources of the site: bibliography.

Other substrates in the group “By-products of the agri-food industry”