Boiler-Feed and Process Water Reclamation from Biotreated Palm Oil Mill Effluent (BPOME): A Developmental Review

Population growth, urbanization, and industrialization contribute to water shortages by perpetually pushing up demand. Interestingly, these same factors increase water pollution, lead to higher costs in potable water treatment, and pose adverse health effects. It has been projected that by 2020, more than half the total population of Asia, Africa, and Latin America will be living in cities, and all of these cities will require additional water sources.1 Another projection further stresses that by 2025, 35 % of the world’s population at large will live in countries affected by water stress/scarcity.2 With this worldwide depletion of conventional water, the need for non-conventional sources for water production is increasing. Wastewater is of course one of the best-known non-conventional sources. Industrial reuse has increased tremendously since the early ‘90s for most of the same reasons urban reuse has gained popularity, including water shortages and increased populations, particularly in drought areas, and legislation regarding water conservation and environmental compliance. To meet this increased demand, some countries have increased the availability of reclaimed water to industries, and have thus alleviated the demand stress on fresh water supplies. The palm oil industry is the leading agro-industry in Malaysia and it requires a large quantity of water for its operation, leading to the discharge of considerable amounts of wastewater called palm oil mill effluent (POME) after a few steps but insufficient biological treatments. This creates a severe threat to the environment and conventional sources of fresh water. Besides, many humid regions are becoming arid or semi-arid regions and water has become a limiting factor forcing water resource planners to look continually for additional sources of water to supplement the limited resources available to their region. In such situations, source substitution appears to be the most suitable alternative to satisfy less restrictive uses, thus allowing high quality waters to be used for domestic supply based on the United Nations Economic and Social Council policy that says “no higher quality water, unless there is a surplus of it, should be used for a purpose Boiler-Feed and Process Water Reclamation from Biotreated Palm Oil Mill Effluent (BPOME): A Developmental Review