Biogas Production from Palm Oil Mill Effluent Using Dielectric Barrier Discharge Integrated with the Aerated Condition: Evaluation Based on Stoichiometric Simulation and Kinetic Study

Abstract

In this study, the performance of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) integrated with the aerobic process with the input voltage of 20 and 25 kV on the production of biogas; methane (CH4), hydrogen (H2), and carbon dioxide (CO2) from palm oil mill effluent (POME) were investigated. The DBD and DBD integrated with the aerobic process (DBD + aerobic) treatment was also simulated using the theoretical stoichiometric of POME (in terms of carbohydrate) and the kinetic study using the first- and second-order kinetic model. The results showed only 0.58, 0.39, and 0.97 mol/L of CH4, H2, and CO2, respectively, generated from the simulation model, which underperformed those experimental results. This may be due to the low concentration of carbohydrates given by the simulated stoichiometric reaction. However, both simulation and experimental results showed a rapid increase in biogas concentration in the initial reaction time in the DBD + aerobic reactor with an input voltage of 25 kV. The results showed that DBD + reactor produced CH4, H2, and CO2 thirteen, twenty-three, and three times higher than DBD alone, respectively. This suggests that good performance was observed when the DBD was integrated with the aerobic process under the optimum input voltage. The study can give information on the optimum condition in a lab scale to produce CH4, H2, and CO2 from POME.