Palm oil plantation is presently covering millions of hectares across Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand and is becoming the world’s number one fruit crop (http://news.mongabay.com). In 2006, Malaysian agricultural exports rose to about US$12.9 billion with palm oil contributing to 51.4% of total agricultural exports. While oil palm plantation is an important economic activity in these countries, it also generates a significant amount of pollutants to the environment.  It is estimated that for every tonnes of crude palm oil produced, about 2.5 to 3.5 tonnes of palm oil mill effluent (POME) is generated. Furthermore, the effluent is characterized by high temperature (i.e. 80 to 90oC), acidic (i.e. pH 3.8 to 4.5) and contains very high concentration of biodegradable organic matter with COD of 40,000 to 50,000 mg L-1 and BOD of 20,000 to 30,000 mg L-1.  Hence, it is vital that the effluent is properly treated in order to protect the environment.

The pilot scale prototype consists of three-stage hybrid system: - anaerobic, anoxic, and aerobic process treatments, followed by several treatments for polishing. Raw POME will be used as influent.