Electrocoagulation Process of Palm Oil Mill Effluent: Effect of Applied Voltage on Removal of Organic Content
Nofri NALDI, Ariadi HAZMI, Reni DESMIARTI, Primas EMERALDI, Maulana Yusup ROSADI, Nofrizon RAHMAN, Erda Rahmilaila DESFITRI
Abstract. Palm oil mill effluent (POME) has high organic content or extremely polluted waste water. Electrocoagulation is advanced alternative technology to treat POME. This study aims to investigate the effects of applied voltage and residence time on chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), and total dissolved solid (TDS) removal. Aluminum electrodes were used and applied voltage was varied between 5, 7, and 9 volts. The sampling time was conducted at 30, 60, 90, and 120 min. The results showed that the removal of COD, BOD, and TDS increased with the increasing applied voltage. The optimum applied voltage at 9 volts and pH 7.7, achieving the highest removal efficiencies: 96.7% for COD, 98.8% for BOD, and 99.8% for TDS at 120 min of processing time. This research found that electrocoagulation process is very effective to treat highly polluted wastewater such as palm oil mill effluent.
Keywords
Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME), Electrocoagulation, Applied Voltage, Aluminium Electrode, Organic Content
Published online 1/15/2026, 8 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Nofri NALDI, Ariadi HAZMI, Reni DESMIARTI, Primas EMERALDI, Maulana Yusup ROSADI, Nofrizon RAHMAN, Erda Rahmilaila DESFITRI, Electrocoagulation Process of Palm Oil Mill Effluent: Effect of Applied Voltage on Removal of Organic Content, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 59, pp 48-55, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903957-7
The article was published as article 7 of the book Separation Technology
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
References
[1] S. Shehu, S. Sani, M. Mujahid, and R. Adnan, “Valuable resources recovery from palm oil mill effluent ( POME ): A short review on sustainable wealth reclamation,” vol. 3, no. December 2024, pp. 1–16, 2025.
[2] R. Desmiarti, M. Y. Rosadi, A. Hazmi, M. M. Rahman, N. Naldi, and J. A. Fajri, “Biogas Production from Palm Oil Mill Effluent Using Dielectric Barrier Discharge Integrated with the Aerated Condition,” Water (Switzerland), vol. 14, no. 22, pp. 1–15, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14223774
[3] A. Hazmi, R. Desmiarti, P. Emeraldi, M. I. Hamid, Edwardo, and E. P. Waldi, “Preliminary study on biogas production from POME by DBD plasma,” Telkomnika (Telecommunication Comput. Electron. Control., vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 554–559, 2017. https://doi.org/10.12928/TELKOMNIKA.v15i2.5574
[4] P. Khongkliang, K. Chalearmkul, K. Boonloh, and N. Kanjanasombun, “Performance of combined organic precipitation , electrocoagulation , and electrooxidation in treating anaerobically treated palm oil mill effluents,” Appl. Water Sci., vol. 14, no. 10, pp. 1–16, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-024-02288-y
[5] S. Jo, R. Kadam, H. Jang, and D. Seo, “Recent Advances in Wastewater Electrocoagulation Technologies : Beyond Chemical Coagulation,” energies MDPI, vol. 17, no. 5863, 2024. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/en17235863
[6] M. Daudsyah, S. Mulyati, C. M. Rosnelly, and A. C. Ambarita, “Improving the efficiency of the electrocoagulation process for Palm Oil Mill effluent : a case study in POME processing in a palm oil processing factory in Meulaboh , West Aceh Regency,” BIO Web Conf., vol. 02002, 2024. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1051/bioconf/202414802002
[7] E. Windiastuti, N. S. Indrasti, U. Hasanudin, Y. Bindar, W. Java, and W. Java, “Effect of Electrocoagulation on Improving the Quality of Palm Oil Liquid Waste,” EnvironmentAsia, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 174–184, 2024. https://doi.org/10.14456/ea.2024.45
[8] M. Aiyd, F. Yasir, and A. Dawood, “Studying the effect of reactor design on the electrocoagulation treatment performance of oily wastewater,” Heliyon, vol. 9, no. July, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17794
[9] D. T. Moussa, M. H. El-Naas, M. Nasser, and M. J. Al-Marri, “A comprehensive review of electrocoagulation for water treatment: Potentials and challenges,” J. Environ. Manage., vol. 186, pp. 24–41, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.10.032
[10] M. E. Bote, “Studies on electrode combination for COD removal from domestic wastewater using electrocoagulation,” HLY, vol. 7, no. 12, p. e08614, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08614
[11] E. Science, “Reactor design optimization on the electrocoagulation treatment of sugarcane molasses-based distillery wastewater Reactor design optimization on the electrocoagulation treatment of sugarcane molasses-based distillery wastewater,” IOP Conf. Ser. Earth Environ. Sci., 2019. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/344/1/012023
[12] M. A. Nasution, Z. Yaakob, E. Ali, and S. M. Tasirin, “Electrocoagulation of Palm Oil Mill Effl uent as Wastewater Treatment,” Tech. REPORTS WASTE Manag. Tech. REPORTS Electrocoagulation, vol. 40, no. December 2015, pp. 2–10, 2011. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2011.0002
[13] K. L. Terrones-díaz, S. S. Segura-vera, and G. L. Huerta-chombo, “Favourable Conditions for the Removal of BOD and COD in Municipal Wastewater by Electrocoagulation,” MDPI, vol. 17, no. 7803, pp. 1–22, 2025.
[14] M. Syaamil et al., “Journal of King Saud University – Science Techno-economic analysis of an integrated electrocoagulation- membrane system in treatment of palm oil mill effluent,” J. King Saud Univ. – Sci., vol. 34, no. 4, p. 102015, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksus.2022.102015
[15] C. O. Demand and T. Improvement, “Chemical Oxygen Demand and Turbidity Improvement of Deinked Tissue Wastewater using Electrocoagulation Techniques,” bioresources, vol. 12, pp. 4327–4341, 2017.
[16] S. U. Khan et al., “Efficacy of Electrocoagulation Treatment for the Abatement of Heavy Metals : An Overview of Critical Processing Factors , Kinetic Models and Cost Analysis,” vol. 15, no. 2, 2023. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021708
[17] M. Javad, A. Takdastan, S. Jor, A. Neisi, and M. Farhadi, “Data in Brief Electrocoagulation process to Chemical and Biological Oxygen Demand treatment from carwash grey water in Ahvaz megacity , Iran,” Data Br., vol. 11, pp. 634–639, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2017.03.006
[18] N. Muhammad et al., “Journal of Water Process Engineering Performance of batch electrocoagulation with vibration-induced electrode plates for land fi ll leachate treatment,” J. Water Process Eng., vol. 36, no. April, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101282
[19] S. A. Bakry, M. E. Matta, and K. Zaher, “Electrocoagulation process performance in removal of TOC , TDS , and turbidity from surface water,” Desalin. Water Treat., vol. 129, pp. 127–138, 2018. https://doi.org/10.5004/dwt.2018.23070
[20] A. A. Al-raad and M. M. Hanafiah, “Environmental Technology & Innovation SO 4 2 − , Cl − , Br − , and TDS removal by semi continuous electrocoagulation reactor using rotating anode,” Environ. Technol. Innov., vol. 28, p. 102917, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2022.102917
[21] M. Kobya and E. Demirbas, “Evaluations of operating parameters on treatment of can manufacturing wastewater by electrocoagulation,” J. Water Process Eng., vol. 8, pp. 64–74, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2015.09.006
[22] E. Bazrafshan, L. Mohammadi, A. Ansari-Moghaddam, and A. H. Mahvi, “Heavy metals removal from aqueous environments by electrocoagulation process – A systematic review,” J. Environ. Heal. Sci. Eng., vol. 13, no. 1, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40201-015-0233-8
[23] O. Sahu, B. Mazumdar, and P. K. Chaudhari, “Treatment of wastewater by electrocoagulation: A review,” Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 2397–2413, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2208-6
[24] F. Ilhan, K. Ulucan-Altuntas, Y. Avsar, U. Kurt, and A. Saral, “Electrocoagulation process for the treatment of metal-plating wastewater: Kinetic modeling and energy consumption,” Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 1–8, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-019-1152-1
[25] O. Mill et al., “Post treatment of Palm Oil Mill Effluent Using Electro-coagulation-peroxidation (ECP) Technique,” J. Clean. Prod., 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.073
[26] A. Brian, L. Choong, and A. P. Peter, “Treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) using chickpea (Cicer arietinum) as a natural coagulant and flocculant: Evaluation, process optimization and characterization of chickpea powder,” Biochem. Pharmacol., 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2018.09.038
[27] A. W. Zularisam, “Electrode design for electrochemical cell to treat palm oil mill effluent by electrocoagulation process,” Environ. Technol. Innov., 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2017.10.001
