Evaluation of Technological Content of Wastewater Treatment of Palm Oil Mill in Lampung Province, Indonesia

Abstract

Palm oil industry is the most important economic sector in Lampung Province, Indonesia. There are 13 units of palm oil mills (POMs) operating in Lampung, producing about 1,094,586 tons of palm oil mill effluent (POME) a year. So far, the POME has been treated by the ponding system. However, the system has still caused environmental problems due to greenhouse gas emissions. Methane capture technology of which methane is converted to electrical energy is thus proposed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the conditions of POME treatment technology of POMs in Lampung. Technological content analysis was performed to identify the conditions of technoware, humanware, infoware and orgaware (THIO) being applied at POMs. The results showed that: (1) technological condition of POME treatment at 13 POM's in Lampung was almost equal among state-owned enterprises (SOE' s), non-public companies, and public companies, (2) the value of technology contribution coefficient of PTPN V Tandun, as a reference POM unit,was higher than that of the technology contribution coefficient of the POMs in Lampung, and (3) enhancing performance technology elements of technoware, humanware, infoware, and orgaware to apply methane capture technology are absolutely needed by all the POMs in Lampung.

Keywords

• THIO
• technological content
• methane capture
• electrical energy