Journal of Built Environment, Technology and Engineering, Vol.

2 (March)
ISSN 0128-1003
2017

SUITABILITY OF IPOMOEA AQUATICA FOR THE TREATMENT OF EFFLUENT FROM

PALM OIL MILL

Siti Kamariah Md Sa’at

School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus,
14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang;
School of Bioprocess Engineering, Jejawi 3 Industrial Complex,
Universiti Malaysia Perlis, 02600 Arau, Perlis
Email: [email protected]

Nastaein Qamaruz Zaman

School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia,
Engineering Campus, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang
Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The phytoremediation technology has been used in industrial effluent treatment such as palm oil mill effluent (POME) as the
recent technology since the last two decades with the great potential and as a sustainability approach technology. However, the
phytoremediation usually used as polishing treatment due to high organics and suspended solid concentration of the raw POME.
The treatments previously run using various species of floating aquatic plants such as water hyacinth, water lettuce, and
duckweed. In this research, another species of aquatic plant were used which is water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) in the bucket
treatment using different sources of POME, which from aerobic and anaerobic pond POME. The potential of I.aquatica
evaluated in term of percentage removal and first order removal rate constant (k) of chemical oxygen demand (COD), nutrients
concentration (ammonia, nitrate, total phosphorus) and the total suspended solid (TSS). The result shows the I.aquatica are able
to increase the plant height from 28cm to 38 cm in the aerobic POME samples with 80% of COD, 90% of TSS and 99% of
nutrients removal at the end of 25 days of treatment. While the I.aquatica in the anaerobic POME, were unable to survive where
the plant started to wilting and completely death after 5 days of treatment I.aquatica plants were shown their potential of the
POME treatment with best prospective especially as a polishing treatment for industrial effluent.

Keyword: Phytoremediation, Palm oil mill effluent (POME), Ipomoea Aquatica

Introduction

Malaysia was the second largest producer of crude palm oil in the world. Palm oil mill effluent (POME) were liquid waste from
palm oil mill with foul smell effluent, have high biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and
suspended solid concentration (Ahmed, Yaakob, Akhtar, & Sopian, 2015). These characteristics will contribute serious aquatic
environment degradation if not properly treated. The current treatment in the palm oil mill with the ponding treatment systems
need to meet the crude palm oil discharge standard regulated by Department of Environment, Malaysia. In order to enhance the
treatment performance of the current treatment, the phytoremediation treatment with aquatic plant was studied.

Phytoremediation technology involves the use of green plants to control and remove the contaminant. This technology had been
used in domestic and industrial effluent and wastewater treatment in removing heavy metals, nutrients, organic chemicals,
sewage and air pollutants (McCutcheon & Schnoor, 2003). The application of phytoremediation in the wastewater treatment
offers cost-effective treatment alternatives, aesthetic appearances, and sustainability concern. Plants provide a substrate for
microbial growth and uptake of nutrients and heavy metals in the wastewater. Therefore the plant's selection should be a
concentration aspect before implementation of phytoremediation. The plant species should have high uptake of pollutant, fast
growth rate, high tolerance in polluted water, adapted to the climate and easily control in dispersion (Ali, Khan, & Sajad, 2013).
In addition, the treatment efficiency also depends on plant species and their ages, the root zone interaction and the type of
wastewater (Tahir, Yasmin, & Khan, 2015). The younger plants tend to grow faster and uptake more nutrients than older plants
(Rezania, Ponraj, Talaiekhozani, Sabbagh, & Sairan, 2015). The mechanism of pollutant removal by phytoremediation
technology includes phytoextraction, phytodegradation, phytovolatilization, phytostabilization and phyto filtration (Farraji,
2014).

Floating aquatic plant have been reported to have achieved high nutrients removal due to high nutrients uptake potential, fast
growth rate and high biomass productivity (Guittonny-Philippe et al., 2014). Previously the selective number of the plant had
been used in the POME treatment includes Eichhornia crassipes, Pistia stratiotes, vetiver grass and Salvinia molesta (Darajeh et
al., 2014; Hadiyanto, Soetrisnanto, & Christwardhana, 2013; Hadiyanto et al., 2014; Innocent et al., 2014; Ng & Chan, 2016).
POME also has satisfy the nutrients concentration (eg. N, P, K, Mg, Ca) that can be used by aquatic plants and act as a medium
for plant growth (Hadiyanto, Soetrisnanto, & Christwardhana, 2014). Therefore, the POME can be utilized as sources of plant
nutrients.

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 Journal of Built Environment, Technology and Engineering, Vol. 2 (March)
ISSN 0128-1003
2017

Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) are a green leafy vegetable plants grown throughout tropical Asia countries, Africa and
Australia and have commercially growth especially in Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Hongkong and Singapore (Manvar & Desai,
2013). This plant was chosen in this study due to their fast growth rate, flourishing root zone and local availability. Research by
Yu, Li, Zhao, & Li, (2013) on water spinach floating bed for pig farm biogas reactor wastewater treatment showed 99% of COD,
and over 90% removal of total phosphorus, total nitrogen and nitrate within 4 months of growth season. While Endut, Jusoh, Ali,
& Wan Nik, (2011) study of water spinach in aquaculture wastewater treatment was able to remove up to 85% ammonia, 87%
nitrate and 85% of orthophosphate. According to Rane et al., (2016) on pre-treated textile effluent, about 76%, 87%, 34%,63%
and 56% of BOD, COD, total solid, total nitrogen and total phosphorus reduction, respectively can achieved and suggested that
water spinach as best plant with effective treatment of the effluent. Water spinach also had been used in cadmium, and chromium
phytoremediation (Kashem, Singh, Huq, & Kawai, 2008; Weerasinghe, Ariyawnasa, & Weerasooriya, 2008). Since heavy metal
is not the main concern dealing with POME, therefore, the main objectives of this research are to investigate the effectiveness of
Ipomoea aquatica (I.aquatica) phytoremediation for POME treatment in term of TSS, COD and nutrients removal (ammonia,
nitrate, and total phosphorus).

METHODOLOGY
POME Collection and Analysis
POME samples were collected from United Oil Palm (UOP) Industries palm oil mill, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang. The POME
samples were collected from the second pond of the aerobic pond and second pond of the anaerobic pond in the 20 L plastic
bottle.

Aquatic Plant
In this study, water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) was selected as aquatic plants as this plant were growth nearby the palm oil mill
treatment pond. The plants were washed from debris attached to the plant and then the plants were acclimatized for 2 weeks
using tap water to allow their roots dense and before used in the phytoremediation experiment.

Experiment setup
The experiment was conducted in the controlled environment structure at School of Civil Engineering, USM Engineering
Campus, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang. The initial concentration POME samples were analyzing for chemical oxygen demand
(COD), total suspended solid (TSS), total phosphorus (TP), ammonia (NH3-N) and nitrate (NO3-N).

The POME samples were directly used after collected from palm oil mill in the 6L bucket where four (4) plants were planted in
each bucket at different concentration. The volume of POME samples was 3 L and gravel were used as a medium for plant root
growth. The phytoremediation experiment conducted for 25 days of the batch experiment. The analyses of water quality were
done every five days. The water spinach plants growth and their survival were measured every five days based on the number of
leaves and plant height as Rane et al., 2016 and Kersten, Majestic, & Quigley, (2017) The survival of plants was shown as
healthy roots or leaves. Only the healthy leaves were counted, not the shriveling and showing chlorosis leaves.

Pollutant removal
In this study, the pollutant removal efficiency was analyzed based on following equation approaches:
Removal efficiency (%) = (1-C/Co) × 100 (Eq. 1)
And the pollutant removal performance of the phytoremediation systems was developed using first-order plug flow kinetic model
(Kadlec & Knight, 1996). The higher the k-value has the better the performance of the treatment. The first-order plug flow
kinetic model equation:
C/Co =e-kt (Eq. 2)
Where Co=influent pollutant concentration (mg/L), C = effluent pollutant concentration (mg/L), t = nominal hydraulic retention
time (day), k = first-order removal rate constant (day-1)

RESULT & ANALYSIS

The plant growth analysis was based on a number of leaves and plant height. Table 1 shows the Ipomoea aquatica plant growth
in both aerobic and anaerobic POME while Figure 1 shows the I. aquatica plants at initial stages and at final stages. The I.
aquatica were able to growth in the aerobic POME but not in the anaerobic POME. The survive plant with a limited number of
leaves growth. The plant heights also increase at the end of 25 days of treatment.

Table 1: The plant growth

POME types Parameter/Day 0 5 10 15 20 25

Aerobic No of leaves 45 13 14 16 16 15
Plant height (Avg)* 28.33 - - - - 38
Anaerobic No of leaves 45 Death Death Death Death Death
Plant height (Avg)* 31.3 - - - - -
*Unit in cm

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 Journal of Built Environment, Technology and Engineering, Vol. 2 (March)
ISSN 0128-1003
2017

(a) (b)
Figure 1: Ipomoea aquatica growth (a) Initial (Day 0) (b) Final (Day 25)

Figure 2 illustrates the percentage removal trend of COD, TSS, TP, NH3-N and NO3-N for aerobic pond POME. After 20 days of
phytoremediation treatment, the COD reduced 87.5% from 1292 mg/L to 161mg/L while the suspended solid (TSS) reduced
92.6% from 73,300 mg/L to 5400 mg/L. For nutrients removal (phosphorus, ammonia, and nitrate) can achieve their best
removal at 10 days of treatment with 100% of total phosphorus and nitrate and 82.7% removal of ammonia. Figure 3 illustrates
the first-order removal rates trend. Only COD, TSS and ammonia follow the first-order removal where TSS shows the best
removal performance with removal rate constant, k = 0.132 followed by ammonia (k=0.089) and COD (k=0.077).

The COD concentration can be reduced by plants by the phytodegradation mechanism where the breakdown of organics
contaminant through plant metabolic activities or through plant enzymes (Al-Baldawi, Abdullah, Suja, Anuar, & Mushrifah,
2013; Yu et al., 2013). The microbial around the roots zone of the plant can enhance the purification process. The roots of water
spinach can provide a medium for the microbial growth. Thus the organic matter can be removed effectively (Lee, 2013). The
suspended solid particles may be filtered by extensive root zone of water spinach through phytofiltration which the extensive
root systems sequestration of pollutants from contaminated water by the plant (Ali et al., 2013). The solids also filtered by the
gravel and reduced the suspended solid concentration.

100 TSS
COD
80 TP

NH3-N
60
% removal

NO3-N

40

20

0 Days
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Figure 2: The pollutant removal

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 Journal of Built Environment, Technology and Engineering, Vol. 2 (March)
ISSN 0128-1003
2017

1 TSS
COD
0.8
TP

0.6 NH3-N
C/Co
NO3-N
0.4

y = e-0.077x
0.2
y = e-0.089x
y = e-0.132x
0 Days
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Figure 3: First-order removal rate

The phosphorus is one of the essential nutrients for plant and microorganism growth and needed during photosynthesis process.
Phosphorus help for energy and biochemistry reaction and also plays an important role in coenzyme formation (Hadiyanto et al.,
2014). The phosphorus removal mechanism includes sorption, precipitation, complexation, assimilation by plant biomass and
microorganism (Zhang, Achal, Xu, & Xiang, 2014). Removal of phosphorus in the systems may because of the photosynthesis
activity occur and the adsorption of phosphorus by the gravel media. According to Zhang et al. (2014), the removal mechanism
of phosphorus by water spinach was mainly through plant absorption.

The nitrogen is an essential macronutrient required by plant more than phosphorus. The nitrogen in the form of N-organic
converted to ammonia via ammonification and then converted to nitrite and nitrate by bacteria in nitrification process (Saeed &
Sun, 2012). The nitrite will be uptake by the plant for photosynthetic reaction (Hadiyanto et al., 2014). The nitrate reduction
maybe due to denitrification process occurs to reduced nitrate to nitrogen gas. The nitrate that needs by the plant will be uptake
and therefore the nitrate will be removed. The plant also provided the surface of microorganism growth in the rhizosphere and
enhances nitrification thus enhancing the organics and nitrogen removal (Saeed & Sun, 2012). The main mechanism for the
ammonia and nitrate removal by water spinach were by nitrogen microorganisms comprising of ammonifying bacteria, nitrifying
bacteria and denitrifying bacteria (Zhang et al., 2014).

The final effluent must conform to the Malaysian Department of Environment (DOE) standard for palm oil mill effluent
discharge standard. From the result of phytoremediation treatment using I.aquatica for POME treatment as listed in Table 2, only
final ammonia concentration below the discharged standard. The experiment failed to fulfill the required discharged standard.
Nevertheless, the phytoremediation treatment has shown the best performance in term of best percentage removal for all
parameter.

Table 2: Initial and final concentration palm oil mill effluent

Parameter Initial concentration Final concentration Limit**
(Day 0) (Day 25)
pH 7.95 9.00 5 to 9
BOD - - 100
COD 1292 223 -
Suspended Solids (SS) 73,300 5500 400
Ammoniacal Nitrogen (NH3-N) 121 24 150
*All units in mg/L except pH
**Source: (MPOB, 2014)

CONCLUSION
The phytoremediation of Ipomoea aquatica was able to reduce the COD concentration, nutrients and suspended solid of the
aerobic POME up to 80% of all parameter by the end of 25 days of treatment. The greatest pollutant removal by I.aquatica
showed their potential in phytoremediation for industrial effluent treatment like POME, suggested the utilization of the plant in
polishing treatment pond to enhance the pollutant removal prior to discharge to nearest river and to meet the discharge standard.
In future works, the potential of Ipomoea aquatica can be further explored for their nutrients accumulation in plant parts (leaves,
stem and root).

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 Journal of Built Environment, Technology and Engineering, Vol. 2 (March)
ISSN 0128-1003
2017

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work is funded by Universiti Sains Malaysia under Iconic grant scheme (Grant no. 1001/CKT/870023) for research
associated with the Solid Waste Management Cluster, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

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