Palm oil mill effluent has been extensively researched via three different technologies, namely chemical, physicochemical and biological treatment methods. Biological treatment by anaerobic and aerobic means is currently the most commonly used method for palm oil mill effluent. However, the greatest challenge posed by them is the inconsistent biological oxygen demand of 20 mg/L for the final treated effluent. Large amount of investment for additional polishing plant prior to the final discharge has been utilised intentionally to further reduce the biochemical oxygen demand values, but the problem remains unresolved. The performance of current palm oil mill effluent treatment system deployed by the industry was evaluated by comparing two different types of anaerobic treatments: open ponding and covered lagoon systems (with hydraulic and gas mixing). The covered lagoon with hydraulic mixing achieved the highest chemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, total volatile solids and lignin removal efficiencies of >80% compared to other systems which showed <50% removal. Sufficient hydraulic retention time, extended aeration system coupled with presence of pure aerobic microbial cells in the stabilisation pond were able to produce effluent that abided the final discharge limit of biochemical oxygen demand 20 mg/L. Stover-Kincannon, Monod Contois and Grau second-order kinetic models were applied to the chemical oxygen demand data obtained to gauge the performance of anaerobic treatment of covered lagoon system with hydraulic mixing. The modified Stover-Kincannon model was found to define the system most appropriately with R² of 0.9767. This work provided an up-to-date and representative palm oil mill effluent characteristics and contaminants degradation performance of the three commonly used palm oil mill effluent treatment methods in Malaysia. It helps in method selection and equipment sizing for palm oil mill effluent as well as other industrial-scale wastewater treatment and management.

棕榈油厂的废水已通过三种不同的技术进行了广泛的研究，即化学，物理化学和生物处理方法。目前，通过厌氧和好氧方法进行生物处理是棕榈油厂废水最常用的方法。但是，它们带来的最大挑战是最终处理后的废水中生物需氧量不一致，为20 mg / L。在最终排放之前，有意将大量投资用于额外的抛光设备，以进一步降低生化需氧量，但问题仍未解决。通过比较两种不同类型的厌氧处理方法，评估了业界目前部署的棕榈油厂废水处理系统的性能：开放式池塘和有盖泻湖系统（液压混合和气体混合）。与其他系统（去除率<50％）相比，带液压混合的有盖泻湖实现了最高的化学需氧量，总悬浮固体，总挥发性固体和木质素去除效率> 80％。足够的水力停留时间，延长的曝气系统以及稳定池中存在的纯需氧微生物细胞，能够产生的废水满足生化需氧量的最终排放极限20 mg / L。将Stover-Kincannon，Monod Contois和Grau二级动力学模型应用于获得的化学需氧量数据，以评估采用液压混合的有盖泻湖系统的厌氧处理性能。发现修改后的Stover-Kincannon模型最适合用R定义系统^2个，共0.9767个。这项工作提供了马来西亚三种常用的棕榈油厂废水处理方法的最新且具有代表性的棕榈油厂废水特性和污染物降解性能。它有助于棕榈油厂废水以及其他工业规模废水处理和管理的方法选择和设备选型。