Current project utilize the palm oil sludge (after aerobic and anaerobic treatment) from wastewater treatment plant of palm oil mill, which is normally disposed as soil amendment for palm oil plantations. Direct disposal of sludge in plantation will bring serious hygienic issues to public. To the author’s knowledge, any other work was done with this sludge other than direct disposal. The utilization of sludge through pyrolysis would be a new tool for solid waste treatment effectively. Normal carbonization of sludge provides only char where pyrolysis would provide both liquid and char products. Moreover, this was waste to energy production. In this project, bio-oil was produced from palm oil sludge and the physical properties were analyzed and compared with ASTM standards. Current project would also assess the bio-char application as adsorbent for metal (cadmium) removal from water.
Herein, the sludge converted as char, simultaneously producing a
value added product (liquid fuel), which can bring money for palm
oil mills.