Anthropogenic release of greenhouse gases, especially CO
2 and CH
4 has been recognized as one of the main causes of global warming. Several measures under the Kyoto Protocol 1997 have been drawn up to reduce the greenhouse gases emission. One of the measures is Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) that was created to enable developed countries to cooperate with developing countries in emission reduction activities. In Malaysia, palm oil industry particularly from palm oil mill effluent (POME) anaerobic treatment has been identified as an important source of CH
4. However, there is no study to quantify the actual CH
4 emission from the commercial scale wastewater treatment facility. Hence, this paper shall address the CH
4 emission from the open digesting tanks in Felda Serting Hilir Palm Oil Mill. CH
4 emission pattern was recorded for 52 weeks from 3600 m
3 open digesting tanks. The findings indicated that the CH
4 content was between 13.5% and 49.0% which was lower than the value of 65% reported earlier. The biogas flow rate ranged between 0.8 l min
−1 m
−2 and 9.8 l min
−1 m
−2. Total CH
4 emission per open digesting tank was 518.9 kg day
−1. Relationships between CH
4 emission and total carbon removal and POME discharged were also discussed. Fluctuation of biogas production was observed throughout the studies as a result of seasonal oil palm cropping, mill activities, variation of POME quality and quantity discharged from the mill. Thus only through long-term field measurement CH
4 emission can be accurately estimated.
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