POME

Full explainer

POME — Palm Oil Mill Effluent — is the high chemical-oxygen-demand (high-COD) wastewater stream produced when fresh fruit bunches are processed into crude palm oil. A typical mill generates roughly 2.5–3.0 m³ of POME per tonne of crude palm oil, and the stream is conventionally treated in a cascade of open anaerobic lagoons before discharge.

Those open lagoons are highly methanogenic: anaerobic decomposition of the organic load releases substantial volumes of methane, a potent short-lived greenhouse gas. Indonesian carbon projects target this methane stream by retrofitting covered lagoons or CSTR digesters that capture the biogas for flaring or for power generation feeding into the grid or the mill itself, typically credited under CDM AMS-III.H or VCS analogues.

Related terms

• AMS-III.H
• CDM