The air at the mill was heavy with steam and the earthy scent of the effluent ponds.
Visitors often turned away when they saw the dark water of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME), dismissing it as dirty waste.
But Hana, standing by the edge of the pond with her engineers, saw something more.
"Leadership," she said softly, "is about how we handle what others call waste."
🌊 The Challenge of POME
Every tonne of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) produced not just oil, but also nearly 0.65 m³ of POME — a by-product rich in organic matter and oil residues [1].
If left untreated, it polluted rivers and released methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times stronger than CO₂.
Malaysia’s DOE set a strict standard: 20 ppm Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) for final discharge [2].
"That means our effluent must be as clean as fresh water before it touches the river," Hana explained to her team.
🔬 The MPOB Solution
Hana gathered her young managers in the control room to share what she had learned from MPOB’s latest research.
1️⃣ Biological Treatment Ponds
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Long rows of anaerobic and aerobic ponds.
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Microbes consumed organic matter, reducing BOD step by step.
2️⃣ Activated Carbon Innovation
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MPOB scientists developed activated carbon from palm kernel shells (PKS).
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Instead of using chemicals, this “green filter” polished the water in a tertiary system — extended aeration + bio-filtration + adsorption [3].
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Final water could be reused safely.
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Even the spent carbon became organic fertilizer, returning nutrients (N, P, K) to plantations [4].
🌟 Hana’s Reflection
Hana looked at the bubbling ponds and turned to her team:
"Do you see? This is more than waste treatment. This is transformation."
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Effluent that once polluted rivers → now recycled water.
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Shells once discarded → now activated carbon for purification.
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Spent carbon once thrown away → now fertilizer for new palms.
She paused, then added:
"As leaders, we too must do this. We must take what looks like failure, pain, or rejection — and transform it into wisdom, energy, and growth. That’s how we stay sustainable, just like this industry."
📚 References
[1] MPOB (2019). Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Management. Malaysian Palm Oil Board.
[2] DOE Malaysia (2019). Environmental Quality Regulations: Standards for POME Discharge.
[3] Sulaiman, F., Abdullah, N., Gerhauser, H., & Shariff, A. (2011). An outlook of Malaysian palm oil industry and its waste utilization. Biomass and Bioenergy, 35(9), 3775–3786.
[4] MPOC (2020). MPOB invents green technology to treat palm oil mill effluent.
✨ Hana taught her engineers that the ponds of POME were not just waste, but a mirror of leadership:
“Anyone can celebrate success. But true leaders are measured by how they handle waste — the failures, the setbacks, the dirty work. If we can turn waste into wisdom, then we will never run out of value.”
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