In Malaysia lagoon systems have been successfully adopted by the natural rubber (NR) and oil palm industries to treat their effluents. The possibility of using Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) in the lagoons to further improve the treatment system was investigated. Good removal of pollutants from the block rubber effluent was achieved using a hydraulic retention of 10 - 15 days. The resulting effluent discharge was of acceptable quality. Water hyacinth also markedly improved the quality of the effluent from the remilling rubber factories. Consequently propagation of water hyacinth in the lagoons has been recommended.

Pilot plant trials with palm oil mill effluent (POME) have shown that water hyacinth can be successfully grown in anaerobically digested liquor removing 96% BOD, 87% COD, 96% suspended solids, 83% ammoniacal nitrogen and 97% oil and grease. It also removed more than 99% of the indicative bacteria such as coliforms, E.coli and Streptococci.

Under the Malaysian conditions, water hyacinth grew profusely yielding about 500 kg of dry matter per ha per day. The average dry weight was about 5.0% and it contained about 24% protein, 21% fibre and 14% ash.

Effluent, water hyacinth, natural rubber, oil palm, agro-industrial wastes, POME, lagoon system
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