Laboratory‐Scale Physicochemical Simulation of Palm Oil Mill Final Effluent: Water Quality Analysis and Synthetic Wastewater Formulation

ABSTRACT This study presents a systematic and reproducible methodology for developing synthetic wastewater that mimics the bulk physicochemical characteristics of palm oil mill final effluent (SWM‐POME FE ) at laboratory scale. The framework was established through four sequential phases: (1) physicochemical characterization of real POME FE (R‐POME FE ), (2) dose–response analysis of selected media, (3) iterative formulation of SWM‐POME FE , and (4) stability and statistical validation. R‐POME FE was characterized across 10 sampling events to establish baseline conditions for key parameters. Dose–response analyses of glucose, lignin, surfactant, unrefined red palm oil, and NH 4 Cl were conducted to reproduce COD, BOD 5 , color, O&G, and NH 3 –N contributions. Three progressively refined formulations were developed through iterative adjustments, demonstrating strong agreement between experimental results (Exp‐R) and calibrated predictions (Cal‐P), with deviations ranging from 0.3% to 6.3%. Statistical similarity analysis of the final SWM‐POME FE formulation showed that NH 3 –N, O&G, color, and turbidity closely matched the distribution of the R‐POME FE dataset, with mean values falling within the 95% confidence interval, interquartile range, and ±10% tolerance band. These parameters also exhibited very small standardized deviations (| z | ≤ 0.2), indicating negligible differences relative to the natural variability of the field measurements. TSS met all criteria except the interquartile range ( z  = 0.76). In contrast, COD and BOD 5 fell outside the central distribution metrics but remained within the observed field range ( z  = 1.03 and 1.52, respectively). Although formal equivalence testing using the two one‐sided tests procedure did not demonstrate strict equivalence, this was attributed to the large natural variability of the field measurements. Stability assessments further confirmed the robustness of the formulation, with < 5% variation during the 5‐day short‐term test and only minor reductions after 3‐month storage, indicating that SWM‐POME FE provides a stable physicochemical surrogate for controlled laboratory studies.