Waste Management in the Palm Oil Industry: Plantation and Milling Processes

81 Pages·2020·2.63 MB·English

by  Phaik Eong Poh (Author), Ta Yeong Wu (Author), Weng Hoong Lam (Author), Wai Ching Poon (Author), Chean Shen Lim (Author)

Green Energy and Technology
Phaik Eong Poh · Ta Yeong Wu ·
Weng Hoong Lam · Wai Ching Poon ·
Chean Shen Lim
Waste
Management
in the Palm
Oil Industry
Plantation and Milling Processes
Green Energy and Technology
Climate change, environmental impact and the limited natural resources urge
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Energy and Technology serves as a publishing platform for scientific and
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Phaik Eong Poh Ta Yeong Wu
(cid:129) (cid:129)
Weng Hoong Lam Wai Ching Poon
(cid:129) (cid:129)
Chean Shen Lim
Waste Management
in the Palm Oil Industry
Plantation and Milling Processes
123
PhaikEong Poh TaYeong Wu
Schoolof Engineering Schoolof Engineering
MonashUniversity Malaysia MonashUniversity Malaysia
Bandar Sunway,Selangor, Malaysia Bandar Sunway,Selangor, Malaysia
WengHoong Lam Wai ChingPoon
SchoolofEnergyandChemicalEngineering Schoolof Business
Xiamen University Malaysia MonashUniversity Malaysia
Bandar Sunsuria,Selangor, Malaysia Bandar Sunway,Selangor, Malaysia
Collegeof Chemistry andChemical
Engineering
Xiamen University
Xiamen, China
Chean ShenLim
Wings Strategic ManagementSdnBhd
ShahAlam, Selangor, Malaysia
ISSN 1865-3529 ISSN 1865-3537 (electronic)
Green Energy andTechnology
ISBN978-3-030-39549-0 ISBN978-3-030-39550-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39550-6
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Preface
Countless literature published in the form of journal articles, reviews, book chap-
ters,andconferenceproceedingsonpalmoilwastescanbefoundthesedays.These
are mostly accessible to scientists and researchers in the field, and not so for
practitioners in the palm oil industry, especially those who are new to the industry
and wish to learn more.
This book aims to provide readers an overview of palm oil activities, covering
plantation and milling process, and issues that were raised in the past and present
withregardstothesustainabilityoftheseactivities.Also,thefocusisgiventowaste
generationfromplantationandmillinginthepalmoilsectorandhowthesewastes
could be managed effectively from a technological viewpoint.
Readers can also refer to this book for a case study on the introduction of a
business scheme to convert mill wastes into bioorganic fertilizer. We evaluate the
economic,social,andenvironmentalbenefitsofsuchaprogramanddiscussfuture
challengesfromsustainability,industry’sviewpointaswellasgovernmentpolicies.
Thisbookwillenablepractitionerstoeffectivelyreviewanddecideonprojectsthat
can elevate the overall sustainability of the palm oil industry.
Bandar Sunway, Malaysia Phaik Eong Poh
Bandar Sunway, Malaysia Ta Yeong Wu
Bandar Sunsuria, Malaysia/Xiamen, China Weng Hoong Lam
Bandar Sunway, Malaysia Wai Ching Poon
Shah Alam, Malaysia Chean Shen Lim
v
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Deforestation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 What Are the Major Countries Doing to Reduce
the Impact Caused by the Oil Palm Industry?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.1 Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 What About Waste Materials from Processes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Oil Palm Plantation Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Potential Application of Oil Palm Wastes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.1 Bioenergy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.2 Bio-Based Chemicals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.3 Biochar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.4 Fertilizer and Animal Feed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.5 Other Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3 Palm Oil Milling Wastes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.2 Palm Oil Milling Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3 Sterilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.4 Stripping, Digestion, and Pressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.5 Clarification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.6 Kernel Extraction Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.7 Solid Waste Management in Palm Oil Mills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.7.1 Incineration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.7.2 Return to Plantation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
vii
viii Contents
3.7.3 Conversion to Value-Added Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.7.4 Other Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.8 Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.8.1 POME Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.9 POME Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.9.1 Alternative Treatment Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.10 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4 High-Rate Anaerobic Digestion of POME for Stable Effluent
and Biogas Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.1 Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket-Hollow Centered Packed
Bed (UASB-HCPB) Reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.2 Predictive Model for Monitoring and Control of High-Rate
Anaerobic Reactors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.3 Pretreatment to Enhance Anaerobic Digestion of POME. . . . . . . 52
4.4 New Concept for POME Treatment Process for the Future
and Possible Advancements in the Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5 Sustainability of Waste Management Initiatives in Palm
Oil Mills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.1 Biomass from Oil Palm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.2 Our Concerns in Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.3 Meeting Sustainable Palm Oil Policies Compliance . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.4 Waste Treatment Options and Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.5 Bioorganic Fertilizer (BOF) and Bio-circular Economy. . . . . . . . 62
5.6 Case Study on Bio-circular Economic Framework . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.7 Waste Returned to the Plantation for Mulching Versus
Fortified Composts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.8 In-vessel Anaerobic Composting—Control Environment
Composting Chambers (“CECC”) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5.9 Wastewater Treatment Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5.10 In-vessel Biomass Composting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
5.11 Key Economic Deliverables for a Typical 45 MT/hr
Capacity Palm Oil Mill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.12 Waste Treatment Productivity Gains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.13 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Chapter 1
Introduction
Oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis), which originates from Africa, was brought to
MalaysiainitiallyasanornamentalplantbytheBritish.Inthe60s,thecultivationof
oilpalminthecountrywasintensifiedtoreduceeconomicreliancefromthetinand
rubber industry. Currently, the oil palm industry is dominated by Southeast Asian
countriessuchasIndonesia,Malaysia,andThailand,wherein2017,Indonesiaand
Malaysiaalonecontributedto85%oftheworld’spalmoilproduction(Iskandaretal.
2018).
Despite the lower fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yield in 2018, Malaysia’s export of
palmoilproductsremainedstrong,withanincreaseof3.8%to24.88milliontonnes
(MPOB 2019). The versatility of palm oil to be converted into various products
and its potential as an energy source is expected to lead to greater demand in the
nearfuture.However,thedevelopmentoftheoilpalmindustryhasbeencloudedby
controversiesonthetopicofsustainabilityandenvironmentalimpactsattributedto
activitiesbytheindustry.
1.1 Deforestation
Onehugely debated controversies relatedtothepalmoilindustryisdeforestation.
Whileoilpalmfruitsarethemostefficientoil-yieldingcrop,requiringonly0.26haof
landpertonneofoilascomparedtootherfoodcropssuchassunflower,soybean,and
rapeseed, a large area of rainforest or peatland were displaced to allow cultivation
of oil palm to cope with the increasing demand. It was reported that new planta-
tionsdevelopedbetween1990and2010inIndonesiawerepredominantly(63%)on
deforestedlands,whileMalaysiahad17%ofnewestateslocatedondeforestedareas
(Gunarsoetal.2013;Kohetal.2011).
Theimpactofdeforestationis,infact,hugewithdisruptiontotheforestecosystem,
increasedanthropogenicgreenhousegasemissions,andpollutiontowatercoursejust
to name a few. With the increasing demand for palm oil for various end products,
theimpactoftherapidgrowthofoilpalmplantationsiscatchingtheattentionofthe
©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2020 1
P.E.Pohetal.,WasteManagementinthePalmOilIndustry,
GreenEnergyandTechnology,https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39550-6_1
2 1 Introduction
world.Morerecently,transboundaryhazeisawidespreadissueinASEANcountries
duetotheclearingofforeststomakewayforoilpalmplantations,wherethemajority
oftheforestfiresoccurinIndonesia(Jones2006).
1.2 WhatAretheMajorCountriesDoingtoReduce
theImpactCausedbytheOil PalmIndustry?
Whiletheindustryhasbeencontributingtotheeconomicgrowthofmanynations,
theenvironmentalandsocialimpactthatisrelatedtotheindustryisnotpossibleto
be ignored. In view of the effects caused by the palm oil industry, Roundtable for
SustainablePalmOil(RSPO)isaglobalestablishmentsetupin2004toencourage
sustainabledevelopmentandutilizationofpalmoilproductsinaccordancetoaglobal
standard,withtheinvolvementofstakeholders(Iskandaretal.2018).Thisorganiza-
tioninvolvedstakeholdersfromvariedbackgrounds,fromupstreamtodownstreamof
thepalmoilprocesschain,retailers,NGOs,financialinstitutionsofvariouscountries
withactiveproductionandusageofpalmoil.
RSPO has developed a set of environmental and social criteria which enables
companiestominimizenegativeimpactsofpalmoilcultivationoncommunitiesand
environmentinregionsinvolved,producingCertifiedSustainablePalmOil(CSPO).
However, only 19% of the total palm oil produced globally is certified by RSPO
(RSPO 2019) and most of the CSPO producers are from the significant market
playersinIndonesiaandMalaysia.Despitethepushtowardsustainability,theuptake
byvariouscompanieswouldbeconsideredlowandmoreefforthastobemadelocally
toencouragetheshifttowardtheproductionofsustainablepalmoil.
1.2.1 Indonesia,Malaysia,andThailand
As Indonesia produces the primary volume of palm oil for local consumption, the
country has a program—Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) program, that is
bothmandatoryandlegallybindingforallpalmoilgrowers,withtheexceptionof
domesticsmallholders.TheaimsofISPOareverymuchsimilartoRSPO,however,
the palm oil growers are subjected to the Presidential and Ministry of Agriculture
Regulation.Meanwhile,exportactivitiesofCPOareregulatedundertheMinistryof
TradeoftheRepublicofIndonesia(AndokoandZmudczynska2019).
WhileMalaysiahasMalaysianPalmOilBoard(MPOB)asagovernmentagency
andMalaysianPalmOilCouncil(MPOC)thatbothfocusesonthedevelopmentand
marketexpansionofpalmoilindustry,MalaysiaalsohasMalaysiaSustainablePalm
Oil(MSPO) certification scheme thatis managed byMalaysia Palm OilCertifica-
tionCouncil(MPOCC).MSPOusedtobeabodywhichprovidescertificationand
prescribesstandardsinoilpalmmanagementandsupplychainandisnot mandatory