Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

REDUCING THE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION FROM PALM OIL INDUSTRY

Muhammad Ansori Nasution, Erwinsyah, Ayu Wulandari and Henny Lydiasari

Abstract

Indonesia is the biggest palm oil producer in the world. Palm oil mill is not only producing crude palm oil, but also other products, i.e., palm kernel oil (PKO), liquid waste or palm oil mill effluent (POME), oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB), oil palm shell, and oil palm fiber. POME treatment with open lagoon technology and EFB dumping in the plantation as mulch are the biggest contributor to the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Methane emissions from POME and EFB dumping are around 77 % of the total global warming potential (GWP) in CPO production. The objective of this study was applying life cycle assessment (LCA) to compare and evaluate POME treatment, and EFB utilization to reduce the emission of the palm oil industry. The main alternative technologies were EFB composting technology and POME biogas technology. Biogas technology consists of 3 types of combination referring to final effluent from the biogas reactor was unacceptable when it directly releases to the watercourse. The following technologies for biogas technology were composting, membrane technology, and land application. The LCA system boundary was from gate to gate. To estimate the environmental impacts of these technologies, this study used the unit of per ton fresh fruit bunch (FFB) as a functional unit. Among the technologies, biogas integrated with composting technology was higher for reducing GHG emissions in the palm oil industry. Around 167.31 kg CO2 equivalent of GHG reduction potential per ton FFB processing could be achieved. This summary could help the Indonesian government to reduce GHG and make more environmentally friendlier POME as a byproduct.