Environment by Palm Oil World Beta 2010

Journal of Oil Palm Research (Special Issue -THE AprilNEED 2006), 1-23 NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRY’S ROLE TO p. REDUCE

THE NEED TO REDUCE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRY’S ROLE MOHD BASRI WAHID*; CHAN KOOK WENG*; CHOO YUEN MAY* and CHOW MEE CHIN* ABSTRACT Malaysia ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1994 and the Initial National Communication (INC) submission based on 1994 inventory of emissions and removals was submitted in 2000. Now with the coming in force of the Kyoto Protocol on 16 February 2005, the preparation of the Second National Communication (NC2) would be a continual step towards Malaysia’s commitment on the national implementation of UNFCCC. The approach and process consisted of a self-assessment of the national greenhouse gases (GHG) inventories that would include measures undertaken to adapt and to mitigate climate change. The objective would be to improve NC2 submission in 2006 by addressing the gaps identified during the preparation of INC. The NC2 would cover all sectors that would be vulnerable to climate change. For each of the sector identified, an inventory of possible sources of GHG emissions/removals was listed. Under INC only five broad sectors of energy, industrial process, agriculture, land-use and land-use change and forestry, and waste, had their emissions and removals through sequestration identified and quantified. In updating the GHG inventory for the base year 2000, the 1996 IPCC revised guidelines were used, and the 1994 inventory was also recalculated using the 1996 guidelines. The vulnerability and adaptation of the oil palm plantations activities were assessed for all seven sectors of agriculture, forestry, biodiversity, water and coastal resources, public health and energy. As for the mitigation of climate change, however, the oil palm industry activities for five sectors of energy, agriculture, waste, land-use and land-use change and forestry, including the use of clean development mechanism (CDM) was reviewed. The details of adaptation and mitigation measures undertaken by the oil palm industry activities were prioritized in the NC2. From the prioritization, improvement in GHG inventory, adaptation measures and mitigation options were used to compute as accurately as possible the total GHG emissions to determine whether the industry is a net emitter or sequester of GHG emissions. The positive contribution by the oil palm industry in reduction of GHG emissions would be used to assist in the computation of the net national GHG emissions when the other industries’ sectors net emissions would be totalled up. The role and contribution of the oil palm industry in enhancing reduction of national GHG emissions would be highlighted. The paper provided firm recommendations to improve the computation of GHG emissions by focusing on capacity building process, coordination, sustainable development and integration of climate change programmes in the medium- to long-term planning of the palm oil industry. Keywords: oil palm, eddy correlation, canopy photosynthesis, evapotranspiration, drought. Date received: 2 October 2005; Sent for revision: 28 October 2005; Received in final form: 7 January 2006; Accepted: 14 January 2006.

* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: basri@mpob.gov.my

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - APRIL 2006)

submitting its Initial National Communication (INC) based on 1994 figures to UNFCCC in 2000. The INC was an ample proof of the importance the country had given to the fulfillment of the commitment made by the country under the UNFCCC. In the process, the country had the opportunities to enhance institutional capacity in computing GHG emissions baselines among the various industries. At the same time, there was an increased awareness of the responsibilities of both public and institutions concerning the GHG emissions and their removals on global warming and the country took a stand to responsibly contribute to the efforts for enhancing climate change abatement. By 2006, the country would be expected to submit its Second National Communication (NC2) based on the 2000 baseline of GHG figures. The main priority would be an upgrading of the computation of the GHG inventory within NC2 by ascertaining the results of the estimated INC GHG emissions. By reducing the number of uncertainties, greater emphasis on verification and interpretation of collected data for the country would enable a more user-friendly database system to be developed. This would also improve the capability for future updating of the GHG inventory. The GHG inventory used for reporting NC2 based on year 2000, would be in accordance to the decision taken at Conference of Parties (COP 8) under the UNFCCC held at New Delhi, India in 2002 as outlined in Decision 17/CP8.

INTRODUCTION As Malaysia marches on to become a developed nation by 2020, the rapid economic changes in the urban and rural areas of the country will pose many environmental challenges. One of them is the need to have energy for development. Sustainable development means doing those things that nurture mankind’s aspirations by providing society’s needs while ensuring a safe and viable environment for the resources we live on…. and in…. (Stauffer, 1999). Since the 1970s, several principles of sustainable development have been integrated into the national development whereby a balance between environmental and developmental demands is met. The environmental requirements are to ensure sustainable economic growth with effective protection of environment and natural resources. The National Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2015 Report prepared by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) was launched by Datuk Mustapa Mohammed, Minister in the Prime Minister ’s Department in January 2005 to provide the thrust to achieve such a balance between environment and development. MPOB had earlier highlighted some future scenarios where between 2020 and 2050 there would be a need for Malaysia to account for its GHG emissions as a developed country (Yusof and Chan, 2004). Arising from this there would be a need to prepare a national carbon balance sheet and the oil palm industry (Chan et al., 2003) would be included where the emissions and the removals by sequestration by the oil palm would be balanced in relation to total production. The proposed carbon balance paper, presented initially at PIPOC 2003, had identified several weaknesses in the computation of the GHG inventory. There was too much reliance on the use of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) default values for estimation of GHG emissions and for removals. The need to develop the local emission factors was highlighted. They had to be established so as to improve the accuracy of the precise extent of GHG emissions and the removals. Over the past two years, local capacity had also started to be built up and current efforts in developing local emissions factors would result in more accurate estimates than those used previously in the Initial National Communication in 1994.

OBJECTIVE OF PAPER The objective of the paper is to show how the palm oil industry can support the Government of Malaysia’s commitment to the UNFCCC project by commencing from January 2005 onwards to prepare the NC2 at the national level and culminating in its submission to UNFCCC by the end of 2006. The objective of this paper is three-pronged: • firstly, to reflect on the seriousness of the oil palm industry in helping the Government of Malaysia in honouring the country’s commitment to the UNFCCC. A carbon balance over the whole industry would need to be constructed; • secondly, by presenting this important paper at PIPOC 2005, the oil palm industry would be seen moving ahead in its stocktaking of the GHG emissions and removals; and reflecting on its efforts in achieving sustainable development by demonstrating whether it can contribute to the reduction of national GHG

MALAYSIA’S SUBMISSION OF INITIAL NATIONAL COMMUNICATION In July 1994, Malaysia having ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) demonstrated a commitment by

THE NEED TO REDUCE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRY’S ROLE

emissions thereby reducing global warming; and • thirdly, to allow the oil palm industry locally, nationally and also internationally to prioritize resources to adapt to climate change and to mitigate any adverse impacts on oil palm yields, socioeconomic conditions, biodiversity, coastal management, energy, public health and water issues.

require separate computation of the contribution to the removal of GHG emissions by sinks of forests and other major tree crops including oil palm; and • thirdly, in comparing the other various industries with the oil palm industry, the main weakness highlighted in the INC would be the need to report all direct or indirect GHG emissions. It is in the interest of a more transparent, complete, reliable and consistent accounting that as accurate as possible of the overall national net GHG figure should be assessed.

Hence, in creating awareness on the climate change-related advances in science for the reduction of GHG emissions and removals through carbon sequestration by oil palm, it would be possible to determine whether its role would be positive or not. The effort made here would represent an attempt to improve and sustain the philosophical, technical and institutional capacity of the industry in meeting the obligations under the UNFCCC and in planning and implementing climate change integrated sectoral and national development objectives. It is to improve the industry and ultimately the country capability to undertake adaptation and mitigation measures to minimize climate change.

A summary of the reported national GHG emissions computations in INC under the six sectors had indicated that a low net emissions figure of 28.6 million tonnes of CO2 in 1994 is recorded as shown in Table 1. TABLE 1. SUMMARY OF NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND REMOVALS IN 1994

Categories

UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEXITY OF GLOBAL WARMING ISSUES ARISING FROM INC The Malaysian palm oil industry must understand the complexity of global warming and there are two major considerations. The Sheer Size of the Industry from the National Perspective Despite the scientific complexity of global warming related issues, the efforts made during the INC submission in 2000 based on 1994 baseline assessment showed that: • firstly, oil palm with areas at 2.412 million hectares in 1994 would be good to find out the role whether there was an overall GHG emissions reduction through its sequestration by sinks. In scanning an overview of the national circumstances and complexities of the country in terms of geographical dimensions, distribution and as well as development priorities at that time, oil palm should feature prominently; • secondly, when consolidating data of the Malaysian GHG inventory during the assessment year 1994, the amount of GHG removals by sinks, estimated in INC to be nearly half of GHG emissions, would certainly

CO2 (Gg)

CH4 (Gg)

N2O (Gg)

Energy 84 415 Industrial process 4 973 Agriculture Waste 318 Land-use change 7 636 and forestry (emissions) Total emissions 97 342 Land-use change (68 717) and forestry (sinks/ removals) Net total emissions 28 628 (less sinks/removals)

635.13 329.3 1 266.5 0.13

0.35 0.054 0.001

2 231 -

0.405 -

Sources: After Chan et al. (2003); Adapted from MOSTE 2000; 1 Gg= 109 g or 106 kg or 103 t.

On a national scale, the country’s GHG emissions figure in 1994 (computed based on IPCC 1995 guidelines and methodologies) was 97.3 million tonnes of CO 2 . The amount removed by sequestration in the sinks was 68.7 million tonnes thereby leaving a residual amount of emissions of 28.6 million tonnes or Gg of CO2. On per capita basis, the net emissions amounted to 3.7 t CO2. In terms of GHGs, CO2 accounted for 67.5%, methane (CH4) 32.4% and nitrous oxide (N2O) 0.1% of the total CO2 equivalent emissions.

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - APRIL 2006)

c) The Way Forward for NC2:

Among the six sectors, energy with its fuel combustion accounted for 86.7% of the total CO2 emissions. As for CH 4, land fills under waste accounted for 46.8% while fugitive emissions from oil and gas under energy accounted for 26.6% both adding to 73.4% of the total CH4 emissions. For N2O, the traditional biomass fuels under energy accounted for 86.4% while fertilizers under agriculture added another 13.3% giving a total of nearly 99.7% of the N2O emissions.

The way forward from INC when computing NC2 would be: • to involve more businesses and industries and their respective government ministries in requiring them to send their experts to join in the discussions of the problems identified and the lessons learned; • to reduce uncertainties; • to verify and interpret the collected data; and • to develop user-friendly methodologies and database for quicker updating of submissions of national communication in future.

Problems Identified, Lessons Learned and the Way Forward from the INC Submission Gaining from the experience in doing the INC, the main problems identified, lessons learned and the way forward where the palm oil industry can lend its support are:

MALAYSIA’S PREPARATION TO SUBMIT THE NC2

a) The problems identified were: • gaps and uncertainties of some data; • non-availability of related local emissions factors; • need to establish localized emissions factors; and • need to strengthen institutional capacity to collect and collate data.

There are six areas to be considered when preparing for the submission of NC2 and again the palm oil industry should lend its support. They are: Malaysia’s Commitment In the preparation of the NC2, Malaysia as a developing country could take the easy way out by following the UNFCCC negotiated stand that allowed developing countries to stick to sustainable development and by not to have to meet any commitments to reduce or limit anthropogenic GHG emissions targets as required for the developed countries as confirmed by the Kyoto Protocol. With only sustainable development to achieve, the country could well focus solely on improving the more pressing social and economic needs such as poverty eradication, improving educational and health conditions, and fighting hunger. However, Malaysia feels that achieving a sound environment through reduction of GHG emissions, at all three local, national and global levels, could well be decisive for the survival of the human race in the long run. Thus, the country, in choosing to play a more honourable role by significantly contributing and working towards GHG emissions reduction in the international negotiations on climate change, has been present for negotiations in all the COP meetings of the UNFCCC ever since 1992. In fact, on the ISO front, Malaysia has also been chairing a working committee to develop a GHG standard ISO 14064 for the qualification and reporting of GHG emissions and removals at the organization and project levels and for the validation and verification of the GHG assertions (Chan, 2005). Since the country has opted to work towards reducing the GHG emissions even though no targets have been set for us as a developing country and to

b) The lessons learned: • the IPCC guidelines 1995 used for computing the inventory for the base year 1994 during the self-assessment of the INC would have to be revised by using the IPCC 1996 guidelines; • the priorities are for a more accurate reporting of CO2, CH4 and N2O in all the five sectors of energy, industrial process, agriculture, land-use change and forestry, and waste; and • Malaysia, as a developing country, though has more pressing needs to eradicate poverty, improve health conditions, fight malnutrition and ensure upgrading of living conditions, yet the nation chooses to tackle the GHG emissions reduction pathway in addition to achieving the sustainable development. This is because, as the country feels that in moving towards attaining a developed country status by 2020, the Malaysian Government is conscious of the concerns for mankind when it ratified the UNFCCC in July 1994.

THE NEED TO REDUCE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRY’S ROLE

GHGs viz., CO2, CH4 and N2O were reported. For the preparation of the NC2, the oil palm industry under the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Malaysia, like other industries, is ready to examine the economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainable development for the emissions of all the six GHGs coming from the various sources under the Kyoto Protocol as shown in Table 2.

achieve sustainable development at the same time, the palm oil industry remains committed to support the nation’s effort to achieve both. Meeting the New Requirements when Submitting NC2 For NC2 preparation, the country is aware that baseline year is set at 2000 and would require the use of the following:

TABLE 2. ANTHROPOGENIC GHGs AND SOURCES

• the revised or updated 1996 IPCC guidelines adopted by COP of the UNFCCC for NonAnnex I Parties; • the 2000 IPCC Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management for National GHG Inventories; and • the 2003 IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Land-Use and Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF).

GHGs

The NC2 would require improvement in the computation work done. Attention would be placed in addressing the gaps identified during the INC compilation based on the national GHG inventory of the emissions/removals done in 1994. The three areas given focus in NC2 are as follows:

Sources

CO2: carbon dioxide

Fossil fuel deforestation, plantations.

combustion, agriculture,

CH4: methane

Agriculture, plantations, land-use change, biomass burning, landfills.

N2O: nitrous oxide

Fossil fuel industrial, plantations.

combustion, agriculture,

HFCs: hydrofluorocarbons Industrial, manufacturing. PFCs: perfluorocarbons Industrial, manufacturing. SF6: sulphur hexafluoride

• national GHG inventory to be updated with the baseline year of 2000; • development of adaptation programmes to climate change; and • measures to mitigate climate change.

Electricity transmission, manufacturing.

Sources: Kyoto Protocol, Annex A; IPCC (2001).

Luckily for the palm oil industry, the main GHGs remain as CO2, CH4 and N2O.

The above three areas would be examined by all industries/government ministries across all sectors and the palm oil sector is not to be exempted. They have to:

Clean Development Mechanism to Reduce GHG Emissions Further to the impacts of the six GHGs emissions on global warming and climate change, they potentially can affect the yield performance of the oil palm. The palm oil industry must learn to adapt to such climate change and at the same time should explore new opportunities for developing cleaner technologies to mitigate the reduction of GHG emissions using one of the three mechanisms developed by the Kyoto Protocol called Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The other two mechanisms are joint investigation (JI) between Annex 1 Countries, and International Emissions Trading (IET). The CDM in fostering the science for reducing GHG emissions and the removals would also be enhancing the palm oil industry to improve the transfer of new technologies from developed countries to them to mitigate the risk of climate change. The eligible sectors where the sources of GHG emissions reduction and the GHG removals could be selected for qualifying for CDM credits are shown in Table 3.

• establish linkages between industries; • strengthen dialogue among ministries; • exchange information between industries/ ministries; and • seek cooperation and collaboration among all stakeholders including government, nongovernment, academic and private entities. The joint work to be undertaken collaboratively by the various industries and government ministries would represent a small step towards improvement but a big step towards better understanding of how the different GHG reduction across sectors could contribute to the lower net overall emissions/ removals by computing all their respective anthropogenic activities in the country. Sources of GHG Emissions In the INC inventory prepared according to the 1995 IPCC guidance for the base year 1994, only three 5

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - APRIL 2006) TABLE 3. ELIGIBLE SECTORS AND SOURCES THAT CAN QUALIFY FOR CDM CREDITS

Sector Energy

Industrial process

Solvent and other products use

Waste Land-use, land-use change and forestry

Source categories Fuel combustion, energy industries, manufacturing industries, construction, transport, fugitive emissions from fuels, solid fuels, oil and natural gas. Mineral products, chemical industry, metal production, production and consumption of halocarbon and sulphur hexafluoride. Agriculture, enteric fermentation, manure management, rice cultivation, agricultural soils, prescribed burning of savannas, field burning of agricultural residues. Solid waste disposal on land, wastewater handling, waste incineration. Afforestation and reforestation, woodlots, plantations, agroforestry.

Source: Kyoto Protocol, Annex A.

From Table 3, the oil palm industry would be in a position to appreciate that within each sector there are many new opportunities for potential CDM projects to be developed and to earn carbon credits. They can come from:

Call for National Collaboration between Industries and their Government Ministries In the overall national NC2 computation of the emissions and removals so as to derive the new emissions figure, there would be many activities consisting of painstaking stocktaking involving stakeholders’ consultation to meet the country commitment under UNFCCC since the ultimate aim is to address sustainable development and climate change issues together. Led by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE), the NC2 project would need the cooperation of a host of other industries and their government ministries and agencies as listed in Table 5. The palm oil industry under the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities is definitely collaborating on this GHG computation nationally. The reason to include in the list of government ministries here is to show that following the 2003 general elections there is a new government structure with many industries being realigned according to the new government ministries structure. Special attention would be paid to the various government ministries as there would be new information and data related to the various sectors that would either be vulnerable to climate change such as agriculture, biodiversity, coastal management, public health and water resources or would have GHG emissions or removals as sinks to account for as in energy, industrial processes, agriculture land-use and landuse change, forestry and waste sectors. The updated information would facilitate even better planning of adaptation and mitigation measures.

• • • • •

end-use energy efficiency (EE) improvement; supply-side EE improvement in boilers; renewable energy (RE) from biomass; fuel switching through biofuels; reduction of CO2, CH4 and N2O emission in agriculture; • industrial processes to reduce CO2 from say biodiesel and biofuel projects; and • sink projects from afforestation and reforestation. Some potential CDM projects that await development in the oil palm industry are shown in Table 4. It is good at this juncture to note that the palm oil industry must understand in the short- to mediumterms the companies may not face carbon constraint in energy use for its growth but in the longer-term companies should see climate change as a strategic issue. This means that emissions-intensive activities and emissions-intensive products will increasingly face regulation and market restrictions. The palm oil industry therefore needs to find ways in which productive activities like CDM projects and products themselves can be compatible with the long-term carbon constrained future.

THE NEED TO REDUCE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ROLE TABLE 4. POTENTIAL CDM PROJECTS IN THE SEVEN SECTORS

Sector Energy Power generation Fuel switching Cogeneration Renewables Efficiency Industrial process Efficiency Cogeneration Retrofits Production process Agriculture Agriculture Zero burn Waste Recovery Land application Land-use, land-use change and forestry Afforestation and reforestation Transportation Fleet vehicles Mass transit Housing Conservation Appliances Lighting

Project examples

Combined-cycle turbines, distributive network Natural gas, methane, biomass and biogas Biomass, chemical co-products Biomass, biofuels, biogas More efficient equipment, processes and designs Boilers, motors, replacements, lighting Chemical, papers, oil refining New machineries, steel Efficiency improvement in design and production Manure management for biogas and fertilizer efficiency Mulching with organic debris from palm oil production Value-added products Fertilizer substitute, enrich soil fertility In open areas and reforest ex-grassland with oil palm, agroforestry, woodlots Alternative fuel vehicles Expand present form, light rail Education and outreach Solar water heaters, biomass and biogas cooking stoves Fluorescent light bulbs, improved interior design

TABLE 5. MINISTRIES, RELATED AGENCIES, NGOs AND UNITED NATIONS BODIES INVOLVED IN NC2 PREPARATION

No.

Ministries, Agencies, NGOs and UN Bodies

Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (chair and secretariat)

Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries

Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication

Ministry of Finance

Ministry of Health

Ministry of Housing and Local Government

Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities

Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation

Ministry of Transport

Economic Planning Unit (EPU) Prime Ministerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Department

Malaysian Meteorological Services Department

Representatives from Sabah and Sarawak

13 14

NGO representative United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Representative

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The duties of the NC2 multi ministries committee are to:

of global warming and the resulting difficulties in understanding holistically the climate change then was accompanied by the lack of human and financial resources to develop a more comprehensive climate change modelling study. This included the study of the effect of climate change on yield performance in the oil palm industry (Chong and Matthews 2000; Chan et al., 2003). Despite the shortcoming, this had made the INC submission even more than noble in that it had benefited the various institutions which were involved then in the process of developing the INC submission document. Secondly, this time round in the preparation of NC2, the institutional framework under MNRE has been set-up and there is strong involvement of other ministries and agencies. The oil palm industry is now more prepared. The wide-ranging detailed nature of the data collection for the GHG inventory would involve attempts, for completeness, to capture the diverse information available in the other numerous industries and government ministries. The producing industries including the palm oil industry and their sectors with their experts, with the experience gained from computation from INC, would be in better position in adapting the 1996 IPCC methodology (where developing countries counterparts had little role in developing) to make a more accurate and reliable NC2. Despite the difficulty, the palm oil industry with its current stage of scientific knowledge and availability of human and financial resources would be able to minimize the uncertainties when appraising the GHG emissions, and removals by sequestration. Thirdly, as NC2 computation requires the development of detailed national data for the GHG inventory, the work would be resource-intensive. Fortunately, the palm oil industry under the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities has relatively much more scientific information available to derive the consistent and reliable data. However, for certain other industries, there is little information in the various sectors. Further, in some other industries, there is no specific information available at all for such sectors. Under such circumstances, the information from a range of non-related work reported elsewhere done previously by other national institutions would have to be used to complement the default emissions figures provided by IPCC 1996 guidelines. Fourthly, as determined by the UNFCCC, the 1996 revised IPCC inventory guidance require as complete as possible the sources and sinks of the GHG emissions and removals that would result from all human anthropogenic activities. For completeness, the national inventory would have consider the emissions of CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) as listed in Table 2 earlier.

• provide strong management support and overall policy advice, and assist in mobilizing available data and expertise of the various businesses and industries under their respective ministries; • endorse work plan and reports; • monitor and review project progress; and • ultimately propose the final NC2 report for adoption by the government for its submission to UNFCCC. The committee would meet once every six months and the aim would be to ensure that all project activities are integrated into existing institutional government structure on climate change. As the oil palm industry comes under the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities, it would have to play its role.

ROLE OF THE OIL PALM INDUSTRY The role of the palm oil industry is to coordinate and oversee preparation of the inputs from the various companies, stakeholders and players within and around the palm oil industry under the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities by computing the industry’s contributions towards the country’s final output of NC2. There must be sufficient communication and adequate information flow among all concerned to ensure all sources of GHG emissions/removals from the three agreed aspects: (1) GHG inventory (2) adaptation improvement and (3) mitigation measures. Details obtained from these three aspects would go to show the overall improvement of the national communication of NC2 over that of INC for submission to UNFCCC by end of 2006. Technical Components of the Three Aspects of GHG Emissions and Removals GHG inventory There are two important considerations. a) Involvement of the Oil Palm Industry and Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities for Completeness, Consistency, Transparency and Reliability in Data Collection when Compared with Other Industries Firstly, when the country submitted the INC in 2000, the pioneering effort on reporting was made based on the 1995 IPCC guidelines for assessment of the baseline year 1994. The scientific complexity 8

THE NEED TO REDUCE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ROLE

Finally, for the oil palm industry, the emissions though confined mainly to the first three direct GHGs consisting of CO2, CH4 and N2O in the INC would now include where possible, other emissions from indirect GHGs such as nitric oxides (NOX), carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and other non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs). Both the quantities of the direct and indirect emissions would be estimated under the sectors viz., energy, industrial processes, solvent and other product use, agriculture, land-use and landuse change, and forestry and waste as listed in Table 3.

Characterization of the size of the Malaysian palm oil industry In compliance with the requirements of INC and NC2, the oil palm areas in 1990, 1994, 2000 and 2004 were listed as shown in Table 6. The four benchmark years were chosen to show i) 1990 as the starting base year of comparison, ii) 1994 being the baseline year selected for INC, iii) 2000 being the baseline year for NC2 and iv) 2004 just to give the readers the latest situation. It can be seen from Table 6 that there is a steady increase in area under oil palm from 1990 onwards. As of 2004, oil palm at 3.875 million hectares occupied about 64% of the land allocated to agriculture. The founding fathers in their early projection had allocated 6.2 million hectares to agriculture (Third Agricultural Plan, 1998-2010). The vast agriculture land potential together with the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s practice of free enterprise, the oil palm industry grew steadily within the 6.2 million hectares of agricultural land area allocated. However, this means that the expansion was done at the expense of much of the rubber, coconut, cocoa and other fruit crops. Firstly, in 1994 the increase of oil palm from 1990 was 0.383 million hectares and this was brought about by 0.099, 0.122, 0.023 million hectares of rubber, cocoa, and coconut respectively giving a total of 0.244 million hectares being planted to oil palm. No attempt was made here to show the changes in the oil palm areas that were taken out of cultivation as there were some that were cleared for uses such as roads, industrial and housing development. Only the net increase is reported. As the rest of the areas of

b) Need for Clarity and Accuracy In computing the emissions and removals, there is a need for clarity and accuracy where the methodologies used indeed must be clearly spelt out. This is to meet the requirements of global stakeholders who come from different cultures and languages. Traditionally, the oil palm industry would cover the production of palm oil as food, and this would therefore involve mainly the agriculture sector. However, as the same land under the agroforestry concept is now used to produce carbohydrate and protein food sources through intercropping and livestock integration, there would be emissions from enteric fermentation in domestic livestock and the manure management to be considered and to quantify the GHGs emissions there from. The aim is to be as clear and as accurate as possible when collecting the data and interpreting the information.

TABLE 6. TOTAL AREA (106 ha) UNDER SELECTED CROPS

Crops

1990

1994 (baseline year INC)

2000 (baseline year NC2)

2004

Oil palm Rubber Cocoa Coconut Pepper Pineapple Tobacco Paddy Coffee Tea

2.029 1.837 0.393 0.314 0.012 0.009 0.010 0.681 0.018 0.003

2.412 1.738 0.271 0.291 0.011 0.008 0.010 0.699 0.017 0.003

3.377 1.431 0.076 0.159 0.013 0.007 0.016 0.699 0.012 0.003

3.875 1.282 0.045 0.146 0.014 0.006 0.012 0.675 0.012 0.003

Total

5.306

5.460

5.793

6.079

Sources: Statistics on Commodities 2004 compiled from Department of Statistics, Malaysian Rubber Board and Malaysian Palm Oil Board.

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - APRIL 2006)

crops, consisting of pepper, pineapple, tobacco, coffee and tea including paddy, were maintained they were therefore not brought into the change in area equation. The balance of 0.139 million hectares over five years or annually 0.028 million hectares is assumed to have come from logged-over forests or deforested land and perhaps some deforested peat land estimated to be at 25% of logged over forests. Secondly, in the NC2 preparation, the baseline year is 2000 and the increase in oil palm area over 1994 was 0.965 million hectares. Of this, 0.307, 0.195, 0.132 million hectares are assumed to come from rubber, cocoa, coconut respectively giving a total of 0.634 million hectares converted to oil palm. Again the balance of 0.331 million hectares over six years or annually 0.055 million hectares assumed to come from logged-over secondary forest or deforested land and perhaps some cleared peat land also estimated at 25% of logged-over forests. Thirdly, in 2004, the increase in oil palm area over 2000 came to about 0.497 million hectares where 0.149, 0.031, 0.013 million hectares giving a total of 0.193 million hectares respectively came from rubber, cocoa and coconut. The remainder of 0.304 million hectares over the last four years or annually 0.076 million hectares of logged-over forests or deforested land or deforested peat forest land were converted to oil palm. In all three situations, the overall agricultural land bank of 6.2 million hectares, designated for agriculture, had been maintained. This implies good enforcement of land laws in the country.

emissions. The emissions include those from combustion and fugitive GHGs.

The GHG emissions and removals

(b) Reduction in emissions from fossil with energy replacement from combustion of renewable fuels

(a) Emissions from combustion of fossil fuels This consists of firstly, of combustion of nonrenewable fossil fuels. Indirect emissions from the plantation inputs like fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides requiring the use of fossil fuels for their manufacture would also have to be accounted as seen in Table 7. The use of biocontrol measures for example through integrated pest control (IPM) would reduce use of pesticides and therefore reduce indirect emissions emitted by use of fossil fuels to manufacture pesticides. The emissions of GHGs include CH4, N2O, CO, NOx and NMVOC that can come from fossil fuels used directly to power transport and machinery in the plantation and to convey materials to and fro to the mills. It must be noted that in computing the carbon balance, the energy for mill processing of 0.799 million tonnes per year can be reduced as there is excess of such biomass for energy production. Usually 90% of the empty fruit bunches are recycled as mulch. Likewise the energy for fertilizer could be reduced as empty fruit bunches at a rate of 4 ha to mulch back 1 ha and palm oil mill effluent from 10 ha can be recycled to 1 ha in terms of nutrient needs. Usually 70% of POME is recycled. Also with the use of IPM, there will be reduction in energy used for herbicide.

The GHG emissions and removals through sequestration are shown in the five sectors as follows:

As renewable energy sources, fibre, shell and empty fruit bunches, are combusted in the 380 mills in 2004 to supply energy to mills, refineries and also manufacturing especially if the mill processing,

Energy. Different activities when powered by fossil fuels produce different anthropogenic GHG

TABLE 7. ENERGY USE, THEIR CARBON EQUIVALENT AND TOTAL GHG EMISSIONS (million t ha-1 yr-1) DERIVED FROM DIRECT AND INDIRECT FOSSIL FUEL USE BASED ON TOTAL PLANTED AREAS OF OIL PALM IN THE FOUR BENCHMARKED YEARS OF 1990, 1994, 2000 AND 2004

Sources Direct vehicle & machinery fuel Mill processing energy Fertilizers Herbicides Insecticides Rodenticides Workers Total

Energy (GJ ha-1 yr-1)

Carbon equivalent (kg ha-1 yr-1)

1990 106 t yr-1

1994 (INC) 106 t yr-1

2000 (NC2) 106 t yr-1

2004 106 t yr-1

4.70

83.30

0.169

0.201

0.281

0.322

22.20

393.80

0.799

0.950

1.330

1.526

10.25 1.86 0.01 0.18 0.61

181.90 33.10 0.23 3.24 10.86

0.369 0.067 0.0005 0.007 0.022

0.439 0.080 0.0006 0.008 0.026

0.614 0.112 0.0008 0.011 0.037

0.704 0.128 0.0009 0.013 0.042

39.81

706.43

1.434

1.705

2.386

2.736

Sources: Adapted from Wood and Corley (1993); Henson (2004).

THE NEED TO REDUCE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ROLE

iii) Biogas from POME. In the palm oil mill for every tonne of FFB processed, about 0.7 t of POME is generated. The effluent is digested in anaerobic ponds. For every tonne of POME digested about 28.8 m3 of biogas can be generated but this is not a common practice at the moment. The biogas, comprising of 65% methane (CH4) and 35% CO2, is a

refining and manufacturing become fully integrated. The CO2 emissions from combustion of biomass fuels are considered as CO2 neutral unlike emissions associated with the combustion of non-renewable fossil fuels like diesel. By using the energy generated from these renewable sources, they help to reduce emissions as carbon offsets against use of fossil fuel as shown in Table 8.

TABLE 8. TOTAL POTENTIAL CARBON OFFSETS FROM CO-PRODUCTS OF MILLING TO REDUCE EMISSIONS

Products

1990

1994 (INC)

2000 (NC2)

2004

FFB processed (106 t yr-1) Fibre and shell (106 t CO2 e yr-1) EFB (106 t CO2 e yr-1) POME biogas (106 t CO2 e yr-1) Total potential CO2 e (106 t yr-1) Total potential C (106 t yr-1)

30.475 0.286 (0.078) 0.520 (0.142) 0.122 (0.033) 0.928 (0.253)

36.105 0.339 (0.092) 0.616 (0.168) 0.145 (0.040) 1.100 (0.300)

54.210 0.507 (0.138) 0.925 (0.252) 0.218 (0.059) 1.650 (0.449)

69.890 0.657 (0.179) 1.192 (0.325) 0.280 (0.076) 2.129 (0.580)

Source: Adapted from Ma (2002), figures in bracket are 106 t C yr-1.

It must be stated here that between 1990 and 2004, the bunches were used differently such as being incinerated for bunch ash production but for the future and purpose of this study, the current potential for energy production and for carbon offset against use of fossil fuels is proposed.

good source of energy with a heat value of 4740 kcal m3. It is reported that for each m3 of biogas being burned, 1.8 kWhr of electricity is generated. Thus, for the four benchmarked years, the biogas produced could have generated enough of electricity that will save diesel, and therefore applying 0.47 kg of CO2 reduced for every kWhr of electricity generated, the quantities of CO2 equivalent per year offset ranged from 0.122 to 0.280 million tonnes per year or 0.033 to 0.076 million tonnes C over the four benchmarked years (see Table 8 row 5).

i) Fibre and shell. It is estimated that about 20 kWhr of electricity is required to process 1 t of FFB. For every 1 kWhr of electricity generated by the combustion of fibre and shell about 0.34 litre of diesel is saved of which there is a reduction of 0.47 kg of CO2. Thus, for the various amounts of FFB processed per year at the four benchmarked years, the savings of 0.286 to 0.657 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent or 0.078 to 0.179 million tonnes of C are achieved as indicated in Table 8 (2ndrow). It must be mentioned here that in all the palm oil mills, there is usually an excess of fibre and shell that can be used as fuel. If all the fibre and shell are used to generate electricity, more carbon credits can be realized.

As both CH4 and CO2 are GHGs that contribute to global warming, especially CH4 with global warming potential of 21 times of CO2 efforts to capture CH4 as biogas is currently actively been undertaken by R&D in MPOB. The potential use of biogas must be made into reality as soon as possible. iv) POME as fertilizer substitute. Currently about 70% of the POME is returned to the field as a fertilizer substitute (see POME application). Trials with spent POME after the biogas had been exploited showed that the nutrients in POME could still be an effective fertilizer substitute.

ii) EFB. At 23% extraction of FFB, each tonne of EFB can generate 109.28 kWhr of electricity. As each kWhr of electricity generated can save about 0.34 litre of diesel, there will be a saving of 0.47 kg of CO2. Thus, if EFB were used instead of diesel for power generation over the four benchmarked years, the savings of 0.520 to 1.192 million tonnes CO 2 equivalent per year (vide Table 8, 3rd row) can be obtained from the combustion of EFB derived from the processing of the FFB. In actual fact about 20% of the EFB produced is used to generate electricity while 80% is used for EFB mulching and as mineral fertilizer substitute (see under EFB mulching).

c) Development of energy efficient boilers In continuous development of more energy efficient boilers for the combustion of fibre and shell, say with another 5% improvement in EE, there will be more excess energy available to be fed into the national electricity grid (vide Table 9).

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - APRIL 2006) TABLE 9. ADDITIONAL CARBON OFFSETS FROM FIBRE AND SHELL THROUGH 5% ENERGY EFFICIENCY (EE) WITH RESULTING REDUCTION IN GHG EMISSIONS

Products

1990

1994 (INC)

2000 (NC2)

2004

Besides reduction of CO 2 emissions of 1.288 million tonnes or 0.351 million tonnes C from the 500 000 t of biodiesel, there is avoidance of SO2 generation from fossil fuels when biodiesel is used.

Fibre and shell (106 t CO2 e yr-1)

0.014

0.017

0.025

0.032

b) Fugitive emissions

Saving of emissions (106 t C yr-1)

0.0038

0.0046

0.0068

0.0087

Here the emissions include those from vaporization from storage of fossil fuels, e.g. diesel and also storage of biodiesel fuels if any and are usually not associated with losses through nonuseful consumption of fuel. The usual fugitive GHG emission is CH4. The quantity would have to be ascertained when the biodiesel storage comes on stream.

Industrial processes. By and large, unlike the vegetable oilseed extraction that would sometimes uses solvent, there is no solvent use in the oil palm industry. The industrial process would probably be confined to the biodiesel production when it comes on stream. Currently, the palm oil industry together with the government is finalizing the plan to go large scale into biodiesel production.

Agriculture. Agriculture is an economic activity of great importance in Malaysia particularly for the plantation industry. a) Standing biomass of oil palm

a) Methyl ester process in biodiesel production Between 1990-2004, a total of 1.845 million hectares of other crops and logged-over forests were converted to oil palm. Of these, the total area converted from other crops to oil palm was greater at 1.071 million hectares than from the logged-over forest at 0.774 million hectares. Among the crops converted, rubber at 0.555, was followed by cocoa at 0.348 and then coconut at 0.168 million hectares. As for the logged-over forests of 0.774 million hectares, according to the papers reviewed (Ariffin et al., 1998; Lim and Dawson, 2003; Henson, 2004) about 0.136 million hectares of peat up to 2003 had been converted to oil palm. Hence, the estimated distribution of the areas converted to oil palm is showed in Table 11. As 1994 was the baseline year when the INC was submitted, the change observed at 2000 being the baseline year for NC2, showed that the area of logged-over forest converted to oil palm was only 0.331 million hectares over the six years period of 1994-2000. The annual figure converted from exlogged-over forests is small, at 0.055 million hectares or less than 1.63% of the total area at 3.377 million hectares. Of the logged-over forests, Henson (per. comm. 2005) estimated that there were 0.0329 and 0.0429 million hectares of oil palm growing on peat in 1990 and 1994 respectively giving an area of 0.0100 million hectares being converted to oil palm. Again an estimate of 0.0758 and 0.1360 million hectares of oil palm in 1995 and 2000 respectively were established on peat giving an area of 0.0622 million hectares being converted to oil palm.

Palm diesel consists of methyl esters of palm oil prepared from the industrial reaction with methanol using a suitable catalyst. The process of conversion of palm oil into biodiesel involves the pre-treatment stage (esterification) to handle free fatty acids and the second stage of transesterification of the neutral glycerides directly into methyl esters. The process is continuous and yields palm diesel that had been thoroughly evaluated as a diesel substitute thereby reducing the use of fossil fuels. The production of biodiesel from palm oil could help to reduce the use of fossil fuel and such biofuel being renewable could also be used to drive transportation of farm machineries and other transportation. The burning of biomass fuels would help to offset emissions from use of fossil fuels. Efforts are directed to convert 500 000 t CPO to biodiesel. Choo et al. (2005) reported on studies of the use of biodiesel from soyabean that resulted in 78% less CO2 emitted than fossil fuel diesel. Thus, litre against litre comparison, biodiesel has less CO2 at 0.6898 kg litre-1 against diesel at 3.266 CO2 kg litre-1. The savings from 500 000 t of biodiesel of 0.129 million tonnes per year is shown in Table 10. TABLE 10. REDUCTION OF CO2 EQUIVALENT/YEAR AND CARBON FROM 500 000 t BIODIESEL

Type of fuel

CO2 (kg litre-1)

106 t yr-1 from 500 000 t

Diesel Biodiesel Potential savings CO2e Potential savings C

3.2660 0.6898 -

1.633 0.345 1.288

0.351

b) Zero burn The oil palm industry, since 1989, had adopted the zero burning policy so there are no direct

Source: Adapted from Choo et al. (2005).

THE NEED TO REDUCE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ROLE TABLE 11. SUMMARY OF CONVERSION OF TREE CROPS AND LOGGED-OVER FORESTS INTO OIL PALM (106 million ha)

Period

Oil palm Rubber (beginning)

Cocoa

Coconut

Logged-over forest

Converted to oil palm

Oil palm (ending)

1990-94 1994-00 2000-04

2.029 2.412 3.377

0.099 0.307 0.149

0.122 0.195 0.031

0.023 0.132 0.013

0.139 0.331 0.304

0.383 0.965 0.497

2.412 3.377 3.874

Total

0.555

0.348

0.168

0.774

1.845

Sources: Statistics on Commodities 2004, Department of Statistics; MPOB.

emission is assumed to be 7.5 t ha-1 yr-1 (Henson, 2004). During the period (1995-2000) an estimated 0.05 million hectares of peat was cleared for oil palm planting.

emissions of CO2 from this source. Malaysia being a country of free enterprise where companies which own other crops like rubber, cocoa and coconut areas are free to convert the crops to oil palm. However, under UNFCCC guidelines when these companies replanted their previous crops to oil palm under the NC2 they will have to think of how to account for the change in carbon stocks from the previous crops consisting of rubber, cocoa and coconut or from logged-over forests and peat from the pools of standing biomass. Usually, it is assumed that when the other crops are converted to oil palm they are considered as matured trees at the end of their economic life. For this, the standing biomass of shoot and root used are shown in Table 12.

c) Sequestration from standing biomass To calculate the sequestration, the average standing biomass values for palms of various ages are shown in Table 13. The age profile of the four benchmarked years as shown in Table 14. Based on the areas under the different age profiles, the standing biomass for four benchmarked years of 1990, 1994, 2000 and 2004 is calculated. In the estimating process, the carbon content is assumed to be 40% for vegetative dry matter and higher at 57.6% for reproductive dry matter such as harvested bunches due to the higher carbon content in oil. This 57.6% carbon figure however is ignored as the developing bunches in standing palms are still not ready for harvesting. However, there are some bunches nearing maturity and the content of carbon in the oil formed should have a higher carbon content fixed. Thus, the carbon content of biomass under two situations where there are a lot of younger palms is at 0.40% and with a lot of mature bearing palms is at 0.45% respectively. The results are shown in Tables 15 and 16. The carbon storage in oil palm standing biomass in the two baseline years of 1994 (INC) and 2000 (NC2) showed the amount of carbon sequestrated by the oil palm industry. With a higher carbon content of the biomass used in the determination as shown in Table 16, the amounts carbon sequestered were higher by 6.072, 7.277, 11.159 and 12.997 million tonnes in all the four benchmarked years of 1990, 1994, 2000 and 2004 respectively over that shown in Table 15. The higher carbon content reflected the need to obtain accurate figures. Using the amount of carbon sequestered in Table 16 the increase in carbon from 80.626 million tonnes in 1994 (being the baseline year selected for the INC) to 100.430 million tonnes in 2000 (the NC2 baseline year) is about 19.804 million tonnes. Such an increase was due mainly to the expansion in planted area from 2.412 to 3.377 million hectares - a gain of 0.965 million hectares.

TABLE 12. STANDING BIOMASS OF RUBBER, COCOA AND COCONUT

Crop

Rubber Cocoa Coconut

Standing biomass (t ha-1) 158 100 100

Carbon content (%) 45.8 45.0 45.0

Source: Adapted from Henson (2004).

When logged-over or ex-forested land is converted to oil palm, usually there is minimum area of high biomass forests being converted to oil palm. Normally the areas given for oil palm are loggedover forests where instead of having 350-400 t ha-1 of biomass in the pristine forest stage there is usually less than 100 t ha-1 of biomass in the logged-over stage. Assuming another 30 t ha-1 is removed as useable wood (more than 6 inches diameter) this quantity represents mitigation of losses from the site as the materials are removed. This leaves about 70 t ha-1 of debris left behind to decay as part of the soil organic matter (SOM). The residue debris, called necromass may be slow to decay and be persistent. The SOM is assumed to decline within five years. Since zero burning had been enforced from 1989 onwards, the debris left behind can be considered as some form of sequestration and behave as a sink. As for peat that has been drained, the averaged

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - APRIL 2006) TABLE 13. AVERAGE STANDING BIOMASS FOR THE VARIOUS AGE GROUPS OF OIL PALMS (t ha-1)

Age profile

Biomass (t ha-1)

1-3 4-8 9-13 14-18 19-24 25 & above

14.5 40.3 70.8 93.4 113.2 102.5

TABLE 15. ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF CARBON SEQUESTERED AT 106 t BY OIL PALM AT 40% CARBON IN VEGETATIVE BIOMASS IN THE FOUR BENCHMARKED YEARS

Sources: Adapted from Henson (1999); Chan (2002 a, b). TABLE 14. AGE PROFILE BY YEAR (planted area in ‘000 ha)

Year

Peninsula

Sabah

Sarawak

Total

1990

1994 (INC)

2000 (NC2)

2004

1-3 4-8 9-13 14-18 19-24 25 & above

1.641 11.816 11.159 15.691 8.830 0.164

1.554 12.380 14.670 14.272 18.610 11.863

2.523 17.119 16.454 21.333 21.100 10.742

2.459 20.537 19.116 23.499 27.168 11.152

Total

49.301

73.349

89.271

103.931

Sources: Adapted from Henson (1999); Chan (2002a, b).

1990 Immature 1-3 4-8 9-13 14-18 19-24 25 & above Total

186 612 354 369 175 3 1 699

73 113 31 43 16 0 276

24 8 9 8 4 1 54

83 733 394 420 195 4 2 029

1994 (INC) Immature 1-3 4-8 9-13 14-18 19-24 25 & above Total

152 503 438 338 364 63 1 858

85 220 74 35 38 0 452

31 45 6 9 9 2 102

268 768 518 382 411 65 2 142

2000 (NC2) Immature 1-3 4-8 9-13 14-18 19-24 25 & above Total

213 278 406 498 415 237 2 047

132 596 139 71 41 22 1 001

90 188 36 2 10 3 329

435 1 062 581 571 466 262 3 377

2004 Immature 1-3 4-8 9-13 14-18 19-24 25 & above

237 371 354 475 514 249

84 602 251 126 81 21

103 301 70 28 5 2

424 1 274 675 629 600 272

2 200

1 165

Total

Age profile

509

TABLE 16. ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF CARBON SEQUESTERED IN 106 t BY OIL PALM AT 45% CARBON IN VEGETATIVE BIOMASS IN THE FOUR BENCHMARKED YEARS

Age profile

1990

1994 (INC)

2000 (NC2)

2004

1-3 4-8 9-13 14-18 19-24 25 & above

1.846 13.293 12.553 17.563 9.933 0.185

1.749 13.298 16.503 16.055 20.936 12.085

2.838 19.259 18.511 23.999 23.738 12.085

2.767 23.104 21.506 26.437 30.564 12.546

Total

55.373

80.626

100.430

116.924

Sources: Adapted from Henson (1999; 2004); Chan (2002a, b).

of fields with diseased palms actually having obtained permission from relevant authority, the emissions from burning of replanted palm debris are not considered in the final carbon balance calculation. b) Smallholders’ exemption Smallholders are exempted from zero burning practice. As the national areas under smallholdings are small in the first instant and smaller still when it comes to annual replanting, this aspect was not considered in the calculations.

3 874

Sources: Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities; MPOB Statistics 2005.

Enteric fermentation. As alluded earlier, there is enteric fermentation in domestic livestock, mainly ruminant herbivores and this has now to be considered. The production of CH4 is part of the normal digestive process of ruminant animals and occurs in smaller amounts in other herbivores. The intensity of methane emissions will depend on the animal category, the type and amount of ingested food, the degree of digestibility of the digested mass, and the intensity of physical activities of the animal according to the different production practices. The 1996 IPCC guidelines put CH4 emission factor for

Prescribed burning of agricultural residues a) Diseased fields Some times when there are badly diseased fields with pests and diseases like Ganoderma, permission is requested to destroy the affected debris by controlled burning. The imperfect burning of agricultural residue produces emissions of CH4, N2O, NOx, CO and NMVOC. As no reports on the number 14

THE NEED TO REDUCE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ROLE

diary cattle as 57 and non-dairy cattle comprising of adult male at 57, adult female at 58 and young cattle at 42 kg head-1 yr-1. Table 17 provides some data of number of heads of livestock in oil palm plantations with cattle at 92% formed the major group of livestock. Assuming a stocking rate of one head/1.5 ha, the total area involved is about 450 000 hectares. The weeding cost reduction will mean less herbicides used. This indirectly will reduce GHG emissions from fossil used in the manufacture of such herbicides (Table 7).

machinery in the field. As the practice of using draught animals was popular previously in Sabah estates and also in PAMOL estate in Kluang, there is a need to re-look at the reasons why it is still not wide spread. Perhaps the other benefits of livestock integration include reduced weeding cost, lower herbicide use, recycling of nutrient, improved soil organic matter and increased yield of oil palm together with increase in protein production should be highlighted. Against all these are production of CH4 and CO2 and the possibility of soil compaction.

TABLE 17. NUMBER OF RUMINANT AND HERBIVORE GRAZING POPULATION IN OIL PALM ESTATES

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agricultural soils

Year

Buffaloes Cattle

1990 12 900 1994 10 500 (INC) 2000 8 800 (NC2) 2004 6 400

Sheep Goats Total

a) Emissions from manure management

61 500 14 000 10 000 98 400 67 600 13 000 13 400 104 500 242 600 10 000

6 700 268 100

271 500

7 500 293 900

8 500

The N2O emissions from manure management to be considered since livestock integration is adopted in an effort to produce protein using the agroforestry concept in the same land where oil palm is grown is used for livestock integration. Manure management is responsible for emissions of CH4 and N2O. In the plantations, most of the livestock is on range - land management with little need for anaerobic treatment ponds. Anyway the area estimated at 450 000 ha is small when compared to the total oil palm area.

Source: Rosli Awaluddin (pers. comm. 2005).

Using the CH4 emission figure of 58 kg head-1 yr-1 for buffaloes and cattle, and 42 kg head-1 yr-1 for sheep and goats, the total amount of CH4 emitted is shown in Table 18. It can be seen that in 1994 the emissions from enteric fermentation totalled 0.006 million tonnes was exceeded in 2000 by 2.5 times to 0.015 million tonnes of CH 4. As CH4 has 21 times the global warming potential (GWP), this figure was factored into the calculation. Overall the amount emitted by the livestock population is still small.

b) Emissions from nitrogenous fertilizer applications There is also some N2O emitted directly from agricultural soils results from application of nitrogenous fertilizers such as synthetic fertilizers like sulphate of ammonia with 0.8% N2O emissions, urea (1.1%), ammonium nitrate (1.7%), ammonium chloride (0.1%) and also of animal origin by the manure (0.7%) deposition in the fields as stated earlier. The latter is an important consideration due to the increasing number of heads of cattle in the future. Assuming that the bulk of the nitrogenous fertilizers is sulphate of ammonia at 50% followed by urea at 18%, ammonia nitrate at 15% and ammonium chloride at 17% the amount of N2O emitted directly is shown in Table 19. Nitrous oxide can come from various activities besides agricultural practices of manuring using nitrogenous fertilizers and they include industrial processes, fossil fuel combustion and forest conversion to other uses. As most of the N2O with 290 GWP comes from agriculture, this is accounted for in Table 19. Emissions from N2O in the energy sector comes from imperfect fuel sector while in the industrial processes, it comes from production of nitric acid, in the land-use and land-use change, and forestry sector it comes from biomass burning.

TABLE 18. CH4 EMISSIONS FROM LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT IN PLANTATIONS (106 t yr-1)

Category Buffaloes Cattle Sheep Goats Total CO2 e @ 21 x GWP C emissions

1990

1994 (INC)

2000 (NC2)

2004

0.00075 0.00356 0.00059 0.00042 0.00532 0.11172

0.00061 0.00392 0.00055 0.00056 0.00564 0.11844

0.00051 0.01407 0.00042 0.00028 0.01528 0.32088

0.00037 0.01575 0.00035 0.00032 0.01679 0.35259

0.0304

0.0323

0.0875

0.0962

The integration of livestock and use of buffaloes/ cattle as draught animals for in-field transport of FFB is limited. However, the practice with wider adoption should lead to a reduction of emissions from fossil fuel that is used to drive vehicles and

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - APRIL 2006) TABLE 19. QUANTITY OF N2O EMITTED IN 106 t ha-1 yr-1 FROM NITROGENOUS FERTILIZERS APPLIED AT 3 kg palm-1 AT 148 palms ha-1 OVER THE FOUR BENCHMARKED YEARS EXPRESSED AS CO2 EQUIVALENT AT GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL (GWP) OF 290 AND AS C EMITTED

Fertilizers

Usage (%)

Area (106 ha) (NH4 )2 SO4 Urea NH4NO3 NH4Cl Total N2O emissions CO2 e @ 290 GWP C emissions

Emission factor (%)

50 18 15 17 -

0.8 1.1 1.7 0.1 -

Emissions from crop residues left in the field as mulch and from composting. In addition from the production of carbohydrate through crop integration, the crop residues from say dry land paddy, sorghum, yam and banana are not burned but used as mulching material for oil palm. Since no flooded paddy is cultivated, one of the principal sources of CH4 emissions is eliminated from the computation. However some companies practise empty bunch composting and there is generation of CH4 to be considered. Quantification of CH4 capture will have to be made if the practice becomes widespread.

1990

1994

2000

2004

2.029 0.0036 0.0018 0.0023 0.00015 0.00785 2.3925 0.621

2.412 0.0043 0.0021 0.0027 0.00018 0.00928 2.6912 0.733

3.377 0.0060 0.0030 0.0038 0.00025 0.01305 3.7845 1.032

3.875 0.0069 0.0034 0.0044 0.00029 0.01499 4.3471 1.1855

removals for submission in 2006, there are changes in land area use under oil palm. Forest conversion to agricultural activities: emissions from biomass of previous crops and logged-over forests. Loss of biomass involving the clearing of oil palm has been factored into the oil palm standing biomass in Table 16. However, as shown in Table 11, between 19901994, there were increases in area coming from 0.099, 0.122 and 0.023 giving a total of 0.244 million hectares coming from rubber, cocoa and coconut respectively. The balance of 0.139 million hectares was assumed to come from logged-over forests to make up the total of 0.383 million hectares of new oil palm area. Losses of biomass from these ex-tree crops and from loggedover forests (of which 0.100 million hectares of the latter group) were assumed to come from peat forests as shown in Table 20.

Land-use and land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) Between 1994 as the base year used for computation of national emissions and removals for the INC submission in 2000, and 2000 as the base year for NC2 for computation of emissions and

TABLE 20. CARBON EMISSIONS (106 t yr-1) ARISING FROM AREAS USED FOR OIL PALM EXPANSION FROM PERIODS OF 1990 TO 1994 (INC) AND 1994 TO 2000 (NC2)

1990-1994

Rubber

Cocoa

Coconut

L.O. forest

Peat

Total

Total area (106 ha) Annual area (106 ha) Standing biomass (t ha-1 yr-1) % removed as wood % carbon in wood Estimated C emitted (106 t-1 yr-1) C emitted by peat (106 t-1 yr-1)

0.099 0.025 158 60 45.8 0.716 -

0.122 0.031 100 0 45.0 1.373 -

0.023 0.006 100 0 45.0 0.259 -

0.129 0.032 100 30 45.0 1.016 -

0.010 0.0025 100 30 45.0 0.079 0.188

0.383 0.095 3.443 0.188

Grand total C emitted (106 t yr-1)

3.531

1994-2000

Rubber

Cocoa

Coconut

L.O. forest

Peat

Total

Total area (10 ha) Annual area (106 ha) Standing biomass (t ha-1 yr-1) % removed as wood % carbon in wood Estimated C emitted (106 t-1 yr-1) C emitted by peat (106 t-1 yr-1)

0.307 0.051 158 60 45.8 1.481 -

0.195 0.033 100 0 45.0 1.462 -

0.132 0.022 100 0 45.0 0.990 -

0.269 0.044 100 30 45.0 1.412 -

0.062 0.010 100 30 45.0 0.326 0.271

0.965 0.161 5.671 0.271

Grand total C emitted (106 t-1 yr-1)

5.942

Sources: Adapted from Henson (2004).

THE NEED TO REDUCE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRY’S ROLE

the atmosphere. The increase in areas could come about from conversion of rubber, cocoa, coconut, other perennial fruit crops, pastures and from logged-over forests is seen earlier in Table 17. Forest re-growths on the other hand can come either from abandonment of marginal steep land reconverted into forest or replanted in high density planting oil palm agro-forest grown mainly to harvest for biomass production. In both instances, they imply removal of CO2 from the atmosphere through sequestration. With growing importance of fibre from palm biomass for use in various products and as fuel, the amount sequestrated and the saving of fossil fuel usage will feature prominently in subsequent compilation of carbon balance.

Similarly in Table 11, between 1994 INC and 2000 NC2, the increases in oil palm areas came from 0.307, 0.195 and 0.132, giving a total of 0.634 million hectraes coming from rubber, cocoa, coconut respectively. The balance of 0.331 million hectares was assumed to come from logged-over secondary forests to make up the total oil palm area of 0.965 million hectares. However the losses of biomass involving planting from ex- rubber, cocoa, coconut and logged-over forests (of which 0.0622 million hectares is estimated to come from peat) have to be accounted for, as shown in Table 20. i)

ii)

Rubber. The standing biomass is estimated to be 158 t ha-1 yr-1 (vide Table 12) of which 60% is harvested as rubberwood and removed from the site. The remaining 40% especially the rubber boles were left to decay and form part of the soil organic matter in which eventually disappears as CO2 emissions.

Changes in carbon content of soils. As a result of land use changes, such as forest conversion to agricultural land, and introduction of inter-crops/livestock integration can affect GHG emissions. Such type of changes on emissions and removals will depend on a number of factors:

Cocoa and coconut. As no wood is taken away, the debris amounting to 100 t was allowed to decay as soil organic matter in which eventually disappears as CO2 emissions.

• the type and use of soil management practices; • the application of fertilizers to enhance soil fertility; • the conversion of organic soils such as peat to agriculture or oil palm; • the maintenance of the water table where if it is not well managed will cause a rapid oxidation of organic matter; • the monitoring of changes in carbon associated with CO 2 emissions and its removals from soils through cultivation; and • on-site burning of thick forest biomass or diseased debris in replants must be recorded and quantified.

iii) Logged-over (L.O.) forests. A further 30% of the wood is harvested as usable wood while the remainder 70% was allowed to decay as soil organic matter in which eventually disappears as CO2 emissions. iv) Peat. A 30% of wood is harvested from the peat forest while 70% were allowed to decay as soil organic matter in which eventually disappears as CO 2 emissions. There is also an annual emission of carbon emitted from the cultivated peat estimated to be 7.50 t ha-1 yr-1 as the peat is drained (Henson, 2004). The calculation would involve the area divided by the numbers of years to get the annual area and that the debris from each annual area would disintegrate by the fifth year. The first year estimate would cover the annual area of peat loss of CO2 oxidized and the second year would involve double the annual areas, the third year tripled the annual areas and so on till the fifth year where the total area five times the annual area. At the sixth year, the total area becomes six times the annual area.

Sinks in oil palm plantings. This represents an industrial agro-forest development that is on an expanding activity in this country. This usually results in an increase in biomass stock in standing palms in which they are recorded as sinks (vide Table 16). Here there are CO2 emissions and removals at the same time but with a predominance of the latter. This includes ground vegetation in oil palm plantations, frond piles, biomass from felled palms/ex-tree crops and forest at the initial years of replanting. Through out the discussion a 25-year replanting cycle is assumed for replanting. The quantities of biomass from ground vegetation from legumes and indigenous flora, pruned fronds left in piles, debris at time of felling for replanting to oil palm are shown in Table 21. Due to zero burning they represent partly as sequestration decaying over a five-year period, yet there are emissions as the decay occurs.

The deforestation of native vegetation has been dealt with under Zero Burning section. In fact, changes in carbon stocks have to be accounted for by the respective agricultural crops when loggedover forests or deforested land are converted to crops such as rubber, cocoa and coconut before they are eventually converted to oil palm. This includes deforestation where there are emissions of CO2 to

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - APRIL 2006) TABLE 21. BIOMASS C IN GROUND VEGETATION, PRUNED FRONDS AND FELLED PALMS (106 t yr-1)

Sinks in oil 1990 palm plantings

1994 (INC)

2000 (NC2)

2004

Ground 2.492 vegetation Pruned oil 3.156 palm frond piles Felled oil 2.879 palm material

3.628

4.519

5.262

4.596

5.725

6.665

4.193

5.222

6.080

12.417

15.466

18.007

Total

8.527

establishment of new oil palm planting through the replacement of other three crops and loggedover forests. This has been accounted for in Table 20. Waste In the oil palm industry, the recycling of solid waste such as 80% of empty fruit bunches back to the field does not create any problem of methane. However, if composting is contemplated than there is consideration for quantifying CH4 if the practice becomes wide spread.

Source: Adapted from Henson (2004).

Ground vegetation. Henson (2004) found that the mean carbon sequestered annually by ground vegetation over the period 1991-2000 on a 25-year replanting cycle to be 0.208 million tonnes and this represented only about 4.5% of that stored in the standing biomass of the oil palm as shown in Table 16.

ii)

Frond piles. As for the frond piles, they represented the largest amount when compared with spent male inflorescences, bracts, uncollected loose fruits, frond butts (from older palms) and rotten bunches. For example, the spent male inflorescences is around 0.5 t ha-1 when compared with pruned frond biomass of 14.5 t ha-1 (Chan et al., 1981). Initially the number of fronds produced may be higher up to three fronds produced/month but once matured the number of fronds are held stable at two/month. Here it was found by Henson (2004) that the rate of sequestration to be 0.263 million tonnes over the period 1991-2000 on a 25-year replanting cycle. This was about 26% more than that of ground vegetation and therefore assumed to be 5.7% of the standing biomass (vide Table 16).

Empty fruit bunches (EFB) for mulching. As 80% of the EFW is currently recycled as mulch, there is saving in fertilizers. However, there is a cost of about RM 13 for each tonnes of EFW returned the economics needed to be recalculated especially when fossil fuel is used in transport of EFB. However, for the purposes of calculating the carbon balance in Table 23 the total amount of EFB is ultimately considered as a source of emission whether it is combusted or used for mulching in the field. It however affects the soil organic carbon if it is used as mulch. Of course the economics will change due to the saving in mineral fertilizers. Composting of solid waste creates anaerobic conditions. When there is an increase in activity of composting of empty fruit bunches with use of effluent, such a practice creates anaerobic conditions that generate CH4. The potential of this gas increasing will depend on the control conditions in the process. Efforts should be made to capture CH4 under enclosed condition as a biogas to be used as a fuel. Capturing CH4 in effluent ponds. Effluents in retention ponds with high degree of organic content when undergoing commercial waste treatment through the effluent pond system where the effluent is digested under anaerobic conditions has a high potential as a source of production of methane. The quantities of potential CH4 to be captured as a source of biogas from effluent ponds are estimated in Table 8. Again the current research to trap the CH4 is being experimented in CDM projects and until more results are available, the estimate as in Table 8 will suffice.

iii) Biomass material from felled palms at replant. Here Henson (2004) calculated the total biomass of felled palm material and with their decay constants for leaflets, rachis, trunk and roots calculated the remaining biomass and carbon content present for the remaining years. He found that the rate of sequestration was 0.240 million tonnes over the period 1991-2000 on a 25-year replanting cycle. This was equated to be 15% more than the ground vegetation and therefore assumed to be 5.2% of the standing oil palm biomass (Table 16).

Application of POME as a mineral fertilizer substitute. The effluent is rich in nutrients. As 70% of the POME is recycled to the fields there is a considerable saving in mineral fertilizers to those field applied with POME. However, there is a cost for application of the POME back to the field as a fertilizer substitute. For the purpose of calculation of the carbon balance the quantity of POME recycled as fertilizer substitute is estimated under Table 8 as part of the capture of CH4.

iv) Sequestration in non-oil palm material from felled tree crops and ex-logged over forests. The sequestration here usually refers to the 18

THE NEED TO REDUCE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRY’S ROLE

in palm oil products as a food energy source. The biomass C emissions and stocks are shown in Table 23. The values quoted in Table 23 represents a snap shot of the carbon emissions and sources in the benchmarked years of 1994 and 2000. What we need to know is not the stock but the fluxes and for this we need to know the trend. This is because individual years’ values are not adequate to understand sequestration due to the year-to-year variations but rather we should look at medium- to long-term trends covering one or two decades respectively. Preferably sequestration should be quantified after stabilization of the clearing and replanting activities. Further, we do not have measurements of sequestration of samples of individual fields undergoing clearing and replanting at the moment to build up the database. As Table 23 carries some figures that are cumulative, e.g. standing biomass and some are on individual years’ basis, e.g. energy for production of inputs for production, the figures need to be streamlined. By right the net figure in sequestration rather than the biomass C stock will have to be pooled to offset the overall national emissions figure where other industries including the transport industry will require the net balance not only from the oil palm industry but also the forestry and other tree crops industries which acted as sinks to reduce the emissions from manufacturing and other industrial processes. Thus, although UNFCCC quantification tend to look at the gross figure as a snap shot over the benchmarked years, a preliminary assessment of the emissions and sequestration on an annual basis, over the periods 1990-1994 and 1994-2000, are shown in Table 24.

Oil palm mill products Malaysian palm oil and other mill products are exported and consumed within the year by the importing countries. Usually palm oil, palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake, oleochemicals and palm oil products are exported. The total amount of carbon exported for the four benchmarked years are shown in Table 22. Oils and fats are an important part of the human diet and act as the calorie-dense components. Each gramme of oils and fats provides 9 kilocalories (kcal) of energy, compared with 4 kcal g -1 from carbohydrates and proteins. As palm oil is exported as a source of energy in food sector and as 90% is exported, the COP 11 meeting in Montreal, Canada in December 2005 must decide on the ownership of the harvested product whether the carbon should belong to the producers or importers. Malaysia utilizes 10% of the palm oil product produced and has to account for it. Anyway for the purpose of the calculation of the carbon balance all the 100% carbon is placed under the energy sector as part of sequestration. THE CARBON BALANCE FOR THE PALM OIL INDUSTRY The estimated mean annual carbon emissions and carbon sequestration in Malaysian palm oil industry over the two INC and NC2 benchmarked years are shown in Table 23. The overall balance of 126.411 million tonnes in 2000 showed that the oil palm is a net sequester of carbon. Once oil palm is planted, over the next 25 years, the field will see a progressive increase in carbon build-up. This included the export of carbon

TABLE 22. QUANTITY AND CARBON CONTAINED IN MALAYSIAN OIL PALM MILL PRODUCTS (106 t yr-1)

Oil palm mill products

1990

1994 (INC)

2000 (NC2)

2004

Palm oil

6.095

7.221

10.842

13.98

Palm kernel oil

0.827

0.978

1.385

1.60

Palm kernel cake

1.038

1.223

1.639

1.89

Total products

7.960

9.422

13.866

17.47

Total carbon in palm oil @75% C

4.571

5.146

8.132

10.485

Total carbon in kernel oil @72% C

0.595

0.704

0.997

1.152

Total carbon in kernel cake @60% C

0.623

0.774

0.983

1.134

Total carbon in palm products

5.789

6.624

10.112

12.771

Total carbon in the 90% exported

5.210

5.962

9.101

11.494

Carbon content of mill products

Source: Adapted from Henson (2004).

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - APRIL 2006) TABLE 23. BIOMASS C EMISSIONS AND STOCKS (106 million tonnes)

Source

1994 (INC)

2000 (NC2)

Notes

1.705

2.386

Table 7

0.036

0.053

Table 8

0.032 0.733

0.088 1.032

Table 18 Table 19

1.160 3.666

2.407 5.966

Table 20 -

0.004 0.126 0.134 0.005 80.626 12.417 6.624 99.936

0.006 0.188 0.202 0.007 100.430 15.466 10.112 126.411

Table 8 Table 8 Table 8 Table 9 Table 16 Table 21 Table 22 -

Energy Energy for direct and indirect inputs for production Industrial process 90% CH4 in biogas Agriculture Enteric fermentation Nitrous oxides from N fertilizers application Waste Accounted for in Table 8 Land-use, land-use and forestry Expansion from ex-crop and logged-over forests Total emissions C stock 10% biogas used with offset against diesel use Fibre, shell and EFB (20%) as fuel to offset diesel use EFB (80%) used for mulching Energy efficiency to offset diesel use C in standing biomass C in ground vegetation and debris C in biomass of mill products Total C stock

TABLE 24. PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE EMISSIONS AND SEQUESTRATION TO DEVELOP THE CARBON BALANCE SHEET (106 t yr-1)

Source Emissions 1. Energy Energy for direct and indirect input for production 2. Industrial process 90% CH4 in biogas 3. Agriculture Enteric fermentation Nitrous oxide from nitrogenous fertilizers 4. Waste Accounted for 5. Land-use, land-use and forestry Expansion of new areas ex-crop and logged areas 6. Total emissions: 1-5 Sequestration 7. 10% CH4 used as biogas 8. Renewable energy as carbon offset from fibre shell and EFB 9. Energy efficiency as carbon offset 10. Standing biomass 11. Sinks 12. Palm oil products 13. Total sequestration: (7-12) 14. Net sequestration: (13)

1994 (INC)

2000 (NC2)

Mean annual change

Notes

1.705

2.386

2.046

Table 7

0.036

0.053

0.045

Table 8

0.032 0.733

0.088 1.032

0.060 0.883

Table 18 Table 19 Table 8

1.160 3.666

2.407 5.966

5.942* 8.976

Table 20

0.004 0.260

0.006 0.390

0.005 0.325

Table 8 Table 8

0.005 3.546 0.546 -0.105 4.256 0.590

0.007 1.882 0.290 0.258 2.833 -3.133

0.006 3.301* 0.508* 0.581* 4.726 -4.250

Table 9 Table 16 Table 21 Table 22 -

Note: *Mean value 1995-2000 inclusive.

THE NEED TO REDUCE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRY’S ROLE

This is a first attempt to fit the carbon balance in the palm oil industry along the UNFCCC National Communication framework under the NC2. It is an improvement over the INC as several areas of improvements notably the emissions of methane from enteric fermentation from livestock and of nitrous oxide from nitrogenous fertilizers application had been factored into the calculation of carbon balance. No doubt the methane capture from effluent ponds would be added once the full technology, currently under CDM research investigation becomes a routine practice. Likewise the potential saving of C from the biodiesel project as outlined in Table 10 of savings of up to 0.351 million tonnes carbon from converting 500 000 t palm oil through the biodiesel project for producing B5 biofuel would be included. The preliminary assessment will need to be refined as more R&D results are available. Be as it may there is a need to look at way of reducing emissions by raising higher productivity per hectares rather than going for increase area of production as there is a need to account for the emissions from logged-over forests and peat will have additional emissions yearly to be accounted for from oxidation. Alternatively there is a need to have higher yielding planting materials planted together with resource use efficiency through greater recycling of biomass.

initiatives would include: • use of renewable clean energy sources, as mentioned earlier, with low levels of GHG emissions per unit of energy produced or consumed; • reduce use of fossil fuels through improved energy efficiency; • increase carbon stock through carbon sequestration by planting the abandoned land with high-density oil palm spacing; • programme related to sustainable development to be emphasized: one of the programmes is to convert the excess palm oil into biodiesel. Three grades of biodiesel are proposed where biodiesel can substitute up to 2%, 5% or 10% designated as B2, B5 and B10 biofuels. In the case of B5 by substituting fossil fuels say up to 5% for a start, the amount of CO2 emissions avoided annually can be substantial (vide Table 10 for reduction in CO2 e.). Thus, the oil palm industry can help to contribute to the energy sector in reducing the CO2 emission; • another programme is to promote the adoption of more energy efficient technologies and contribute the excess energy from the oil palm mills to the national electricity grid. In this way, the potential electricity generated surplus to the mill energy requirement is channeled to the national electricity grid; • promotion of R&D into green energy; • improve the capacity training; • improve systematic scientific observation related to climate change modeling; and • strengthen collaboration in the areas of climate change education, training and public awareness.

Adaptation Improvement In accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, only countries included in Annex I of the UNFCCC must establish measures in order to reduce GHG emissions targets. Despite the fact the developing countries are not required to limit the global emission, Malaysia as stated earlier (though a developing country which is bound to increase its global emission when its needs to achieve social and economic development to be a developed nation) has decided to find ways to reduce its GHG emissions. Efforts are in place through a two-pronged approach firstly, to reduce such emissions and secondly, to increase removal through sequestration as the country wants to contribute to the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC. Information presented in the INC was based on the knowledge, experience and expertise where no empirical research was done that could have provided more accurate data to further confirm the results. Within the INC, the vulnerability in the agriculture sector was assessed by the effects on effects of climate change on yield of major economic crops like rubber, oil palm cocoa, and rice. The great difficulty was due to the lack of data for model simulation. Some of the country’s adaptation

Mitigation Measures In the INC, it was reported that the mitigation options were from energy, industrial, agriculture, land-use and land-use change, forestry and from waste. With NC2 however, policies and measures to reduce GHG emissions are to be detailed for the energy, agriculture, waste, land-use change and forestry sector. • In the energy sector, on the supply-side, the renewable energy options would be considered. On the demand-side, energy conservation and EE should be highlighted; • In the agriculture sector, improving farming and animal husbandry though LULUCF good practice should be adopted; • In the waste sector, there is a need to minimize waste, recycle and improve waste management process;

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - APRIL 2006)

• In LULUCF reduction in rate of deforestation, increase in afforestation, increase in efficient use of biomass fibre and increase in soil carbon retention; and • Consider CDM projects to raise level of R&D and to transfer technologies to Malaysia.

ponds and better prediction of climate change with models to be developed and improved together with their predictability.

The rapid economic growth expected in Malaysia will result in more rapid growth and demand of energy. The demand in energy is expected to grow in order to meet the demands of rising standards of living. While the growth in demand for fossil fuel will mainly be driven by transportation and industry, the demand for electricity generation may increase up to 5% be mitigated by renewable energy from the biomass, biofuel and biogas from the palm oil industry. Thus, the emissions can be expected to rise with the future economic growth yet the palm oil industry could play its role here to reduce emission with its renewable energy sources. Certainly the oil palm industry is working hard to reduce GHG emissions not only by using the excess renewable energy but also into energy efficient processes. The present effort to capture the methane from the effluent ponds using the enclosed tanks is definitely in the right direction. Further the sequestration in the standing biomass will be better quantified and policies programmes to adopt good agricultural practice will help in addressing global environmental challenges.

The Malaysian palm oil industry does and will continue to contribute to the nation and global efforts to mitigate climate change by limiting its future emissions domestically by reducing use of fossil fuels through use of renewable energy from its plentiful biomass fibre, methane capture to generate biogas and substitute fossil fuels by using biofuels. The imperatives for which are for local, national and global priorities to be set for medium and long terms over 10 to 20 years respectively to obtain better trends of sequestration accompanied with better measurements of local emission factors.

CONCLUSION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors, from multi-disciplines, are grateful to the Director-General of MPOB for the encouragement and support for this project to be started and be refined. Grateful thanks are also expressed to Dr Ahmad Kushairi Din, Director Biology, MPOB for prioritization of work to quantify various data. The numerous discussions with Dr Ian Henson and Dr Ma Ah Ngan, Senior Research Fellows, MPOB are gratefully acknowledged.

DISCUSSION REFERENCES This work forms part of the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Malaysia’s national effort in collaborating with policy makers of other numerous ministries in their involvement in the preparation of Malaysia Second Communication for submission to UNFCCC by end of 2006. The adaptation and mitigation R&D efforts discussed here on measuring and evolving local emissions factors are manifestations of the seriousness of the industry in contributing towards a better assessment of growing evidence to improve our knowledge on emissions and sequestration. The framework here requires sensitivity tests as done by Henson (2004) using different ages of replanting at 20, 25 and 30 years so as to capture all situations and to improve the risk management. For the future, the different scenario paintings, as done by Yusof and Chan (2005), will enable us to look at what are the crucial factors to consider when zooming into the actual new data to capture that arise from this analysis. No doubt more and more accurate figures will be forthcoming with further R&D inputs, e.g. CH4 emissions figures from effluent

ARIFFIN, D; YUSOF, B and MOHD TAYEB, D (1998). PORIM’s policy on the development of peat for oil palm. Proc. of the 1996 Seminar on Prospects of Oil Palm Planting on Peat in Sarawak (Mohd Tayeb, D ed.). MPOB, Bangi. p. 3-9. CHAN, K W (2002a). Oil palm sequestration and carbon accounting: our global strength. Proc. of the Malaysian Palm Oil Association First Seminar on Climate Change and Carbon Accounting. MPOB, Bangi. 17 pp. CHAN, K W (2002b). Biomass and carbon sequestration determination in oil palm: their effects on carbon reduction and removal. Proc. of the Malaysian Palm Oil Association First Seminar on Climate Change and Carbon Accounting. MPOB, Bangi. 18 pp. CHAN, K W (2005). Progress of climate change standard development and reduction of GHG emissions. Proc. of the 4th National Environmental Management Systems Standards (Chan, K W and Chong, C L eds.). MPOB, Bangi. 14 pp.

THE NEED TO REDUCE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GASES EMISSIONS: OIL PALM INDUSTRY’S ROLE

CHAN, K W; BASRI WAHID, M; MA, A N and YUSOF, B (2003). Climate change and its effects on yield of oil palm. Proc. of the 2003 PIPOC International Palm Oil Congress - Agricultural Conference. MPOB, Bangi. p. 237-260.

associated land use change in Malaysia. MPOB Technology No. 27: 51 pp. LIM, K H and DAWSON, A J (2003). Trials on mechanization on deep peat planted with oil palm in Sarawak. Unpublished report.

CHONG, A H and P, MATTHEWS (2000). Malaysia’s Response Strategies to Climate Change. Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, Malaysia. 600 pp.

STAUFFER, M D (1999). Sustainable development; agriculture in the forest. Better Crop International: Oil Palm Nutrition Management (special edition) Vol. 13 Issue 1: 56.

CHOO, Y M; MA, A N; CHAN, K W and YUSOF BASIRON (2005). Palm diesel: an option for greenhouse gas mitigation in the energy sector. J. Oil Palm Research Vol. 17 June 2005: 47-53.

YUSOF, B and CHAN, K W (2004). Technology transfer in agro-industry: keynote address presented at Agriculture Congress: Innovation Towards Modernized Agriculture. 4-7 October 2004 organized by Universiti Putra Malaysia at Hotel of the Palace of Golden Horses, Seri Kembangan, Serdang. 16 pp.

HENSON, I (1999). Comparative ecophysiology of oil palm and tropical rain forest. Oil Palm and the Environment - a Malaysian Perspective (Gurmit, S; Lim, K H; Teo Leng and Lee Kow eds.). Malaysian Oil Palm Growers Council, Kuala Lumpur. p. 9-39.

YUSOF, B and CHAN, K W (2005). Oil palm: the agricultural producers of food, fibre and fuel for the global economy. Paper presented at the Malaysian Science and Technology Conference on 18-20 April 2005. 24 pp.

HENSON, I (2004). Modelling carbon sequestration and emissions related to oil palm cultivation and

Journal of Oil Palm Research (Special Issue - October 2008) p. 115-126 EFFECT OF NEW PALM OIL MILL PROCESSES ON THE EFB AND POME UTILIZATION

EFFECT OF NEW PALM OIL MILL PROCESSES ON THE EFB AND POME UTILIZATION FRANK SCHUCHARDT*; KLAUS WULFERT**; DARNOKO+ and TJAHONO HERAWAN+ ABSTRACT New palm oil mill processes are characterized by advanced oil separation technologies with zero dilution water (‘ECO-D’ for example as a new system for oil recovery without dilution water) and continuous sterilization of the fresh fruit bunch (FFB). These processes have a deep impact on the amount and composition of waste water (POME). Compared to conventional palm oil mills the total amount of palm oil mill effluent (POME) can be reduced from 0.65 m3 t-1 FFB to 0.45 m3 t-1 (conventional sterilization and zero dilution water) and 0.25 m3 t-1 (continuous sterilization and zero dilution water). These changes influence the treatment processes and its cost significantly. One process for the EFB and POME utilization which can fulfil the demand of a sustainable palm oil production is the co-composting of both of the materials. The composting process is used also for biological drying of the POME. The final product of the process is compost or mulch which unifies the nutrients of both in one product. The POME can be used also for biogas production (in fixed bed reactors for POME with low dry matter content and in totally mixed reactors for ECO-D biomass) before composting. The investment cost and profitability of the composting and fermentation process is calculated in detail based on data from practise in Indonesia. The new developments of processes in palm oil mills can reduce the cost for the waste and waste water treatment up to 35%. The benefits from biogas production and composting are the energy production, saved POME treatment cost in pond systems, total utilization of the POME nutrients, reduced cost for the EFB transport and utilization, higher empty fruit bunch (FFB) yields and from clean development mechanism (CDM). Keywords: POME, EFB, ECO-D, composting, biogas, economy. Date received: 4 April 2008; Sent for revision: 25 April 2008; Received in final form: 11 June 2008; Accepted: 2 July 2008.

INTRODUCTION Conventional palm oil mills are considerable polluters of the environment and do not follow the principles of sustainability (Anonym, 2003; 2005). In * Heinrich von Thunen-Institute, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Institute of Technology and Biosystems Engineering, Braunschweig, Germany. E-mail: frank.schuchardt@vti.bund.de ** Development and Application of Environmental friendly Technology GmbH, Bremen, Germany. +

Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (IOPRI), Medan, Indonesia.

115

the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil Production (RSPO) principle 5 (environmental responsibility and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity) is written:”waste is reduced, recycled, and disposed of in an environmentally and socially responsible manner” (criterion 5.3), “efficiency of energy use and use of renewable energy is maximized” (criterion 5.4), and “plans to reduce pollution and emissions, including greenhouse gases, are developed, implemented and monitored”. The main source of environment pollution in the oil mill is the palm oil mill effluent (POME) in the open pond system. The anaerobic ponds emit a huge amount of the strong greenhouse gas methane and the effluent of the ponds contains nutrients responsible for pollution of surface and ground water. The emission rate of methane from the pond is about 6.54 kg t-1 FFB (Wulfert, 2002) corresponding

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - OCTOBER 2008)

137.4 kg CO2 equivalent (global warming potential factor of methane: 21; IPCC/TEAP, 2005). Because climate protection becomes more and more important and especially methane emissions are in focus, we expect that the conventional waste water treatment in anaerobic ponds will be banned in the future. Furthermore, the palm oil industry will come under pressure, if a huge amount of crude palm oil (CPO) or biodiesel from CPO as renewable energy source will be exported to western countries. The requirement will arise, that the CPO production has to be sustainable – less emissions, no pollution of the environment, implementation of recycling systems, utilization of energy sources, soil conservation by minimization of erosion, protection of rain forest and so on. Under these aspects, the palm oil industry will be forced to implement new environment-friendly treatment technologies in their oil mills. Results from own trials in pilot plants and in practical scale could demonstrate the successful co-composting of EFB and POME and the biomethanization of POME and sludge (Schuchardt et al., 1999; 2002a, b; 2006;Wulfert et al., 2002). The article gives some suggestions for the sustainable treatment of the waste water (POME), slurry (from an ECO-D decanter) and the EFB including a cost calculation (based on data in Indonesia in 2007). The results and conclusions can be different from country to country and from mill to mill, depending on the local conditions.

ALTERNATIVES OF POME, SLUDGE AND EFB TREATMENT AND UTILIZATION If the POME is not treated in an anaerobic-aerobic pond system, several alternatives are possible: a. aerobic treatment in aerated ponds to avoid methane emissions is not suitable, because of: • enormous demand of current for aerators; • problems with de-sludging of ponds and handling of sludge; and • biological problems (chemical oxygen demand, COD, with 50 000 mg litre-1 is too high for direct aerobic treatment). b. anaerobic pre-treatment in a biogas plant and aerobic post-treatment in aerobic ponds is possible, but the aerobic post-treatment is not recommended, because: • the aerobic post-treatment still has the problem of sludge sedimentation in the ponds (50% of COD is suspended organic material, which are not degraded in a fixed bed digester with a hydraulic retention time of < four days) (Wulfert, 2002); • difficult sludge handling; • methane formation in sludge sediment can not be avoided; and

• losses of all nutrients from POME and pollution of rivers and lakes. c. drying of POME in a dryer is not suitable, because of high invest and running costs, and high energy demand. d. land application of the POME is not recommended, because of the high cost, if the application rate is in balance with nutrient uptake by the oil palm tree (Schuchardt et al., 2005). Furthermore, the POME has to be pre-treated anaerobically to fulfil the application regulations (in Indonesia: BOD <5000 mg O2 litre-1). One result of the anaerobic treatment is emission of methane. e. utilization of POME for moistening in combination with EFB composting. This system is recommended, because: • the liquid of POME will be naturally evaporated without any additional energy input (except fuel demand of the turning machine); • all nutrients of POME are saved in the compost; • there is no waste water anymore, except leakage and rain water from the composting plant area; and • pollution of surface water, ground water and atmosphere can be avoided. Since incineration of EFB is forbidden because of environment pollution by smoke, land application is the common accepted method of its sustainable utilization. In praxis, the oil mills use different procedures for handling, pre-treatment and distribution: f. untreated EFB are distributed in plantation, negative aspects are: • EFB are still wet with high weight per bunch; • distribution happens only manually; • danger of Ganoderma boninense outbreak and Oryctes rhinoceros (Rhinoceros beetle) in oil palm plantation if EFB are dumped in heaps (Patterson, 2007); and • slow mineralization of the nutrients, the fertilizer effect is difficult to calculate. g. distribution of chopped fresh EFB, positive aspects are: • easier to handle; • distribution can be done mechanized by spreader or blower; • material has the function of mulch and soil conditioner; and • mineralization is faster. h. compost production from chopped EFB and distribution of compost, positive aspects are: • operating dispenses for transport and distribution can be reduced by the reduction of the volume and mass tonnage in the composting process; and 116

EFFECT OF NEW PALM OIL MILL PROCESSES ON THE EFB AND POME UTILIZATION

• high content of mineralized nutrients, fertilizer effect can be quantified.

The total amount of POME can be reduced step by step by implementation of new technologies (Table 1). Because the loads of suspended solids, CODdiss. etc. are nearly unaffected by the reduction of water, the dry matter content will increase from about 4% to 5% in conventional POME up to about 17% in the slurry discharged from the ECO-D decanter system (Table 1). As shown in Table 2, new technologies in palm oil mills, continuous sterilization and oil recovery without dilution water, has a significant impact on: • amount of POME and water in POME (m3 t-1 FFB); • the composition (dry matter content, concentration of nutrients, liquid or sludge);

Dumping of the EFB is not only a pollution of the environment (methane emissions. leakage water with nutrients) but also a loss of money by the its nutrients. In some cases palm oil mills burn EFB in open heaps (with heavy smoke pollution) to get the ash as mineral fertilizer. Palm Oil Mills with New Technologies The discussion about POME treatment is based on an ‘end of pipe strategy’. An alternative is to modernize the production process itself. In palm oil mills, new technologies (so called ‘new palm oil mills’) had been developed and are in progress (Sivasothy et al., 2005; Sivasothy and Hwa, 2006; Chungsiriporn and Prasertsan, 2006; Westfalia Separator Industry, 2006; Tornroth, 2006). These technologies are particularly: • new sterilization processes without condensate instead of conventional autoclave sterilization. The conventional sterilization creates a condensate flow of 0.20 m 3 t -1 FFB. By modification to a new sterilization processes polluted condensate can be avoided almost totally; and • zero dilution water for oil separation. The conventional oil recovery process as a combination of vertical clarifier and separators needs dilution water for good function. The process creates waste water: 0.45 m3 t-1 FFB. By using new oil recovery technology (for example ‘ECO-D’ system by Westfalia Company) an addition of dilution water is not necessary anymore and the amount of effluent can be reduced up to 0.25 m3 t-1 FFB. The slurry of the separator has an consistency like a cream.

TABLE 1. COMPOSITION OF POME (two phase decanter, including condensate; Pom Pagar Mabau, Indonesia) AND ECO-D SLUDGE (Pom Tasma Puja, Pekanbaru, Indonesia); OWN ANALYSES

POME

ECO-D

kg m-3

-3

170

-3

147

-3

0.75

4.00

-3

0.04

-3

0.18

0.29

-3

2.27

8.25

-3

kg m

0.44

1.95

kg m-3

0.62

0.88

CODtot. CODdiss.

kg m

BOD

kg m

TVS

kg m

N-Kj.

kg m

N-diss (NH4-N)

kg m

P-tot.

kg m

Note: nd - not determined.

TABLE 2. POME AND SLUDGE FROM CONVENTIONAL AND ‘NEW’ PALM OIL MILLS

Parameter

Sterilizer condensate Clarification sludge Sum POME+slurry

POM

m3 t-1 FFB

Conventional batch sterilization

‘New POM’

Batch sterilization + zero dilution B

Continuous sterilization + zero dilution C

0.20

3 -1

0.45

0.25

-1

0.65

0.45

0.25

3 -1

m t FFB m t FFB

Dilution water

m t FFB

0.20

POME+slurry

% DM

POME+slurry rel. EFB

-1

2.83

1.96

1.09

-1

2.68

1.76

0.90

POME+slurry water

m t EFB m t EFB

Notes: Cooling water is not taken into account because it is reused in the mill. Cleaning water is not taken into account because the amount is negligible low.

117

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - OCTOBER 2008)

• the utilization (type of biogas plant, size of composting plant); and • the treatment cost of the POME.

2002) and would fall dry, if the heaps are not irrigated regularly. POME is used to keep the moisture in the rotting material. The rotting material is mixed and turned by windrow turning machines to optimize the biological process and to maximize water evaporation. The size and costs of a composting plant depends on the amount of water, which have to be evaporated. Under this aspect, it is important how much POME accumulate in the oil mill. Therefore three alternatives will be considered:

RESULTS Concept and Further Strategy The proposed concept of a sustainable POME and EFB treatment can fulfil the following aspects:

• A: conventional POM with 0.65 m3 POME t-1 FFB, • B: new POM with new oil recovery process with 0.45 m3 POME t-1 FFB and • C: new POM with new technology for sterilization and new oil recovery processes with 0.25 m3 POME t-1 FFB.

• alternative to common procedures as pond system and dumping of EFB; • elimination of pollution of surface water, ground water and atmosphere (realization of zero-waste-concept); • minimization of nutrient losses and concentration of all nutrients from POME and EFB in one product; • possibility of biogas production by demand; • generating certified emission reduction (CER); and • flexible application for conventional and palm oil mills with new technologies.

If the POM has a demand or a market for biogas/ energy, the POME can be treated in a biogas plant. The produced biogas is used as energy source. Different types of biogas plants are suggested, depending on the kind of effluent. For POME with low dry matter content, fixed bed digesters are favoured, because of a very good process stability in view to shock loads, variation of feeding rate and COD concentration (Wulfert et al., 2002). For POME/ ECO-D slurry with high dry matter content (>10%) totally mixed digesters are necessary to handle such kind of sludge. After anaerobic pre-treatment, the effluent of a biogas plant is used for moistening of the compost heaps.

The basic lines of the concept are shown in Figure 1. The key-process in the concept is the composting of EFB. The chopped EFB are transported to a composting plant and set up to windrows. The heaps can evaporate 70 kg water/(t EFB*day) because of the high self-heating temperature as result of the intensive rotting process (Schuchardt et al., 1998;

A Conventional palm oil mill

B 'New palm oil mill'

Conventional Conventional autoclave sterilizer, autoclave sterilizer,, conventional new oil recovery oil recovery (ECO-D System)

POME [m3 t-1 FFB]

0.65

fixed bed fermenter

alternative

0.45

composting plant

New sterilizer, new oil recovery (ECO-D System)

0.25

totally mixed fermenter

compost, mulch

Figure 1. Alternative use of POME and ECO-D biomass from conventional and from new palm oil mills. 118

EFFECT OF NEW PALM OIL MILL PROCESSES ON THE EFB AND POME UTILIZATION

Process Design of Anaerobic POME Treatment After POME passed the de-oiling (de-oiling pond, oil skimmer) the hot POME is cooled down (Figure 2). As cooling medium cold process water and/or air is used. The water is pumped via pipe to the waste water treatment plant, where it passes a screen, which separates all solid with a size >0.75 mm (minimization of risk of plugging the fixed bed). The effluent of the screen flows directly into the prestorage to enable a continuously feeding of the digester 24 hr a day at seven days a week. For anaerobic treatment, a fixed bed digester is chosen with feeding at the bottom of the digester and up flow mode. A part of the effluent is used as circulation water and is mixed with the fresh waste water coming from pre-storage tank. The circulation flow is necessary to dilute the high polluted feeding waste water, to raise the low pH, and to decrease the acid concentration. The anaerobic bacteria degrade the dissolved organic components of POME during passing the fixed bed and transform them to biogas. The biogas is collected and used as energy source. The effluent of the digester flows by gravity into a post-storage, where a part of the suspended solids settles down, which is partly used to dilute the digester inflow. The other part will be used in the composting plant. The post-storage is constructed as closed tank to collect the biogas, which is produced there still. The loading rate (kg degradable organic matter per m 3 digester volume and day) is the most important parameter for dimensioning of a fixed bed digester. The loading rate ranges between 6 and 10 kg/(m3*d). Results of Digestion Tests with Biomass from ECO-D System

palm oil mill

To determine the degradability and biogas yield and composition of ECO-D slurry, a standard

digestion test was done in lab-scale digesters with semi-continuous mixing (net volume: 7 litres; feeding: once a day; loading rate: 2 to 4 g degradable organic matter per litre fermenter volume and day; mixing: 1 min mixing, 1 min break; digestion temp. 38°C; gas counting: precision gas counter by Ritter Apparatebau GmbH). The composition of the slurry is given in Table 1. Results of the digestion test: • the organic substance can be degraded almost up to 100%. • within eight days almost all of organic components can be hydrolysed and transformed to biogas. • the specific gas yield is up to120 m3 t-1 biomass with a methane content of 60%. The gas yield reaches the theoretical maximum; and • as consequence of the protein content it might happen that the ammonia/ ammoniac concentration reaches a level, which caused an inhibition of anaerobic bacteria. This problem can be solved by addition of dilution water (c-NHx-max = 5200 mg litre-1). The digestion tests showed the very good biomethanization of Eco-D slurry. The characteristic of digestion is comparable with other substrates from food industries which are digested successfully in full scale plants already. Process Design of Anaerobic Sludge Treatment The totally mixed digester is the most common type to treat sludge in biogas plants worldwide. The construction of the digester is a cylindrical closed steel or concrete tank, equipped with a mixing device, to ensure a well mixing of the content, a good distribution of fed substrate, and to avoid the formation of sediment and swimming scum.

POME de-oiling

biogas

fixed bed digester

post-store

waste water treatment plant

cooler screen

pre-store

recirculation waste water to composting plan

Figure 2. Process design of anaerobic treatment of POME with low dry matter content. 119

waste water treatment plant

palm oil mill

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - OCTOBER 2008)

POME (ECO-D biomass)

pump

biogas

pre-store

tot. mixed digester

post-store

cooler waste water to composting plan Figure 3.

For dimensioning of the biogas plant only few parameters are relevant: • the hydraulic retention time has to be more than 15 days to ensure that the bacteria grows is higher than the bacteria losses by effluent; • the loading rate (kg degradable organic matter per m 3 digester volume and day) ranges between 2 and 4 kg/(m3 *d) otherwise the risk of overloading increase; and • the digestion temperature for mesophilic process ranges between 28°C and 40°C. The chosen temperature should be kept at constant level +/- 0.5°C. The biomass from the ECO-D System or the mixture of biomass and condensate is pumped to the biogas plant, where the suspension is stored in a tank (Figure 3). The pre-store tank is equipped with mixing device to ensure a homogeneous composition. Via a pump the digester is fed continuously. The mixing device in the digester ensures a good distribution of the substrate. The digestion temperature is controlled by an internal or external cooling device. The adjusted temperature level can range between 28°C and 40°C. In view of the high ammonia concentration, a temperature of 30°C to 35°C is proposed. At higher temperature the dissociation of the ammonia can inhibit the process.

The effluent flows out via overflow by gravity into the closed post-storage, from where it is pumped to composting plant. Process Design of Composting Plant After chopping the EFB, heaps are formed for composting (Figure 4). The size of the heaps depends on the size of the turning machine. The self-heating process of the EFB, initiated by the microorganims in the substrate, starts within few hours and water is evaporated to the atmosphere (Schuchardt et al., 1998). POME (with or without anaerobic pretreatment) will be added step by step to the rotting EFB, depending on the rate of water evaporation. The composting process can go on until the substrate is totally stabilized as ‘compost’ (C/N ratio <15) or it can be stopped at a stabilization level of ‘mulch’ (C/N ratio >15); it depends on the further use of the substrate. If compost should be produced as a market product screening before packaging is suggested to have a product with a homogenous structure. The mixture of leakage water and rain water from the composting area is collected in a pond and will be used for irrigation of the heaps (or in plantation area). The floor of the composting area is made by concrete or asphalt, to protect the environment by uncontrolled run off of the leakage water (with

water to the atmosphere

EFB

chopping

compost or mulch

composting

for plantation

POME

screening

packaging

Figure 4. Process design combined EFB/POME composting. 120

compost for market

EFFECT OF NEW PALM OIL MILL PROCESSES ON THE EFB AND POME UTILIZATION

nutrients) and to ensure a controlled turning of the heaps and high compost quality. A protection of the heaps with a geo-textile is not necessary.

Figures 5 to 9 show the flow sheets and the equipment for the biological drying/composting of EFB and POME. Cost Calculation

CONCLUSIONS AND CONSEQUENCES FOR THE CO-COMPOSTING OF EFB AND POME The composting process can be divided into two process stages: a. Stage 1: • addition of POME; • evaporation of the water; • biological drying; and • final product: mulch. b. Stage 2: • stabilization of the compost; • drying period (for screening as market product); and • final product: compost. At the end of the stage 1 (after 12, 24 and 37 day respectively, Table 3) the EFB are like mulch and not stabilized as a mature compost. The mulch can be used in plantation area for palm oil trees (or other

To compare the anaerobic treatment alternatives for POME, the cost calculation based on a biogas production rate of 1000 m3 methane per day (1000 litres Diesel fuel equivalent or 10 000 kWhr-1). The composting plant is calculated for a 30 t mill with 153 000 t FFB yr-1 and the full rate of POME/sludge. All prices based on market prices in Indonesia in the years 2006/2007. The data for the cost calculation are given in Tables 4 to 8.

CONCLUSION New palm oil mills (Type B with conventional autoclave sterilizer and new oil recovery process and type C with new sterilizer process and new oil recovery process) produce a sludge with high dry matter and COD content (‘ECO-D slurry’). The sludge can be used for biogas production in a totally

TABLE 3. TIME FOR BIOLOGICAL DRYING AND STABILIZATION OF EFB AND POME COMPOSTING

Type of palm oil mill

No.

Biol. Stabilization drying (d) (d)

Total Product time (d)

A POM with conventional sterilization, with dilution water; 1 for composting fresh POME or after fermentation 2

37 37

0 30

37 67

mulch compost

B POM with conventional sterilization, new oil recovery, fresh POME for composting

3 4

24 24

0 30

24 54

mulch compost

POM with conventional sterilization, new oil recovery, POME after fermentation for composting

5 6

24 24

0 30

24 54

mulch compost

C POM with new sterilization, new oil recovery, fresh POME for composting

7 8

12 12

0 30

12 42

mulch compost

POM with new sterilization, new oil recovery, POME after fermentation for composting

9 10

12 12

0 30

12 42

mulch compost

plants) but not in a nursery. The biological degradation of the EFB/POME mixture will go on under the natural soil and climate conditions. If mature compost should be produced (C/N >15), the rotting time should be prolonged for about 30 days more. An addition of water could be necessary during that time to afford the biological activity. To produce dry compost for screening and packaging the retention/drying time depends on the climate conditions. The retention time of the EFB in the composting plant is relevant for the cost of the composting process. A reduction of the specific POME amount will reduce the time necessary to evaporate the water. 121

TABLE 4. BASIC DATA FOR COST CALCULATION FOR ANAEROBIC TREATMENT AND COMPOSTING

Maintenance

% of investment

2 to 5

Depreciation

years

Currency

1 EUR

11 000 IDR

% % % yr

70 30 16 5

EUR/l

0.60

Capital cost Credit Equity Interest Pay back time Energy Diesel fuel

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - OCTOBER 2008) POMwith withconventional conventionalsterilisation sterilizationand and OM conventional oil recovery conventional oil recovery

A A

with or without biogas palm palmoiloilmill mill POME oil mill

cooler cooler

EFB chopping chopping mill mill belt conveyor belt conveyor wheel loader truck

composting plant

channel tank

composting composting area area

pump station

turning machine

piping system

pond

compost or mulch

leac leachate

channel

no part of cost calculation

Figure 5. Equipment of a composting plant for EFB with addition of POME (POM type A). B

POM with conventional sterilization sterilisation and new oil recovery process (ECO-D System)

without biogas

with biogas

palm oil mill

condensate ECO-D biomass

EFB water

condensate ECO-D biomass

EFB

chopping mill

cooler oil mill

POM with conventional sterilization sterilisation and new oil recovery process (ECO-D System)

belt conveyor

oil mill

screw conveyor

chopping mill

cooler

press

oil

biogas plant

belt conveyor

pipe

wheel loader

mixer channel

wheel loader

truck

tank

composting area

pump station

turning machine

piping system

pond

compost or mulch

composting plant

truck

leachate

no part of cost calculation

tank

composting area

pump station

turning machine

piping system

pond

compost or mulch

Figure 6. Equipment of a composting plant for EFB with addition of POME without biogas production (POM type B).

leachate

no part of cost calculation

Figure 7. Equipment of a composting plant for EFB with addition of POME with biogas production (POM type B). 122

EFFECT OF NEW PALM OIL MILL PROCESSES ON THE EFB AND POME UTILIZATION TABLE 5. COST CALCULATION FOR BIOGAS PLANT WITH FIXED BED DIGESTER (1000 litres diesel fuel equivalent); POM TYPE A

Investment cost (1)

EUR

486 560 -1

Capital costs

EUR yr

-1

Production cost (2)

TABLE 6. COST CALCULATION FOR BIOGAS PLANT WITH TOTALLY MIXED DIGESTER (1000 litres diesel fuel equivalent) POM TYPE B/C

EUR yr

-1

Investment cost (1) Capital costs

148 599 72 784

Total annual costs

EUR yr

Benefit (3)

EUR yr-1 219 000

Profit calculation yr

2.96

Actuarial return with reference to total investment

39.5

Actuarial return with reference to equity

Notes: (1) Components: preparation work, cooling, pre-storage, digester including support material, security device, post-storage, gasholder, de-sulphurization, biogas flare + blower, process measurement and control, switch board room, pipes for water, gas pipes,cable/power supply, traffic area, planning cost. (2) Includes maintenance, labour cost, depreciation and general cost; energy demand is fulfilled by the oil mill, the cost are not calculated separately. (3) Energy-production (diesel fuel equivalent).

129 555

-1

63 298

-1

192 853

EUR yr

Total annual costs

EUR yr

Benefit (3)

EUR yr-1 219 000

Profit calculation Pay back period, year (annuity-method) Actuarial return with reference to total investment Actuarial return with reference to equity

66.4

424 200 -1

EUR yr

Production cost (2)

221 383

Pay back period, year (annuity-method)

EUR

2.50

40.1

% 75.7

Notes: (1) Components: preparation work, cooling, pre-storage, digester, mixer, security device, post-storage, gasholder, de-sulphurization, biogas flare + blower, process measurement and control, switch board room, pipes for water, gas pipes, cable/ power supply, traffic area, planning cost. (2) Includes maintenance, labour cost, depreciation, and general cost; energy demand is fulfilled by the oil mill, the cost are not calculated separately. (3) Energy-production (diesel fuel equivalent).

TABLE 7. OVERVIEW ABOUT COST CALCULATION FOR THE MULCH AND COMPOST PRODUCTION FROM EFB AND POME WITHOUT ANAEROBIC PRE-TREATMENT OF THE POME

Investment POM A B C A B C

No. 1 3 7 2 4 8

EUR

Difference

Pay back

EUR

Only mulch production (biological drying) 749 705 100 1.48 680 924 91 - 68 781 1.34 592 492 79 - 157 213 1.28 Compost production 1 158 185 100 871 404 75 782 972 68

- 286 781 - 375 213

2.42 1.74 1.55

Actuarial return [%] Total investm.

Ref. to equity

67 75 87

144 170 210

40 56 64

66 113 136

TABLE 9. OVERVIEW ABOUT COST CALCULATION FOR THE MULCH AND COMPOST PRODUCTION FROM EFB AND POME WITH ANAEROBIC PRE-TREATMENT OF THE POME

Investment POM A B C A B C

No. 1 5 9 2 6 10

EUR

Difference

Pay back

EUR

Actuarial return [%] Total investm.

Mulch production (biological drying) and biogas production 749 705 100 1.48 67 654 924 87 - 94 781 1.28 78 566 492 79 - 183 213 1.10 91 Compost production and biogas production 1 158 185 100 2.42 845 404 73 - 312 781 1.68 756 972 65 - 401 213 1.49

123

40 58 67

Ref. to equity 144 180 223 66 119 144

124

66.6 144.2

% % 65.6

39.5

2.42

1 158 185 353 751 272 052 625 772 613 313

A 2 compost

169.5

74.6

1,34

680 924 207 961 171 557 379 518 604 234

B 3 mulch

112.6

56.3

1.74

871 404 266 135 216 131 482 266 611 497

B 4 compost

179.7

77.8

1.28

654 924 200 020 167 267 367 287 604 234

B 5 mulch

118.5

58.2

1.68

845 404 258 194 211 841 470 035 611 497

B 6 compost

209.5

87.1

1.16

592 492 180 953 151 439 332 392 600 602

C 7 mulch

136.4

64.1

1.55

782 972 239 127 194 508 433 635 608 774

C 8 compost

223.3

91.3

1.10

566 492 173 012 147 149 320 161 600 602

C 9 mulch

144.0

66.5

1.49

756 972 231 186 190 218 421 404 608 774

C 10 compost

Notes: (1) A: Conventional palm oil mill with conventional autoclave sterilizer and oil recovery. B: ‘New palm oil mill’ with conventional autoclave sterilizer and new oil recovery process (ECO-D System). C: ‘New palm oil mill’ with new sterilizer process and new oil recovery process (ECO-D System). (2) Components: POME/sludge tank, chopping mill, belt conveyor, screw conveyor, mixer, turning machine, concrete floor 15 cm, dump truck, wheel loader, pond for leakage water, piping system, pump stations, mechanical work, electrical work, planning cost. (3) Fuel, electricity, labour, maintenance, depreciation, general cost. (4) Cost saved for POME treatment in ponds, value of the nutrients in POME, reduced cost for compost transport + distribution, increased FFB production of 2%, CER only for POME (8 EUR t-1).

1.48

749 705 228 967 189 877 418 844 607 412

Investment cost (2) Capital costs Production cost (3) Total annual costs Benefit (4) Profit calculation Pay back period, year (annuity-method) Actuarial return with reference to total investment Actuarial return with reference to equity

EUR EUR yr-1 EUR yr-1 EUR yr-1 EUR yr-1

A 1 mulch

Type of oil mill (1) Alternative Product

TABLE 8. COST CALCULATION FOR ALTERNATIVE COMPOSTING PLANTS IN A 30 t OIL MILL (153 000 t yr-1) FOR POM TYPE A, B AND C WITH MULCH PRODUCTION AND COMPOST PRODUCTION (see Table 3)

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - OCTOBER 2008)

EFFECT OF NEW PALM OIL MILL PROCESSES ON THE EFB AND POME UTILIZATION

POM with new sterilization sterilisation process and new oil recovery process (ECO-D System)

cleaning water

without biogas

with biogas

palm oil mill

EFB

ECO-D biomass

cleaning water

chopping mill press screw conveyor

belt conveyor

EFB

ECO-D biomass

oil mill

water

oil mill

POM with new sterilization sterilisation process and new oil recovery process (ECO-D System)

chopping mill biogas plant

belt conveyor

pipe

wheel loader

oil

mixer

truck wheel loader

composting plant

channel

composting plant

truck

composting area pump station

turning machine

piping system

pond

leachate

composting area pump station

turning machine

piping system

pond

compost or mulch compost or mulch

leachate

no part of cost calculation

Figure 9. Equipment of a composting plant for EFB with addition of POME with biogas production (POM type C).

no part of cost calculation

Figure 8. Equipment of a composting plant for EFB with addition of POME without biogas production (POM type C). mixed reactor. Compared to conventional palm oil mills (type A) which should use a fixed bed fermenter for the POME treatment, the investment cost can reduced up to 13% and the pay back time can reduced from 2.96 to 2.5 years. The biogas production from POME or ECO-D biomass is profitable (calculated on the diesel fuel energy equivalent and a price of 0.60 EUR litre-1) when the gas can be used. The mulch or compost production from EFB with addition of POME/Eco-D biomass is profitable with pay back times between 1.1 and 2.4 years. Compared to conventional palm oil mills (type A) the investment cost can be reduced up to 35%. With the process of mulch or compost production from EFB in combination with POME or ECO-D slurry (with or without anaerobic fermentation with biogas production before) it is possible to realize a sustainable process in palm oil mills with â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;zero wasteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

Ministry of Education and Research and the Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (IOPRI), Medan.

REFERENCES RSPO (2005). RSPO principles and criteria for sustainable palm oil production. http:// www.sustainable-palmoil.org/ ANONYM (2003). Sustainable palm oil - good agricultural practice guidelines. http:// w w w. u n i l e v e r. c o m / o u r v a l u e s / environmentandsociety/publications/ CHUNGSIRIPORN, J; PRASERTSAN, S and BUNYAKAN, C (2006). Minimization of water consumption and process optimization of palm oil mills. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 8(3): 151-158.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

PATERSON, R RM (2007). Ganoderma disease of oil palm - a white rot perspective necessary for integrated control. Crop Protection, 26(9): 1369-1376.

The international research project between Indonesia and Germany was supported by the German Federal

IPCC/TEAP (2005). Special Report on Safeguarding the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate System: Issues

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Related to Hydrofluorocarbons and Perfluorocarbons (Metz, B et al., eds.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. 488 pp. SCHUCHARDT, F; SUSILAWATI, E and GURITNO, P (1998). Influence of C/N ratio and inoculum upon rotting characteristcs of oil palm empty fruit bunch. Proc. of the 1998 International Palm Oil Conference. Bali, Indonesia. 23-25 September 1998. p. 501-510. SCHUCHARDT, F; SUSILAWATI, E and GURITNO, P (1999). Trials about composting of solid wastes from palm oil mills in Indonesia. Biological Treatment of Waste and the Environment - International Conference ORBIT 99. 2-4 September 1999. Weimar, Germany. p. 155-164. SCHUCHARDT, F; DARNOKO, D and GURITNO, P (2002a). Composting of empty oil palm fruit bunch (EFB) with simultaneous evaporation of oil mill waste water (POME). Enhancing oil palm industry development through environmentally friendly technology. Proc. of the Chemistry and Technology Conference. Nusa Dua Bali, Indonesia. 8-12 July 2002. p. 235-243. SCHUCHARDT, F; WULFERT, K and DARNOKO, D (2002b). A new, integrated concept for combined waste (EFB) and waste water (POME) treatment in palm oil mills - technical, economical and ecological aspects. Enhancing oil palm industry development through environmentally friendly technology. Proc. of the Chemistry and Technology Conference. Nusa Dua Bali, Indonesia. 8-12 July 2002. p. 330-343.

SCHUCHARDT, F; WULFERT, K and DAMOKO, D (2005). New process for combined treatment of waste (EFB) and waste water (POME) from palm oil mills - technical, economical and ecological aspects. Landbauforschung Volkenrode, 55(1): 47-60. SCHUCHARDT, F (2006). Sustainable waste water (POME) and waste (EFB) management in palm oil mills by a new process. International Oil Palm Conference 2006. Nusa Dua, Indonesia. 19- 23 June 2006. SIVASOTHY, K; HALIM, R M and BASIRON, Y (2005). A new system for continuous sterilization of oil palm fresh fruit bunches. J. Oil Palm Research Vol. 17: 145-151. SIVASOTHY, K and HWA, T (2006). Continuous sterilization of palm oil fresh fruit bunches. International Oil Palm Conference 2006. 19-23 June 2006. p. 97-104. TORNROTH, E (2006). The continuous ECO-D plus oil extraction system- the ultimate solution for sustainable palm oil processing. International Oil Palm Conference 2006. 19-23 June 2006. p. 110-113. WESTFALIA SEPARATOR INDUSTRY (2006). The ECO-D System. WULFERT, K; DARNOKO, D; TOBING, P L; YULISARI, R and GURITNO, P (2002). Treatment of POME in anaerobic fixed bed digesters. International Oil Palm Conference 2002. 8-12 July 2002. p. 265-275.

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Journal of Oil Palm Research (Special Issue - October 2008) p. 127-142 ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL PRODUCTION

ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL PRODUCTION JONATHAN M ANDERSON* ABSTRACT There have been many innovations in mill technologies, oil palm agronomy and pest management over past decades that are increasingly meeting the certification criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). In addition, because oil palm plantations may be functionally analogous to forests, and remain undisturbed for several decades, they can provide some essential ecosystem services to local/national stakeholders in terms of direct use-values (products, economics) and indirect use-values (carbon sequestration, biodegradation, hydrology); though the economic value of indirect services, such as maintenance of water quality, have not been recognized as national assets. On the other hand, option values (gene pools) and existence values (biodiversity) for oil palm plantations are low and loss of these values is contentious when natural systems are converted. Negative perceptions of oil palm being ‘eco-friendly’ also reflect the extent to which forest and peatland conversion to oil palm have resulted in off-site effects such as carbon mobilization, damage to river systems from sedimentation and loss of biodiversity. It is concluded that the industry could improve its image by adopting mitigation measures, including better landscape design and documentation of the areas under development, and by improving the visibility that some sectors of the industry are making to address these environmental issues. Keywords: ecosystem services, carbon, peat, forest, biodiversity. Date received: 5 May 2008; Sent for revision: 25 May 2008; Received in final form: 6 August 2008; Accepted: 7 August 2008.

INTRODUCTION The oil palm industry is continuing to expand to meet the burgeoning world demand for palm oil, secondary products from the food and manufacturing industries, and more recently, by the development of biodiesel. Increases in production have been achieved by intensifying production per unit area through breeding, improved agronomy and better plantation management. There has also been substantial expansion in the area under oil palm cultivation, notably in Indonesia, involving conversion of secondary forest and peat swamps. This has generated adverse media publicity by environmentalists over the loss of biodiversity and greenhouse gas mobilization from vegetation and soils that the industry needs to counteract. * School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4PS, United Kingdom. E-mail: j.m.anderson@exeter.ac.uk

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For further growth, the sector faces major challenges to remain economically competitive by improving mill technologies, increasing average fresh fruit bunch yields of less than 20 t ha-1 to the 35 t ha-1 by the adoption of best planting materials and best-developed practices, and ensuring that palm oil production does not have ‘off-site’ environmental effects that compromise human well-being and livelihoods, both now and in the future. The industry has been concerned with these issues of sustainable development for a number of years, culminating in the agreement of criteria defined by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO, 2007). Henson (2003), Chan (2005) and Corley (2005) provide useful reviews of the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development from the research and development perspectives of the palm oil sector. In this review, I will firstly considers the concept of ‘eco-friendly’ palm oil production from an ecosystem perspective in terms of the inputs and losses of energy and materials across the boundary of a production unit comprising the plantations and the mill, I will then discuss the ecosystem services

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provided by landscapes dominated by a plantation monocrop and the local and global perceptions of its values. Finally, I will assess the most critical and environmentally sensitive processes involving land use change and plantation rotation that have the greatest potential impacts on externalities and environmental concerns, and how the effects might be mitigated.

OIL PALM PLANTATIONS AS ECOSYSTEM UNITS A simple conceptual model of an oil palm plantation system comprising oil palm and a mill is shown in Figure 1. The functioning of the unit can be considered in terms of the mass inputs and outputs across the system boundary of water (leachates and suspended solids), nutrients (nitrogen fixation, fertilizers, weathering products), gasses (CO2, NOx, CH4 and smoke aerosols) and materials (inputs of fossil fuel, pesticides) and outputs of palm oil and palm biomass. Balances between inputs and outputs are simple measure of sustainability as they are largely influenced by management practices including the recycling of materials within the

plantation boundary. An â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;eco-friendlyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; system is one that has a high use-efficiency of inputs, and outputs that have minimum (ideally zero) impacts on the external environment. Most of these flux pathways have been the subject of considerable research within the industry and best practices have been developed (Chan, 2005) that will meet most of the RSPO criteria if adopted. I will therefore only briefly consider each of these material balances to identify possible knowledge gaps for assessing sustainability criteria. Nutrients Any production system will ultimately fail if the sum of nutrient outputs is not balanced by inputs. However, this dynamic is buffered by the large reserve pools in vegetation and mineral soil of oil palm plantations and nutritional deficiencies may take some time to be manifested until this pools is depleted. In contrast, arable cropping systems in the tropics have a high nutrient input/output ratio because a large proportion of biomass is harvested and soil disturbance from tillage results in higher nutrient leaching. Inputs of mineral nutrients (K, Mg, Si and trace elements) are supplied by the soil and weathering of bedrock supplemented by

GREENHOUSE GASSES CO2 CH4 N2O

MATURE

MATERIALS fuel pesticides palm oil biomass biofuel

P/R>1 small C sink

EFB POME ash

P/R>>1 large C sink

YOUNG

biofuel CO2

MILL FFB

REPLANT

biomass PALM STANDS

soil and weathering fertilizers

P/R<1 large C source

HYDROLOGY

rain throughflow groundwater sediment POM, DOM pesticides

leaching run off and erosion

NUTRIENTS Figure 1. A schematic representation of a plantation ecosystem comprising a mill and palm stands in different stages of development from clearing to economic maturity. Ratios of plant production (P) to total respiration (R), including soil heterotrophs, are diagnostic of carbon balances at plot and system level. Inputs and output balances of materials, fuels, greenhouse gasses, nutrients and water [including particulate (POM) and dissolved organic matter (DOM)] are also diagnostic of the sustainability of the system and its impacts on the external environment.

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ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL PRODUCTION

commercial fertililzers, with K forming a major component of plantation costs. According to Teo and Chew (1987) the soil contributes 56%-75% of K demand by palms on coastal clays, but only 44% on more weathered inland soils, with the difference in demand, most of which is progressively immobilized in the trunk and fronds, supplemented by commercial fertilizer. Use-efficiency of K fertilizer on different soil series ranged from 83% on soils with low available-K to 19% on soils with high availableK where fertilizer applications in this study probably exceeded palm demand and were potentially lost as leachates. In lowland areas where the water table is at a few metres depth, palm roots may access nutrient supplies in ground water but this does not appear to be quantified. Fertilizers are spot placed, banded or broadcast, and recycling of EFB, bunch ash and palm oil mill effluent (POME) from the mill to the plantation is widely practiced to reduce the need for commercial fertilizers. However, it would appear that palm requirements are generally monitored as foliar K concentrations that provides no measure of excess supply over demand (and potential losses from the system). For example, Tarmizi and Mohd Tayeb (2006) estimated that 23% of the standard application of 3.5 kg KCl applied per palm was in excess of demand. Nutrient leaching in relation to placement of fertilizer, bunch ash or palm biomass can be simply monitored by using suction cup lysimeters at different depths in the soil profile as a management tool to monitor the temporal and/or spatial patterns of the K leaching front below the plant rooting zone. Tarmizi and Mohd Tayeb (2006) also suggest that up to 20% of applied P may be fixed in inland soils so that over 2 kg palm-1 yr-1 is required to balance the takeoff. There seems to be consensus within the plantation sector that nutrient leaching is negligible under established systems but most studies are reported in the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;greyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; literature (workshops, unpublished proceedings, internal reports, etc.) and so can not be reviewed. By the time that palms are felled for replanting, after about 25 years, considerable pools of nutrients have been sequestered in biomass and soils that represent a significant economic capital in terms of commercial fertilizer equivalents (Table 1). Much of this valuable nutrient capital is lost through leaching, denitrification and potentially through the loss of nutrient-rich, surface fines in run off that can contain a significant proportion of available soil-P. Conventional replanting methods result in an uncoupling between nutrient release from the windrows of decomposing palm biomass and the nutrient uptake by young palms (which is usually supplemented by commercial fertilizers). The spatial integration of nutrient sources and sinks in palm biomass can be facilitated by planting young palms into the windrows of palm residues (Khalid et al.,

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1999; 2001). This can result in significant savings in fertilizer costs with no yield disadvantage. However, nutrient release from decomposing palm biomass over about 20 months still far exceeds the sink capacity of soils and young palms. For example the K pool in mature palms is c. 642 kg ha-1 vs. c. 130 kg ha-1 in young palms at two years after replanting (Yaacob and Sulaiman, 1992) implying that the difference of c. 500 kg ha-1 is leached out of the system. Budgets of these nutrient dynamics are required to assess the amount of palm biomass that could be removed from the plantation as fuel in mills, production of second generation biofuels, wood composites and other industrial processes. TABLE 1. NUTRIENT CONTENT AND FERTILIZER EQUIVALENTS IN MATURE OIL PALM BIOMASS AT REPLANTING

Palm residues Dry matter (t ha-1)

Nutrient (kg ha-1) N

Above ground

577

1 255

141

Below ground

129

Total

101

642

1 384

156

Fertilizer

A/S CIRP

MOP

KIES

Fertilizer equivalent

3 060

2 770

1 000

370

Source: Khalid et al. (2001).

Peat forests are developed under very nutrient limiting conditions on soils of low inherent fertility, such as alluvial sands. Dead plant materials in these systems have very low nutrient concentrations, high lignin and high phenolic concentrations and consequently are resistant to microbial decomposition (Anderson et al., 1983). Water-logging further impedes decomposition. The build up of peaty organic matter progressively uncouples the nutrient cycle from the underlying parent material so that nutrient inputs are predominantly from atmospheric deposition with accessions as low as 1.8 kg K, 6 kg N and <0.1 kg P ha-1 yr-1 (Grip et al.,1994). Consequently tropical peats provide negligible nutrients to meet the requirements of a productive oil palm plantation and have a small reserve pool to buffer nutrient fluxes. Potassium leaching can be very high because of the low exchange capacity of peats (Ahmad et al., 2006). Hence, there has to be careful management of nutrient inputs/outputs balances using commercial fertilizers, since recycling of mill products is rarely practical in these systems. Monitoring of nutrient leaching would facilitate assessment of these balances to improve nutrient use-efficiencies. Considerable research has been conducted by the Palm Oil Research Institute of

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - OCTOBER 2008)

Malaysia (now Malysian Palm Oil Board) on fertilizer requirements for oil palm on peat (Mohd Tayeb et al., 1997) but an updated synthesis is not available in the open literature. In conclusion, nutrient management is a well developed practice in established plantations and is assumed to have low environmental impact off site, particularly to potable water supplies. However, there are few accessible records for leaching and ground water quality to support this assumption. Carbon/energy, GHG Emissions and Crop Protection Chemicals Chan (2005) reviews best-developed practices (BDPs) that can improve production efficiencies and reduce environmental impacts of the industry on soils, water and air quality. Where BDPs have been adopted by the plantation sector, many of the environmental, social and economic criteria of sustainability appear to have been met (Corley, 2005). However, documentation to address the concerns regarding GHG emissions, ground water quality (e.g. as affected by crop protection chemicals) and other environmental parameters are not readily available to the wider community outside the industry. Basri et al. (2006) have comprehensively reviewed the oil palm industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role in reducing GHG emissions. There are increasing opportunities for the palm oil sector to use Clean Development Mechanisms (CDMs) and generate new income from Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), e.g. biogas production from EFBs and methane capture from POME lagoons. Again, the extent to which these measures are being adopted by the industry in relation to Malaysiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s submissions of GHG inventories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is not widely publicised and needs promotion. This issue will be considered further below in relation to changing land use for oil palm development. Net carbon emissions during site preparation or sequestration during stand development dominant component of GHG fluxes on plantations. The carbon dynamics of an oil palm stand can be assessed in terms of the balance between carbon fixation by plants (gross primary production: P) and the total community respiration (R) of plants and heterotrophs (including soil organisms). A P: R>1 indicates that the system is sequestering carbon in biomass and soils - i.e. a young stand. As a natural forest approaches maturity the P:R ratio for the vegetation approaches unity. Although many oil palms approach an asymptote for biomass increments over 25-50 years, the underlying soils can take centuries to reach equilibrium between organic matter inputs and decomposition. The eddy flux method for measuring net CO2 balances of P and R

across the canopy boundary is currently the best technique for obtaining integrated measures of plantations as carbon sinks or sources at system level. Unfortunately, the areas covered by eddy flux measurements may be difficult to define in landscapes with heterogeneous vegetation and other anthropogenic sources. Hence, inventories of carbon in biomass and soils in stands of different ages (Henson and Chang, 2008) are more practical to provide information of the net balance between carbon sinks in developing stands and carbon sources in stands felled for replanting and palm oil mills (Figure 1). These measurements are only an approximation of the net landscape dynamics because carbon release from the decomposing stand debris (months) is much faster than the rate (years) at which a comparable mass of carbon is sequestered in biomass as the stand develops. Hence, very extensive areas of forest conversion or replanting will represent a carbon source but could be offset elsewhere by carbon sequestration through the regrowth of forests (Hashimotio et al., 2000) and oil palm plantations in contrast to the small carbon sink of areas converted to annual crops (Henson, 2005). Refinement of carbon budgets for Peninsular Malaysia, the east Malaysian states and Kalimantan is limited by primary data for soil carbon pools on major soil groups, carbon losses from soils (as particulate matter in run off on slopes and dissolved organic-C), increased mineralization rates of soil carbon as a consequence of soil disturbance and exposure after a forest stand or plantation is felled, and the carry over of soil carbon to the replant. A recent synthesis by Houghton and Hackler (1999) suggests that, for tropical Asia as a whole, emissions of carbon from changes in land use in the 1980s accounted for approximately 75% of the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total carbon emissions. Since 1990, overall rates of deforestation and their emissions have declined, except for Indonesia, while emissions of carbon from combustion of fossil fuels have increased. They conclude that the net effect has been a reduction in emissions of CO2 from this region since 1990 but acknowledge that the uncertainty over recent emissions could be as much as 50%. Sampling CO2 gradients at regional level using aircraft can considerably improve these book-keeping estimates of carbon fluxes at national/regional scales because they integrate industrial sources as well as all carbon sinks (Suntharalingam et al., 2004). It is in the economic interest of the plantation manager to reduce the interval between stand felling and replanting with ground cover legumes for N fixation, nutrient immobilization and soil surface protection. This is the most vulnerable phase of oil palm management in terms of off-site impacts of erosion, run off and leaching on river quality, particularly in sloping terrains (Henson, 1994). Soil

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ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL PRODUCTION

erosion is considered to be minimal under established plantations in the sense that sediment is not transported beyond the plantation boundary (but may be redistributed internally). However, little information is available in the open literature on the degradation of river water quality due to sediment in run off, and diffuse pollution of ground and surface waters by fertilizers, crop protection chemicals and mill effluents (Sarmani et al., 1992). A long-term study on the effects of POME applications in plantations (Hamdan et al., 1997) concluded that, with correct management, there was no ground water contamination by nutrients or dissolved organic matter. However, such studies are few and site specific and ground water quality appears to be an important information gap for monitoring the general compliance of management practices to RSPO criteria, pollution legislation, upstream Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), and for assessing the indirect values of ecosystem services provided by oil palm plantations.

ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS AND SERVICES Economic growth, understood as increasing production and consumption of goods and services, has altered ecosystem structure and function to a point where we are now eroding those ecosystem services on which our economy relies, and fundamentally, of these on which we depend on for life support, such as clean air and water (Howarth and Farber, 2002). The global processes of agricultural development has generally involved a transition from diverse traditional systems, often involving small areas of staple food crops and extensive usage of natural systems for most other utilities, to landscapes dominated by cereals and other arable monocrops (Anderson, 2007). Henson (2003) points out that oil palm is unique as an agricultural monocrop in the extent of its landscape cover with a vegetation type that functions as a forest but has oil yields up to five times higher than from oilseed rape (which provides few other economic benefits and many environmental problems). Here I consider the ecosystem services that oil palm provides to some stakeholders and some disservices as perceived by others. Ecosystem functions are the physical, chemical and biological processes that maintain what an ecosystem does such as carbon and nutrient cycling, climate regulation, hydrologic functions and as a habitat for wildlife. Ecosystem functions are valueneutral to human society unless they relate to transaction costs, i.e. changes in function related to land use or management that provide a service of some economic value. Ecosystem services are therefore defined by values society places on

131

provision of goods (food, fuel and fibre), services (regulation and quality of water supplies, etc.), bioremediation (detoxification of waste materials, carbon sequestration) and beneficial outcomes for the natural environment (e.g. nature conservation, tourism). The goods and services provided by different components of oil palm ecosystems are outlined in Table 2. The total economic value (TEV) is the sum of the four components of ecosystem services provided by OP: direct use values (provisioning services), indirect use values (regulating services), option values (preserving services) and non-use or existence values (cultural services) (De Groot et al., 2002). Direct use values are the basis for the current economic basis of the oil palm industry not only including palm oil as the primary commodity and a precursor to industrial and pharmaceutical products, but also the use of co-products (kernal oil, palm kernel cake) and secondary products such as fibre board or furniture from trunks and fronds. Byproduct values include empty fruit bunches (EFB) for energy generation, bunch ash and POME to offset fertilizer costs, and biogas/bioethanol production from POME and EFBs as CDMs for carbon offset trading. Integrated livestock production and other cash crops are additional sources of smallholder income. Inter-planting of high value timber trees at low densities around plantations or in buffer /riparian zones (to avoid shading of palms) could also provide significant revenues. Indirect use values include attributes supporting oil palm production such as healthy soil as a growth medium, biological control agents, nutrient recovery by deep-rooted plants (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nutrient pumpingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;), and ground cover legumes for nitrogen fixation and erosion control. At catchment level, mature oil palm plantations may have similar environmental attributes to natural forest in purifying water and air, regulating ground water and stream flows, providing a humid microclimate and sequestering significant stocks of carbon in palm biomass and soils. The total economic value of these ecosystem services to national economies is worth billions of USD (Anderson, 2007) as represented by the replacement costs of industrial technologies for reducing GHG emissions and water treatment. However, negative environment aspects of the industry, both in perception and practices, apply during the conversion of natural vegetation to plantations and during rotations when there can be severe impacts on biodiversity, water quality and GHG mobilization. Option values involve protecting the potential of systems for future uses by safeguarding genetic and species diversity. This also includes conservation of germplasm from crop varieties that may be

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - OCTOBER 2008) TABLE 2. VALUES PLACED ON ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

Component

Palms (production phase)

Palm residues (trunk, frond, EFB, ash)

Weeds

Associated crops (GC legumes, SH crops, other trees)

Direct UV (provisioning services)

Indirect UV (regulating services)

Option V (preserving services)

Existence or non-use value (cultural services)

Food, industrial products, biodiesel

Catchment hydrology, local climate, carbon sink

Wildlife habitats: landscape design and reforestation

Low if replacing natural forest, high for rehabilitation of degraded habitats

Industrial fibre, fertilizer, CDMs e.g. methane capture, new product technologies

Biofuels (methane, bioethanol), erosion control, soil fertility

Microbial gene pool, conservation of below-ground biodiversity

Animal feed

Biological control, nutrient retention, erosion control

Conservation above- and below-ground BD

Nutrient ‘pumping’ by deep-rooted plants, nitrogen fixation, erosion control

Conservation above- and below-ground BD

Animal feed, smallholder livelihood, agro-forestry with high value trees

Soil/soil organic matter -

Stakeholder

Values

Plant growth Carbon and nutrient medium nutrient carry-over in cycling, bioremediation, transitional stage hydrologic functions, carbon sink

Negative perceptions of erosion, river siltation, GHG emissions

Local National? National/Global?

uncompetitive under present environmental and economic conditions but may have eco-physiological characters, drought or pest and disease resistance mechanisms of value in an uncertain future. Oil palm plantations have a higher associated biodiversity than arable crops as a consequence of a more complex vegetation structure (tree vs. herbaceous plant) and longer undisturbed periods between rotations. None the less, the diversity of communities associated with oil palm stands is low compared to natural forest and hence, landscapes dominated by palms have a small fraction of the natural biodiversity of the systems they replace. Below ground diversity of bacteria, fungi and invertebrates is higher because of the legume, weed and palm residue cover and well-developed soil structure (Anderson, 2007). Overall, oil palm plantations have low preservation or option values but this can be mitigated by establishment of forest reserves and landscape planning. Cultural services (non-use or existence values) are the social, cultural, aesthetic and ethical benefits gained from biodiversity and natural habitats. Some

groups attach social and religious values to individual species, such as the hornbill in Borneo. Others gain value from simply knowing the existence of certain species (pandas, gorillas, tigers), or species-rich tropical rain forests, and are prepared to give significant funding for species and habitat protection (e.g. the World Wildlife Fund) even if they never actually visit these areas. Nunes and van den Burgh (2001) review examples of this willingness to pay (WTP) for profit forgone to ensure protection of natural habitats. Oil palm has low cultural or existence values since the plantations displace many traditions and beliefs that have evolved around the environment and resources of natural or community forests. This is a highly controversial issue involving conflicts between native customary land rights and government/private sector developments on ‘unproductive’ areas in the interests of profits and the national economy. The mixed environmental, social and economic benefits to Dayak communities in Sarawak from the Koncep Baru oil palm development programme are discussed by Majid Cooke (2002).

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ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL PRODUCTION

agriculture production, is one of the factors causing the decline in the diversity of wildlife species. Wildlife habitats have been extensively disturbed and reduced in their potential capacity to hold viable populations to, while the structure of the landscape mosaic may inhibit natural dispersal between habitats. Habitat fragmentation also alters the forest climate on a local scale (< 1 km) leading to wind disturbance and elevated desiccation near the forest margins. These changes in microclimate can alter tree mortality and gap dynamics, plant species community composition, biomass dynamics and carbon storage (Laurance, 2004). There have been extensive studies of these processes in Amazonia where rain forest are being cut at rates of up to 20 000 km2 yr-1 leading to isolated forest fragments of 1 to 100 ha (Stouffer et al., 2006). Studies of understorey birds showed that the habitat structure (secondary growth, agro-forestry or pasture) was often as important as the size of the forest fragment for bird species abundance. Some fragments surrounded by 100 m of open pasture resulted in the reduction of insectivorous bird populations by 95% even where these pastures were themselves surrounded by continuous forest and old regrowth (Stouffer et al., 2006). Unlike pasture and arable crops, oil palm has a more complex and durable habitat structure that can provide a buffer zone for the microclimate at forest margins and some degree of connection between neighbouring patches of forest. However, as the extent of oil palm cover increases, corridors of natural vegetation are required to enable species to disperse over longer distances. Some examples of landscape design to mitigate the effects of deforestation are given in Table 3. The scales of these specific recommendations may not be practical for the industry to adopt. However, the practice of not converting vegetation on slopes

LAND CONVERSION TO OIL PALM The internal conflicts between local and national stakeholders (Table 2) are a microcosm of the international tensions between the direct economic benefits to producers from palm oil and the concerns of consumers in countries with high per capita GDP over the ecological costs of this development. The focus of these concerns are not so much on the environmental impacts of established plantations and mill operations, that are subject to national legislation (e.g. zero burning), voluntary adoption of RSPO criteria and CDM initiatives, but on the environmental consequences of changes in land use and plantation rotations that relate to loss of biodiversity, mobilization of carbon pools, soil erosion and impacts on water quality and supply. Biodiversity and Landscape Design The process of agricultural development worldwide has involved the fragmentation of natural vegetation cover and development of extensive crop monocultures. Further conversion of tropical forest in Southeast Asia, Amazonia and Africa is inevitable unless international financing schemes for Reduction in Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), biodiversity conservation and carbon offset are recognized under the post-2012 agreements of the UNFCCC, are adequately funded and implemented with immediate effect. In the mean time there is urgent need for proactive land management to mitigate the effects of forest loss and fragmentation that are more effective before and during, rather than after, the deforestation process (Laurance and Gascon, 1997). Fragmentation of natural habitats due to forest conversion, or landscape changes to enhance

TABLE 3. EXAMPLES OF LANDSCAPE-DESIGN GUIDELINES THAT COULD BE USED TO INFLUENCE PATTERNS OF DEFORESTATION (from Laurance and Gascon, 1997)

Guideline

Potential impacts on the landscape

Prohibit forest clearing within 150 m of water courses

Enhance landscape connectivity, stabilize watersheds, improve water quality.

Prohibit forest clearing on steep (>30o) slopes

Retain forest remnants in steep areas, reduce soil erosion, ameliorate downstream flooding.

Prohibit clearing of rare vegetation types

Enhance biological and landscape diversity, provide seed sources for future reforestation.

Stipulate that forest clearings can not exceed 20 ha in area

Reduce deforestation and rate of deforestation, reduce fragmentation of habitats.

Specify that individual landowners may not clear over 50% of primary forest on their properties.

Reduce deforestation rate, ensure that some forest cover is retained.

Prohibit forest clearing or hunting within 1 km of nature reserve boundaries.

Reduce edge effects for reserves, increase effective area of the reserve, ensure habitats around reserves do not function as population sinks for forest-dependant species. 133

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of more that 25o often leaves isolated patches of forest on hill tops and ridges where a corridor connecting these areas could greatly improve the ecological integrity of the area. The preservation of wide riparian zones serves not only to provide wildlife corridors through some element of natural vegetation through the core of plantations but also provides other ecosystem services by acting as a filter for sediment, nutrients, and biodegradation of crop protection chemicals from plantations to protect aquatic biodiversity and water quality. Requirements for a 10 m buffer strip along feeder streams may provide some protection for the water-course from diffuse population once the plantation is established. However, such narrow strips may provide little protection against massive run off and sediment transfers during storm events immediately after site preparation. Natural riparian zones also have high aesthetic values; they are a learning environment for education and enhance tourist perceptions of the landscape. Similarly, replanting major road margins with wide belts of indigenous tree could significantly improve the countryside image in transit, enhance biodiversity around plantations and might be eligible as a carbon sink under future REDD negotiations. Water, Erosion and Nutrients One of the key ecosystem services provided by forested catchments is the filtration and purification of water and regulation of stream flows. As a consequence, the pure stream water from undisturbed catchments is low in suspended solids, nutrients and dissolved organics and often of potable quality without the cost of further treatment. An indication of the direct market valuation of this ecosystem service is given by the problem faced by New York City where water supplies from the Catskill Catchment were compromised by sewage and agricultural population. In 1997, a new water purification plant would have cost USD 6-USD 8 billion to set up with USD 300 million annual running costs. A much less expensive and sustainable solution was to raise USD 660 million in Environmental Bonds for reforestation, and compensation for land development, to restore the natural ecosystem services as well as conservation, recreational use and other values to society (Anon, 2007). Unfortunately, a global trend in the tropics has been that on-site profits from farming, logging or plantation development accrue to the company manager while the wider community suffers the offsite costs of river siltation and dredging, flash flooding, decline in fisheries and aquatic biodiversity, population and loss of other environmental services in both fresh and coastal waters. Occasionally, lack of attention to erosion

control measures during land preparation can also rebound on the developer, as when failure to retain adequate riparian reserve strips, exacerbated flooding and resulted in losses of 5000 ha of 3-yearold palms in the Lower Kinatabangan flood plain in Sabah (Teoh et al., 2001). Similarly, wetland draining and channelling of Mississippi wetlands, as is happening with peat areas, reduced flood buffering and resulted in damage valued at USD 12 billion from exceptional storms in 1993 (Novitski et al., 1997). There are few studies in the accessible literature quantifying the consequences of forest conversion to oil palm on losses of soil through erosion, and sediment loading of streams and rivers. Bruijnzeel (2004) comprehensively reviews over 60 catchment studies on the hydrologic impacts of forest conversion to other land uses - none of this involved oil palm. Henson (PORIM) reviews one such study by the Drainage and Irrigation Department of Malaysia (DID, 1989) on the effects of land use change on soil and water resources in Sungai Terikam. Following clearance of the forest for oil palm, stream sediment loads increased from below 50 Mg km-2 yr-1 to 400 Mg km-2 yr-1, then fell to 100 Mg km -2 yr -1 when the legume cover was established but did not decrease to base-line (preconversion) rates until the plantation was 3 years old. Such studies are important to not only to assess the effects of improving management practices on catchments but also to demonstrate the commitment of the industry to reducing the off-site impacts of oil palm development. Malmer (1996), for example showed that clear felling forest in Sabah for an Acacia mangium plantation did not increase surface run off on slopes if the topsoils were undisturbed but compacted tractor tracks caused extensive run off and gully formation. Bruijnzeel (2004) also concludes that as long as soil surface disturbance remains limited the bulk of the increased water yield from clear-felled catchments occurs as base flow. However, surface compaction by heavy machinery can result in reduced infiltration so that ground water reserves are not replenished resulting in strong declines of base flows during the dry season. Much hydrological damage caused through the conversion of tropical forest might be averted through better implementation of best practices or development of improved methods of site preparation and land management. Although not directly relevant to site preparation to oil palm, reduced impact logging practices (RIL) can reduce sediment yields by four to 10 times those of conventional commercial operations (Hartanto et al., 2003) and conserve soil fertility. Nykvist et al. (1994) found that plantation regrowth was twice as fast on sites where there was no burning and soil disturbance was minimized to conserve nutrient stocks. There may be similar economic and environmental benefits for adopting 134

ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL PRODUCTION

components of RIL practices for site preparation involving planned access routes for heavy machinery, extracting trees by cable rather than by tractor and minimizing soil losses (Pinard and Putz, 1996). In addition, the palm residue management methods for replanting (Khalid et al., 2001) might be adapted for conversion sites to capitalize on the nutrient in the forest biomass. Carbon Tropical deforestation is a source of nearly 20% of human induced GHG emissions to the atmosphere including 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon each year. Between 1990 and 2005, more than 10 million hectares per year of forest cover was lost throughout the tropics, amounting to more than 28 million hectares in Indonesia and 1.5 million hectares in Malaysia over this period (FAO, 2005). The total area under oil palm in Indonesia and Malaysia was about 3.5 million hectares in 2005 apparently refuting the claims by Friends of the Earth that the demand for palm oil is the most primary cause of rain forest loss in this region (Corley, 2005). However, while commercial logging may be the major cause of deforestation in Southeast Asia, damaged habitats are then open for oil palm development and business linkages between the sectors are often close. The Indonesian Palm Oil Research Institute (IOPRI) estimates that only 3% of oil palm developments are in primary forest but 63% in bush and secondary forest (of undefined maturity) and 34% from other land uses. A major cause of the contention over oil palm developments is the general lack of reference to specific data supporting either side of the argument by environmentalists and developers, on what constitutes ‘rain forest’. The ‘rain forest’ term is broadly applied in the media to a wide spectrum of forest cover in the humid tropics that encompasses primary forest, various ages of secondary forest following commercial logging, to forest regrowth on abandoned land. For example, Proctor et al. (1993) found that above-ground biomass of different primary forest types within the same region of Sarawak can vary within a range of 210-650 Mg ha-1 (equivalent to 84-260 Mg C ha-1) of which between 22% and 67% may be removed by commercial logging (Lasco, 2002). Rain forest soils can contain 110 - 190 Mg C ha-1 (Lashof, 1989) with losses of 100 Mg C ha-1 following aggressive commercial logging operations. Soil carbon under poor grassland, such as alang-alang, can be reduced to only 5% of initial forest levels (Caddisch et al., 1996). However, secondary forest regrowth can sequester carbon at rates between 1.4 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 (Lasco et al., 2006) to about 4 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 (Hashimotio et al., 2000) depending on the initial level of damage to the site. Hence, considerable inaccuracies can be 135

incorporation into carbon budgets by assuming general values for the starting point of the conversion to oil palm plantations. The dynamics of these conversions are illustrated in Figure 2. Following land clearance, the carbon is mobilized from decomposing (or burnt) residues and from the labile soil organic matter in the top 30-50 cm of the profile. Carbon in soil organic matter below 50 cm depth may be thousands of years old, highly stabilized and remain relatively unaffected by changes in vegetation type for many decades. During this transition, stage replanted palms do not have sink strength comparable to the source and so there is a net system loss of carbon. The exposure of soil to high temperatures and rainfall, results in a massive loss of the forest nutrient capital which, in the case of phosphorus, may have taken a thousand years or more to accumulate from atmospheric inputs. The developing plantation system sequesters carbon and nutrients in palm biomass and soil organic matter during the economic phase of the plantation before felling for replanting. During this process, there is a further loss of carbon since there is initially little, if any, vegetation on site to act as a sink for the large carbon source in decomposing residues. Carbon may be sequestered in other areas of successional forest and young plantations within the landscape complex but forestry operations or extensive plantation developments taking place over a large area will result in a net mobilization of carbon that is nationally accountable for signatories to the UNFCCC. Similarly, nutrient losses from cleared forest or palm stands may be captured in adjacent stands down slope or by riparian zones (protecting water quality) but extensive developments will exceed these buffering processes in the landscape; particularly under poor practices for site preparation. The utilization of peat forests for oil palm cultivation is also contentious. Tropical peats have high conservation status for many unique aspects of their biodiversity; they are important hydrologically for regulating water supply and quality. Forested peatlands in Southeast Asia store at least 42 000 megatones of soil carbon and current emissions from peats of 2000 megatones per year equals almost 8% of the global emissions from burning fossil fuel (Hooijer et al., 2006). Most tropical peats brought into cultivation have large soil carbon reserves in the order of 100 to 250 Mg C ha-1 but can be as high as 3700 Mg C ha-1 (Henson, 2007). Again, the starting point for the change in land use is important to assess environmental impact of conversion. Henson (2007) observed that of the 1.7 million hectares of peat in Sarawak, much has been previously damaged by logging and drainage and so plantation development may not be on virgin forests with high conservation value. However, a major concern is the potential for carbon loss from peats as a consequence of drainage and conversion

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Net System Carbon sink / source CO2 1o forest

BIOMASS

P<R

CO2

P>R

P<R

P>R

2o forest

bush / grass

OIL PALM

0-50 cm

SOIL-C 50-100 cm

TIME Nutrient gain / loss Figure 2. Dynamics of carbon and nutrients in plant and soil pools during forest conversion to oil palm and at replanting. The magnitude of carbon pools in different forest cover, relative to oil palm is suggested (see text). The decomposition of the forest or palm biomass is indicated by dashed lines. Soil carbon pools are scales relative to the primary forest. The dynamics of the surface carbon pools is significantly influenced by clearance methods and changes in litter inputs whereas stabilized carbon in subsoil may be relatively unaffected. The ratios of plant production (P) and community respiration (R), and of nutrient inputs/outputs, across the system boundary are diagnostic of whether the system is aggrading or degrading. to other land uses. Melling et al. (2005) suggest that following conversion, an oil palm plantation on peat had lower CO2 emissions than from a native swamp forest. It is difficult to equate this with the consensus of data syntheses (Henson, 2007; Hooijer et al., 2006; Germer and Sauerborn, 2007), plot studies (Furukawa et al., 2005), and landscape (eddy covariance) flux measurements (Hirano et al., 2007) that drainage and crop management on peats results in significant mobilization of peat carbon stocks as CO2 and methane. One possible reason for the discrepancy in the study by Melling et al. (2005) is that respiration by living roots can constitute 40%60% of soil CO2 efflux (Raich and Nadelhoffer, 1989) but roots are spatially more heterogeneously distributed under oil palm (Adachi et al., 2006) and are less dense under young oil palm, and so may have been under represented in the assessment of carbon flux in this study as a consequence of spatially limited sampling. Germer and Sauerborn (2007) have made a comprehensive synthesis of greenhouse gas balances for oil palm plantation establishment on degraded grassland, forests or peats; including different site preparation options including burning or zero burning of residues. The GHG balances for these systems are shown in Table 4. They estimated

that rehabilitation of tropical grassland with oil palm plantations not only neutralizes emissions caused by grassland conversion (biomass decomposition and soil disturbance) but also results in net uptake of 135 Mg CO2 ha-1 from the atmosphere. In contrast, they estimated that conversion of forest on mineral soils causes the net release of approximately 650 Mg ha-1 CO2 equivalents (CE) while peat conversion peat mobilises over 1300 Mg CE ha-1 during the first 25year cycle of oil palm growth. Depending on the peat depth, continuous decomposition augments this by 800 Mg CE ha-1 with each additional plantation cycle. A particular issue of note in Table 4 is the large variation around mean values for initial carbon pools in grassland, forest or peat. This emphasizes the point, already made above, that it is important to determine the starting point of carbon stocks in vegetation and soils before conversion oil palm plantations since the history of land use can embrace a very wide range of actual and perceived environmental consequences in terms of carbon stocks and GHG emissions. In carrying out these surveys, Van Noordwjk et al. (2002) emphasize that using generic, rather than tree-specific, allometric equations can result in substantial (up to 100%) overestimates of above-ground biomass depending on wood density and tree shape. Similarly, soil 136

ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL PRODUCTION TABLE 4. GREENHOUSE GAS BALANCE IN CARBON DIOXIDE EQUIVALENTS (Mg ha-1 ± SE) FOR OIL PALM PLANTATION ESTABLISHED ON DEGRADED GRASSLAND, FOREST ON MINERAL SOIL OR ON PEAT FOREST (from Germer and Sauerborn, 2007)

Land clearing

Change in soil carbon or peat decomposition

Fixation in oil palm plantation biomass

Carbon balance

Grassland rehabilitation (zero burning)

42 ± 27

-48 ± 24

-129 ± 40

-136 ± 37

Grassland rehabilitation (burning)

43 ± 28

-48 ± 24

-129 ± 40

-134 ± 36

Forest conversion on mineral soil (zero burning)

627 ± 326

150 ± 75

-129 ± 40

647 ± 361

Forest conversion on mineral soil (burning)

648 ± 337

150 ± 75

-129 ± 40

668 ± 372

Forest conversion on peat (zero burning)

627 ± 326

816 ± 393

-129 ± 40

1 314 ± 679

Forest conversion on peat (burning)

648 ± 337

816 ± 393

-129 ± 40

1 335 ± 690

Note: Positive values indicate carbon sources, negative values indicate carbon sinks.

carbon stocks depend on the history of land use and management (Lugo and Brown, 1993) and hence, assessments of carbon balances for particular plantation developments also require base-line data from field surveys rather than approximations from the literature. It may be that rates of carbon losses from peats can be reduced by water-level management to reduce rates of subsidence and oxidation (Henson, 2007). However, even if deferred over a few plantation cycles, there seems to be general consensus that development of peats will inevitably result in the mobilization of these large carbon pools. If economic development of these areas is seen as unavoidable by federal or state governments, rather than challenge the environmental lobby on the issue of peats as a source or sink of carbon, considerable credit might be gained by voluntary carbon offsets. By forgoing the options of third or fourth logging cycles, resulting in highly degraded sites, allowing long-term regeneration of secondary forest not only provides a significant carbon sink but also restores other services including wildlife reserves and buffer zones. Carbon and Land Use Post-2012 The UNFCCC has launched an initiative to assess the policies and incentives for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) in the post-2012 period of the Kyoto CDM Protocol when carbon offsets are likely to become a 137

major area of international trading (Gullison et al., 2007). Industrialized countries must help tropical countries to develop sustainably by providing economic incentives for the maintenance of forest cover (Stern, 2007) while avoiding the negative impacts of deforestation including reduction of rainfall, loss of biodiversity, ill effects on human heath from biomass burning, impacts on water supplies and services, and loss of option values for productive forests. GHG emissions may have to be accounted at national levels by emergent economies to comply with the UNFCCC (e.g. Basri et al., 2006). Hence, in a similar way to international carbon trading, the carbon costs in the oil palm sector need to be evaluated in terms of CDMs, returns vs. avoidance costs of developing new areas of forest or peats, carbon off-sets in forestry and landscape planning for plantations on areas, such as degraded lands, where development will result in a net increase in carbon pools as well as the restoration of other ecosystem services. Osborne and Kiker (2005) calculated that using Guyana’s forests for climate change mitigation can generate equivalent revenue to that of conventional, large-scale logging at 12% discount rate at a breakeven price for carbon of USD 0.2 Mg C-1; trading prices for C-offset post-2012 may be much higher (Gullison et al., 2007). More recently, a pioneering initiative has been set up between the government in Guyana and a United Kingdom-based investment company, Canopy Capital (2008) will trade in

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ecosystem services such as rainfall generation, climate regulation, and biodiversity maintenance and water storage. Guaranteed initial payments for five years will safeguard the survival of the pristine 370 000 ha Iwokrama Reserve and 80%-90% of longterm revenue will accrue to the reserve and local communities. Reduced impact logging practices (RIL) can significantly reduce tree mortality in the remaining forest and the regenerative potential of soil nutrient (and carbon stocks). Reducing fatal damage of the residual stand from 40% to 20% can result in a increase in mean carbon storage over 60 years by 36 mg C ha -1 compared to conventional logging practices (Pinard and Cropper, 2000). Healey et al. (2000) suggest, however, that carbon trading prices will have to be significantly higher to offset the discount rates for the additional costs of RIL operations. Re-forestation (also creating wildlife habitats and corridors) is likely to be a major area of carbon trading if REDD proposals are adopted. Paradoxically, oil palm plantations, unlike rubber and other tree plantations are not eligible for carbon offset payments. If this policies remains unchanged, they might qualify if left undisturbed to mature and not replanted. However, while the genetic life span of oil palm is about 200 years, there is little information on carbon sequestration in oil palm stands far beyond their economic life span, and the processes of natural succession involved in their eventual reversion to natural forest. In terms of island biogeography, these processes are likely to be impeded by the considerable distances of forest refugia for plant species to colonize core areas of landscapes dominated by palms. Should this become policy for carbon offset, then strategies for the ecological management of abandoned plantations will need to be developed. Finally, Butler (2007) provides an interesting assessment of the economics of peat development for oil palm in Indonesia. He concludes that it is unlikely that future carbon trading schemes proposed could compensate for profit forgone with palm oil at present prices. However, if palm oil prices fell significantly, trading peat carbon could be economically viable but would involve unprecedented funding. If other economic values of the ecosystem services provided by peat forest are factored in the margin of this discrepancy might be reduced.

of development and economic benefits to the nation and plantation stakeholders should be compatible (‘planet, people and profit’) but, if not, can require legislation and enforcement - as with the zero burning policy in Malaysia. On the other hand ‘ecofriendly’ can be a subjective perception of the impact of development to environmentalists and conservationists that may, or may not, map on to the real situations on the ground - e.g. a possible mismatch of deforestation rates and oil palm expansion noted by Corley (2005) that could be a matter of defining ‘forest’ and whether the plantation or forestry sectors initiated ‘deforestation’. In preparing this review, it has become apparent that a contributory factor to these possible misconceptions may result from a lack of external visibility to many aspects of research, development and environmental monitoring that are more ‘eco-friendly’ in some sectors of the industry than are given credit. For example, Partners for Wetlands project, set up by the Department of Wildlife, Department of Irrigation and Drainage, and WWF Malaysia in 1998 (Teoh et al., 2001) brought together a wide range of stakeholders to address economic, social, tourism and human-wildlife conflicts in an effort to gain commitment and participation in the protection of the Kinabatangan sanctuary in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplains of Sabah. This study provides useful insight into the problems that can arise if economic development from upstream to downstream does not give adequate consideration to the need for conservation and protection of the environment. Such initiatives deserve much greater publicity in the international press. As a starting point for this review, I assumed that established estates, managed under best practices, can achieve many of the environmental criteria of the RSPO. I have therefore emphasized the most sensitive phases of management during the rotation of plantations and forest conversion that have the greatest off-site impacts and hence external perceptions of the ‘eco-friendliness’ of the palm oil sector. Areas that appear to need promotion, research and development are: • improving the transparency and visibility of significant achievements by national, state or private sectors of the industry towards more sustainable, ‘environmental-friendly’ palm oil production. • monitoring ground water quality in lowland areas for nutrients, crop protection chemicals and dissolved organic carbon (and required for LCAs). Concentrations alone may be insufficient environmental assessment unless through flow of groundwater, i.e. diluting surface is more or less static. Leachate monitoring at depths in the soil profile could be more widely adopted as a tool for assessing

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The term ‘eco-friendly’ approach to sustainable palm oil production can have two different associations. On one hand, there is a system that fulfils the actual environmental, social and economic criteria of development to global consumers, the host nation and to the oil palm sector. The environmental costs 138

ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL PRODUCTION

•

the nutrient and DOC ‘tightness’ of surface treatments such as fertilizer and bunch ash placement, EFB mulching and replanting into plantation biomass. on sloping terrains, enforce the conservation of slopes greater than 25o, establish gauged catchments to monitor drainage water quality in relation to management practices including sediment and nutrient losses associated with forest conversion, terracing and plantation rotations. Base-line monitoring is required for at least two years before conversion. carry out geo-referenced surveys to estimate the carbon pools of biomass, soils and peats before conversion to oil palm. In degraded areas, surveying biodiversity indicators (birds, mammals, butterflies) compared to natural vegetation cover could justify some changes in land use from ‘forest’ cover. implement landscape planning to conserve areas of undisturbed or secondary forest and corridors to connect fragmented areas such as isolated hills and ridge tops. Wider protection zones for riparian areas to maintain ecosystem services including conservation and amenity values and adequately buffer surface run off and sediment loading of rivers immediately after site preparation. where commercial logging continues, adopt RIL practices to offset carbon emissions caused by other changes in land use, such as peatland conversion. make a transparent assessment of the economic benefits of peatland conversion to oil palm including peat depth, accessibility and possible environmental payments for carbon offset post-2012. national assessments of the total economic values of ecosystem services, particularly the impacts of changes in land use for oil palm on water supplies, water quality, increased flood risks and on other stakeholder livelihoods. enable the adoption of best practices in order to improve yields in the processing and plantation sectors. Eco-friendly systems are essentially those that make efficient and sustainable use of existing land resources rather than increasing production through extensive developments. finally, to publish more research in international, peer reviewed journals. I am aware that there are internal reports, workshop documents and unpublished conference proceedings that address some of the gaps in information I have identified above. However, this ‘grey’ literature is not accessible to the wider scientific community for peer assessment and can not be cited. 139

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am grateful to the Director-General of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board for the invitation to present the original version of this paper at the International Palm Oil Congress 2007, Kuala Lumpur. Dr Ian Henson kindly provided very helpful comments on this manuscript and provided several important publications.

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MAJID COOKE, F (2002). Vulnerability, control and oil palm in Sarawak: globalisation and a new era? Development and Change, 33:189-211.

RSPO (2007). Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. http://www.rspalm oil.org. Accessed on 6 June 2007.

MALMER, A (1996). Hydrological effects and nutrient losses from forest plantations established on tropical rain forest land in Sabah, Malaysia. J. Hydrol., 174: 129-148.

SARMANI, S; ABDULLAH, M P; BABA, I and MAJID, A A (1992). Inventory of heavy metals and organic micropollutants in an urban water catchment drainage-basin. Hydrobiol., 235: 669-674.

MALMER, A and GRIP, H (1994). Converting tropical rain forest to forest plantation in Sabah, Malaysia. Part II. Effects on nutrient dyanmics and net losses in streamwater. Hydro.l Proc., 8: 195-209.

STERN, N (2007). The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review. Cambridge University Press. 580 pp.

MELLING, L; HANTO, R and GOH, K J (2005). Soil CO2 flux from three ecosystems in tropical peatland of Sarawak, Malaysia. Tellus, 57B: 1-11. MOHD TAYEB, D; HAMDAN, A B; AHMAD TARMIZI, M and ROALAN, A (1997). Recent progress on research and development on peat for oil palm. Oil Palm Bulletin No. 34: 11-35. NOVITZSKI, R P; SMITH, R D and FRETWELL, J D (1997). Wetlands, functions, values and assessment. 141

STOUFFER, P; BIERREGAARD, R O; STRONG, C; BIERREGAARD, R O; STRONG, C and LOVEJOY, T E (2006). Long-term landscape change and bird abundance in Amazonia rain forest fragments. Conserv. Biol., 20: 1212-1223. SUNTHARA, P; JACOB, D J; PALMER, P I; LOGAN, J A; YANTOSCA, R M; XIAO, Y; EVANS, M J; STREETS, D G; VAY, S L and SACHSE, G W (2004). Improved qualities of Chinese carbon fluxes using CO2/CO correlations in Asian airflow. J. Geophys. Res.,109: DI8S18, DOI:10.1029/2003JD004362.

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH (SPECIAL ISSUE - OCTOBER 2008)

TARMIZI, A M and MOHD TAYEB, D (2006). Nutrient demands of tenera oil palm planted on inland soils of Malaysia. J. Oil Palm Research Vol. 18: 1-6. TEOH, C H; NG, A; PRUDENTE, C; YANG, C and TEK, J C Y (1997). Balancing the need for sustainable palm development and conservation: the Lower Kinabatangan Floodplains experience. Proc. of the National Seminar, June 2001 - Strategic Directions for the Sustainability of the Oil Palm Industry. Incorporated Society of Planters, Kuala Lumpur. p. 1-25. TEOH, K C and CHEW, P S (1987). Potassium in the oil palm ecosystem and some implications to

manuring practice. Proc. of the 1987 International Oil Palm Conference. PORIM, Bangi. p. 277-286. VAN NOORDWJK, M; RAHAYU, S; HAIRIAH, K; WULAN, Y C and FARID, A A (2002). Carbon stock assessment for a forest-to-coffee conversion landscape in Sumber-Jaya (Lampung, Indonesia): from allometric equations to land use change analysis. Science in China Series C-Life Sciences, 45: 75-86. YAACOB, O and WAN SULAIMAN, W H (1992). The management of soils and fertilizers for sustainable crop production in Malaysia. FFTC Publication Database, http://www.agnet.org/ library/eb/354a/. Accessed on 12 June 2007.

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BIODEGRADABILITY Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 16 No. 1, June 2004, p. 39-44 AND ECOTOXICITY OF PALM STEARIN-BASED METHYL ESTER SULPHONATES

BIODEGRADABILITY AND ECOTOXICITY OF PALM STEARIN-BASED METHYL ESTER SULPHONATES RAZMAH GHAZALI* and SALMIAH AHMAD* ABSTRACT The biodegradability of palm stearin-based methyl ester sulphonates (MES) was studied and compared with that of linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS). Palm-based MES was readily biodegradable, degrading faster than LAS. The length of its carbon chain affected its biodegradability – the longer the chain, the lower the biodegradability. The acute fish toxicity of palm-based MES was determined using Tilapia nilotica (a local fish) and compared with LAS and sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS). The toxicity of MES was found to be comparable to those surfactants. The acute toxicity of MES increased with its carbon chain length. Palmbased MES’s biodegradability and acute fish toxicity are comparable to or better than the current high volume anionic surfactants and can provide for their replacement in the future. Keywords: surfactant, MES, biodegradability, acute fish toxicity, environment. Date received: 24 June 2003; Date approved: 1 July 2003; Date revised: 31 December 2003.

to having good performance and a price advantage. Under international law, before a new chemical can be distributed, it must first be registered, for which information on its environmental performance must be supplied.

INTRODUCTION The environmental concern over the use of toxic and/or hazardous chemicals is increasing worldwide. There are many such chemicals polluting the environment, with the damage wrought depending on their exposure, persistence in the ecosystem, as well as the characteristics of the affected organisms (Cunningham and Saigo, 1990). Considerable amounts of cleansing materials used in the domestic and industrial domains are directly discharged into waterways. These may pose environmental problems in the waterways including toxicity of the surfactants to microorganisms and fish, foaming, euthrophication and reduction of oxygen transfer into the water that can hinder the self-purification process (Hashim et al., 1992). Therefore, the environmental safety assessment of detergents and related products should primarily focus on the aquatic ecosystem. Ecological evaluation of cleansing products is important for safeguarding the environment. Nowadays, to be accepted worldwide, a product must satisfy rigorous ecological criteria in addition

PALM-BASED METHYL ESTER SULPHONATES LAS, alkyl sulphates (AS) and alpha-olefin sulphonates (AOS) are generally used as surfactants in detergents. However, since the two oil crises after the 1970s, detergent manufacturers have shifted their interests to natural oil and fat-based surfactants, for example, MES (Satsuki, 1998). MES is an anionic surfactant derived from natural fats and oils, including palm oil, through sulphonation of fatty acid methyl esters (Masuda et al., 1993). It has good surface-active properties and biodegradability, excellent detergency and is less sensitive to water hardness (Salmiah et al., 1998). At present, however, there are only a few producers of MES worldwide. Due to its excellent detergency, less MES is required in detergents for the same performance than other surfactants (Masuda, 1995). Consequently, the organic load on the environment in the waste

* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: razmah@mpob.gov.my

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 16 (1)

discharged is less. Figure 1 shows the amounts of organic substances discharged per wash for soap, LAS-based detergent and MES-based detergent. The basic performances of these products in aspects such as detergency and foamability are similar, but the differences in surfactant content are considerable. The LAS-detergent contained 38% surfactant while the MES-detergent only 28%.

Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its Guidelines for Testing of Chemicals (1992a). A solution, or suspension, of the palm-based MES at 2 mg litre-1 in a mineral medium was inoculated with inoculum (mixed bacterial population) derived from the secondary effluent of a treatment plant treating predominantly domestic sewage and incubated under aerobic conditions in the dark or

Figure 1. Total organic loads for soap, linear alkylbenzene sulphonate-based (LAS) and methyl ester sulphonates-based (MES)-detergents. diffuse light at 22 ± 2oC. Degradation was followed by analysis of dissolved oxygen at four-day intervals using the dissolved oxygen meter over 28 days. The oxygen uptake by the microbial population during biodegradation of the test substance, corrected for uptake by the control run in parallel, was expressed as a percentage of the Theoretical Oxygen Demand (ThOD). A substance is considered readily biodegradable if it is ≥60% biodegraded in the test period.

The use of MES in detergents started in the early 1990s in Japan. The evaluation of MES in aquatic ecosystems is therefore important as they are discharged in large volumes into the environment. In this paper, the biodegradability of palm-based MES and its aquatic toxicity to a local fish are evaluated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Acute toxicity test. Aquatic toxicity is the toxicity of a substance towards water organisms. It is assessed by the response of aquatic organisms to the chemical (APHA, 1980). Toxicity tests are part and parcel of the overall evaluation of water pollution as the chemical and physical tests alone are not sufficient to assess the potential effects of the chemical on aquatic biota. The test used was for acute toxicity in static conditions from the OECD Guidelines for Testing of Chemicals (1992b), i.e. OECD 203 Fish, Acute Toxicity Test. Of the seven recommended freshwater fishes, only the common carp (Cyprinos carpio) thrives in tropical freshwater. However, the fish was difficult to obtain in Malaysia, so a local species, Tilapia nilotica, was used instead as it satisfied most of the criteria as a test species (OECD, 1992b; APHA, 1980) - ready availability throughout the year and country, ease of maintenance and convenience for testing.

Materials Palm-based MES used in this study were produced from palm stearin. MES with mixed alkyl chain lengths (C12 – C18) and individual homologues of the MES with 12, 14, 16 and 18 carbons in the alkyl chain were used. They were prepared by sulphonation and neutralization of the corresponding fatty acid methyl esters. The samples were purified to > 80% before use. Conventional surfactants such as LAS (C10-13) and sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), with purities > 90%, were used for comparison. Methods Biodegradation test. The test used was the OECD 301D Closed Bottle Test by the Organization for

BIODEGRADABILITY AND ECOTOXICITY OF PALM STEARIN-BASED METHYL ESTER SULPHONATES

The effect of the carbon chain length (hydrophobic portion) on the biodegradability of MES is shown in Figure 3 by comparing the biodegradabilities of C12, C16 and C18 MES. The longer the chain, the lower was the biodegradability as the microorganisms took longer time to degrade a longer chain and also because of its lower solubility in water.

The fishes (2-5 cm) were obtained from a local supplier. They were acclimatized for two weeks to the test conditions and fed daily with commercial dry fish food until the day before the test. The fish were not fed during the bioassay but exposed to the test substance at four concentrations in geometric series for 96 hr. The upper and lower concentrations were determined from a range-finding test conducted before this test. The mortalities were recorded at 24, 48, 72 and 96 hr, and the concentrations that killed 50% of the fish, or the LC50, determined.

Acute Toxicity of Palm-Based Methyl Ester Sulphonates (MES) The ecotoxicities of LAS and MES on Tilapia were compared to those obtained elsewhere on the recommended fishes (Tables 1 and 2). This was to ensure that the sensitivity of the local species is comparable to those of the standard species. There were only small and non-significant differences between the Tilapia and the other fishes for both the surfactants. The similar results suggest that the Tilapia is as good a test species for the surfactants as the recommended fishes. The toxicity of palm stearin-based MES was compared with two commercial surfactants, LAS and SLS, using Tilapia nilotica as the test species. The ecotoxicity values for the three surfactants are shown in Table 3. The toxicity value for MES was comparable to those for LAS and SLS. The effect of the hydrophobic carbon chain length on the toxicity of MES was also studied (Table 4). Generally, the longer the chain, the higher was the toxicity, except for C18 MES which toxicity was lower than those of C14 and C16 MESs. This was as with most anionic surfactants in which the toxicity increases with the chain length so long as there is sufficient solubility.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Biodegradation of Palm-Based Methyl Ester Sulphonates (MES) The biodegradation of palm-based MES was faster and higher than that of LAS. The process started quickly and proceeded rapidly in the early stage (Figure 2), reaching the pass level (60% biodegradation) in only five days. The biodegradation of LAS reached the pass level after seven days and the percentage biodegradability is lower than that of MES. The ready biodegradability tests are stringent, providing only a limited time for biodegradation and acclimatization. It may be assumed that a chemical that reaches 60% biodegradation in the test period will rapidly biodegrade in the environment, and is considered to be readily biodegradable (Painter, 1992). Therefore, palm-based MES can be considered a readily biodegradable surfactant.

Figure 2. Biodegradation of palm stearin-based methyl ester sulphonates (MES) and linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS) in the Closed Bottle Test. ÂŠ MPOB 2004

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 16 (1)

Figure 3. Biodegradation of C12, C16 and C18 methyl ester sulphonates (MES). TABLE 1. TOXICITIES OF LINEAR ALKYLBENZENE SULPHONATE (LAS) TO THE TILAPIA AND STANDARD TEST FISHES

LAS

LC50 (mg litre-1), 96 hr

Fish

Reference

LAS (C10-13)

11.4

Tilapia nilotica

This paper

LAS (C11. 2)

12.3

Pimephales promelas

ECETOC (1993)

LAS (C10-13)

7.8 9.2

Brachydanio rerio Carassius auratus

Schoberl et al. (1988)

LAS (C11)

16.0

Pimephales promelas

Greiner and Six (1997)

TABLE 2. TOXICITIES OF METHYL ESTER SULPHONATES (MES) TO THE TILAPIA AND STANDARD TEST FISHES

LC50 (mg litre-1), 96 hr

Fish

Reference

MES (C14) (MPOB sample)

22.6

Tilapia nilotica

This paper

MES (C14)

24.0

Oryzias latipes

Masuda et al. (1994)

MES (C14/16) (commercial sample)

2.8

Tilapia nilotica

This paper

MES (C14/16)

2.4

Oryzias latipes

Masuda et al. (1994)

MES

TABLE 3. TOXICITIES (LC50) OF C12-18 METHYL ESTER SULPHONATES (MES), LINEAR ALKYLBENZENE SULPHONATE (LAS) AND SODIUM LAURYL SULPHATE (SLS) ON TILAPIA

Note:

Surfactant

LC50 (mg litre –1)*

MES Linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS) Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS)

11.4 11.4 11.6

* Mean values from two tests.

BIODEGRADABILITY AND ECOTOXICITY OF PALM STEARIN-BASED METHYL ESTER SULPHONATES TABLE 4. TOXICITIES (LC50) OF METHYL ESTER SULPHONATES (MES) WITH DIFFERENT CARBON CHAIN LENGTHS ON TILAPIA

MES

LC50 (mg litre â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1)

C14 C16 C18

22.6 12.6 56.6

The acute toxicity of surfactants to fish is not class compound-specific but material- and structurespecific. For anionic surfactants, the aquatic toxicity depends mainly on the length of the carbon chain in the molecule. A certain dependency of the toxicity on the chain length of the alkyl group has been observed in the homologues of AS and alkylbenzene sulphonates (Potokor, 1992; Fendinger et al., 1994) the longer the carbon chain, the more toxic the anionic surfactant. However, a systematic dependence of the toxicity on the chain length is only recognizable in fully water-soluble compounds. The higher LC50 (lower toxicity) of C18 MES may be due to its lower solubility in water. Poorly watersoluble materials present special problems since low solubility masks the toxicity dependence on chain length.

chain affected the toxicity of palm-based MES where the longer the chain, the higher is the toxicity. Palm stearin-based MES is thus well suited for environmentally friendly detergent due to its good biodegradability and toxicity comparable to the current, high volume anionic surfactants, such as LAS and SLS. The time seems ripe for MES to be used in cleaning products to fulfil the social responsibility of the detergents industry to a cleaner and better environment.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank the Director-General of MPOB for permission to publish this paper, Dr Ma Ah Ngan and Dr Mohtar Yusof for their invaluable comments, and Mr Rosli Yahya for his technical assistance.

CONCLUSION Public concern for the safety of products to the user and environment and for the conservation of natural resources is at an all-time high. Palm stearin-based MES may help to meet the needs for environmental safety. Palm-based MES is a good and cheap active ingredient derived from renewable resources, which can be used in detergent formulations in lieu of the current petrochemical products. Less MES is needed for the same detergency as the conventional surfactants, thus lowering the organic load in wastes discharged to the environment. Palm-based MES is a readily biodegradable surfactant. The biodegradation process of MES started quickly and proceeded rapidly in the early stage, reaching the pass level in only five days. The biodegradability of MES is affected by its carbon chain length (hydrophobic portion). The longer the chain, the lower is the biodegradability. There were only small and non-significant differences in the ecotoxicities of LAS and palmbased MES when tested on Tilapia and the recommended fishes. The sensitivity of the local species is therefore comparable to those of the standard species. The toxicity value for MES was also comparable to those for LAS and SLS. The length of the carbon

ÂŠ MPOB 2004

REFERENCES AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION (1980). Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater. Part 800, 15th. Ed. p. 800-823. CUNNINGHAM, P C and SAIGO, B W (1990). Environmental Science, a Global Concern. Wm. C. Brown Publishers, US. p. 1-622. ECETOC (1993). Aquatic toxicity data evaluation. Appendix C: the database. Technical Report No. 56. ECETOC, Brussels. p. 1-72. FENDINGER, N J; VERSTEEG, D J; WEEG, E; DYER, S and RAPAPORT, R A (1994). Environmental behaviour and fate of anionic surfactants. Environmental Chemistry of Lakes and Reservoirs (Baker, L A ed.). American Chemical Society, Washington. p. 528-557. GREINER, P and SIX, E (1997). Evaluation of the results of the LAS-monitoring in Germany. Tenside Surf. Det., 34(4): 250-255.

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 16 (1)

HASHIM, M A; KULANDAI, J and HASSAN, R S (1992). Biodegradability of branched alkylbenzene sulphonates. J. Chem. Tech. Biotechnol., 54: 207-214.

PAINTER, H A (1992). Detailed review paper on biodegradability testing. OECD Test Guidelines Programme. Periodical review. p. 1-162.

MASUDA, M (1995). Environmental aspects of detergent materials – biodegradation of detergent surfactants. Proc. of the 21st World Congress of the International Society for Fat Research (ISF), Volume 3. PJ Barnes and Associates. p. 649- 653.

POTOKOR, M S (1992). Acute, subacute and chronic toxicity data on anionics. Anionic Surfactants, Biochemistry, Dermatology (Gloxhuber, C and Kunstler, K eds.). 2nd ed., Surfactant Science Series, 43: 81-116.

MASUDA, M; ODAKE, H; MIURA, K and OBA, K (1993). Biodegradation of 2-sulphonatofatty acid methyl ester (α-SFME). J. Jpn. Oil Chem. Soc. (YUKAGAKU) 42(9): 643-648. MASUDA, M; ODAKE, H; MIURA, K and OBA, K (1994). Effects of 2-sulphonatofatty acid methyl ester (α-SFME) on aquatic organisms and activated sludge. J. Jpn. Oil Chem. Soc. (YUKAGAKU) 43(7): 551-555. ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (1992a). Ready biodegradability. OECD Guidelines for Testing of Chemicals. p. 1-62.

SALMIAH AHMAD; ZAHARIAH ISMAIL and JASMIN SAMSI (1998). Palm-based sulphonated methyl esters and soap. J. Oil Palm Research Vol.10 No. 1:15-35. SATSUKI, T (1998). Methyl ester sulphonates. New Products and Application in Surfactant Technology. Annual Surfactants Review (Korsa, D R ed.). Volume 1. Sheffield Academic Press Ltd. p. 133-155. SCHOBERL, P; BOCK, K J; MARL and HUBER, L (1988). Data relevant to the ecology of surfactants in detergents and cleaning agents. Report on the State of Discussion in the Study Groups Degradation/Elimination and Bio-testing of the Main Committee Detergents. Copyright of Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich. p. 1-15.

ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (1992b). Fish, acute toxicity test. OECD Guideline for Testing of Chemicals. p. 1-9.

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 16 No. 1, June 2004, p. 1-10

THE OIL PALM AND ITS SUSTAINABILITY

THE OIL PALM AND ITS SUSTAINABILITY YUSOF BASIRON* and CHAN KOOK WENG* ABSTRACT As the palm oil industry progresses, its many aspects, such as economic, environmental and social benefits, from its production are reviewed. More recently, sustainability has received great attention with efforts to integrate it into the palm oil business strategy. In the sustainability framework, the economic (financial), environmental and social aspects are reviewed for their impacts in both the short- and long-terms. The threepronged strategy of high income, value addition and zero waste is scrutinized as part of the journey towards corporate sustainability. Doing so has once again demonstrated the benefits of the crop in supplying oil to the world. The paper also puts together the evidence, firstly, that the oil palm can be used as a vehicle for rural poverty eradication in Malaysia and perhaps be used as a model for other countries with similar soils, climate and labour availability. Secondly, that it is a steady supplier of affordable food, non-food, biocomposites, nutritional and pharmaceutical products. And thirdly, that it is a showcase for environmental improvement. For the latter, palm oil mills are fast becoming generators of renewable energy from their biomass and biogas. R&D in these areas have provided new angles for increasing its economic sustainability, moving the industry beyond the current business of just producing palm oil. Further, new business ventures based on new R&D findings are being set up to look at product sustainability. They include businesses such as in bioplastics, greenness of energy production, savings in fossil fuels, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and production from several new best developed practices, thereby helping the industry to slow down the process of climate change. Keywords: sustainability framework, economic sustainability, product sustainability, corporate sustainability, greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction. Date received: 7 February 2003; Date approved: 26 February 2003; Date revised: 16 February 2004.

100-120 spikelets attached to a peduncle from the axil of a frond. The fruits produce two main products - palm oil from the outer mesocarp and palm kernel oil from the kernel within the nut. Scanning the horizon for the current issues facing the palm oil industry, the focus must be on sustainable development. How can sustainability of the crop be incorporated into this commercial venture? Is there a business case for it? It is our considered opinion that the time is ripe to discuss sustainable palm oil. While much time during the last decade was spent in understanding and managing the economic, environmental and social aspects of the palm oil business, only recently have

INTRODUCTION The oil palm in Malaysia is over a century old. Introduced as an ornamental in 1871, the oil palm was commercially exploited as an oil crop only from 1911 when the first oil palm estate was established. Much has been written about the crop, its products and commercial trade (Yusof Basiron et al., 2000). The female bunch bears about 2500-3000 fruits borne on * Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: yusof@mpob.gov.my

ÂŠ MPOB 2004

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 16 (1)

the aspects on sustainability been integrated into the business strategy. The paper is centred on how the sustainability framework can be used for aligning the environmental-friendly practices of palm oil production. It brings together the financial and economic, environmental and social dimensions of the business. The approach consists of a straightforward interpretation of the sustainability concept that involves three important aspects. Firstly, the high income strategy of improving the financial, economic and social benefits, and reducing the environmental impacts of the activities of oil palm cultivation over both the short- and long-terms. Secondly, in strengthening relationships and partnerships by recognizing and working with the employees, stakeholders and shareholders to address their needs and those of the industry in increasing the production of high value products from palm oil and its products. And, thirdly, by demonstrating the integrity and commitment in maintaining the high standards of the industry in its day-to-day operations by creating zero waste by full use of its by-products thereby reducing pollution. It is our conviction that the industry is doing the right thing by making sustainability a part of its daily life. It is also our belief that the strategies identified in the sustainability framework are for the better development of the industry in the 21st century. In this way, it will generate greater value for the shareholders and Malaysian society, yet benefiting the world by providing a steady supply of vegetable oil and palm products. Although the framework on sustainability contains business values, customer focus, management systems and stakeholder involvement, the effort over the next few years is to make the sustainability framework workable in the industry.

The oil palm industry has indeed started on its journey towards corporate sustainability. The business case is to relate the efforts in achieving the financial and economic, process and product sustainability. Developing this sustainability mindset throughout the industry is an internal Malaysian challenge that has great external implications in the global trade of palm oil. The paper tells of the successes and attempts in attaining sustainability in the profitability, processes and products, i.e. the three Ps. The framework allows the industry to effectively turn its economic, environmental and social strategies into mutually beneficial undertakings that maximize value for the operators and owners, employees, shareholders and stakeholders. In short, it benefits society and the world through its steady supply of palm oil for the world market.

BRIEF HISTORY OF HOW THE OIL PALM INDUSTRY CAME TO MALAYSIAN SHORES The oil palm industry had a humble beginning. From a mere four original palms introduced from West Africa to the Bogor Botanical Gardens, Indonesia in 1848, their seeds soon arrived on Malaysian shores in 1871. The rubber companies over the next four decades saw their planters learning how to grow the crop in the country. The R&D undertaken soon showed the potential of the new crop. Following this, the first commercial planting was done in 1911 at Tenammaran Estate, Kuala Selangor. Such was the success of the crop that the area expanded quickly, the most rapid increases occurring during the 1930s, 1970s and 1980s. The growth in area during the various decades of the last century in Malaysia is shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1. AREA OF OIL PALM PLANTING AND GROWTH IN THE DECADES OF THE LAST CENTURY

Years in decades

Hectares

% Growth

1870-1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

< 350 400 20 600 31 400 38 800 54 638 261 199 1 023 306 2 029 464 3 376 664

14.2 5 050.0 52.4 23.5 40.8 378.0 291.8 98.3 66.3

Source: Adapted from Malaysian Oil Palm Statistics (2001).

ÂŠ MPOB 2004

THE OIL PALM AND ITS SUSTAINABILITY

At the end of 2000, the area stood at 3.376 million hectares, producing 10.842 million tonnes of palm oil, 3.162 million tonnes of palm kernel, 1.384 million tonnes of palm kernel oil and 1.639 million tonnes of palm kernel meal.

establishment in 1979. On 1 May 2000, PORIM was merged with the Palm Oil Registration and Licensing Authority (PORLA) to form the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). The mission of MPOB is to support the well-being of the oil palm industry in Malaysia in all aspects of its activities through research, development and services.

THE OIL PALM AS A VEHICLE TO ERADICATE RURAL POVERTY

The goals of MPOB’s R&D are to: • improve the production efficiency and quality of palm oil, kernel oil and biomass products; • expand and improve the current uses for oil palm products; • find new uses for oil palm products as a substitute; • promote the use, consumption and marketability of oil palm products; and • ensure that the oil palm industry is environmentally-friendly.

In the early 1960s, the returns from oil palm were found to be better than rubber and most of the plantation companies soon had a mix of both crops as their core business. It was Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the then Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, who called for greater diversification into oil palm (Abdul Razak, 1968). With diminishing returns from the then two major commodities of the country - tin and rubber - oil palm should be used as the vehicle to eradicate rural poverty. The government’s three rural development agencies Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (FELCRA) and Rubber Industry Smallholders’ Development Authority (RISDA) were responsible for planting oil palm with large areas of land that were rehabilitated or newly opened. Landless people were placed as settlers in the newly opened land schemes. The government provided them housing and infrastructure including community halls, schools, health clinics, shops and roads. Initially, the government supported their livelihoods until the oil palm matured when the income from the crop was sufficient to pay off their loans. In doing so, the government was able to alleviate rural poverty using the oil palm as the vehicle to do so. The palm oil industry has a firm belief that R&D provides the basis for crop improvement and the expansion in trade. The private sector has had a long tradition of R&D in agriculture, as alluded to earlier, by its research in oil palm cultivation since the turn of the last century. Most of the R&D then were upstream research on cultivation. Initial R&D into the crop was done by the government sector, carried out by the Department of Agriculture. Together with the private research companies of the major plantation groups, the work included collecting breeding materials and experimentation in breeding, agronomy and palm oil chemistry. It was in 1969 when the Malaysian Agricultural Research Development Institute (MARDI) was established that the mandate for oil palm research was taken over from the Department of Agriculture. The task was later handed to the Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia (PORIM) following its

Thus, it can be seen that right from the beginning, both the government institutes, leading through to MPOB in later years, and the private sector through their R&D in their plantation houses have been actively collaborating. Together they spearheaded the palm oil industry well in the past and are determined to do the same in the 21st century.

CURRENT STATUS OF THE PALM OIL INDUSTRY IN TERMS OF FOOD, NON-FOOD, BIOCOMPOSITE, NUTRITIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The palm oil industry in Malaysia will continue to be dependent on its traditional edible and non-edible uses. It is always the industry’s wish to move along the traditional track as well as on to novel tracks by creating and exploiting new strategic business areas. The current status and future direction on the use of palm oil, palm kernel oil, biomass and carbon credit trading from sequestration will be presented here. Food Products Traditionally, about 80% of palm oil is for edible use and 20% for non-edible use such as oleochemical manufacture. The traditional products for food are: • as a medium for frying. Palm olein has several advantages as it is resistant to oxidative deterioration, suffers lower polymer formation, has vitamin E as a natural antioxidant, and can be blended with other vegetable oils to better suit colder climate use; • as shortenings. Palm oil, as a major component of shortenings, margarines and vanaspati, is 3

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 16 (1)

also used in tailored applications for bakery products and confectionery fats; and

bunches (EFB) and pruned fronds. During replanting, large quantities of trunks and fronds up to 75 t ha-1 dry matter - are produced. The dry weight of biomass fibre available each year, as alluded to earlier, is always more than that of palm oil. When manufactured into medium density fibreboard (MDF), the product is weight for weight more valuable than palm oil. It implies that if fully exploited, the oil palm industry can easily triple its returns besides providing a new industry and employment.

• as novel food products. Palm oil is used in reduced fat spread, ice cream, coffee whiteners, whipping cream, filled milk, mayonnaise and salad dressings, trans fatty acid-free formulations, palm-based cheese, santan (coconut milk) powder, microencapsulation, red palm oil/olein. Non-Food Products

Nutritional, Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical

The non-food application is only about 20% but significant because of the high added value. Palm oil can be used directly or indirectly as oleochemicals. The products are:

Palm oil contains about 1% minor components. The major constituents are carotenoids, vitamin E and sterols.

• direct use. Soap, epoxidized palm oil, polyols and polyurethanes, polyacrylate coatings, printing ink, engineering thermoplastics, fuels (as diesel substitute) and drilling mud (again as a non-toxic substitute for diesel); and

• Carotene. The carotene concentration is around 500-700 ppm. Carotene has been concentrated from palm oil successfully. The concentrate is rich in pro-vitamin A which is normally destroyed during processing. The major carotenes in the carotenoid concentrate are alpha- and beta-carotenes and they can be diluted to various concentrations, from 1%30%, for commercial applications such as food and food colourants, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical, nutritional and health applications.

• as oleochemicals. Fatty acids, fatty esters, fatty alcohols, fatty nitrogens, glycerols. In addition to the above, there are many applications in novel oleochemical-based products: • food industry. Monoglycerides in emulsion food products such as margarine, spread and salad dressing;

• Vitamins. The vitamin E content in palm oil is unique in that it is about 600-1000 ppm. It is present as tocotrienols (70%) rather than tocopherols (30%). It confers on the oil a natural stability against oxidation and a longer shelf-life as well as a potent ability to reduce LDL-cholesterol and anti-cancer properties. The commercialization of palm vitamin E is in the final stages of preparation and there is a huge market for it in both human health foods and animal feeds.

• medium chain triglycerides. Medium chain triglycerides from palm kernel oil are used in the cosmetics industry, infant and health foods; • food wrapper. With the banning of polyethylene coated brown paper as food wrapper, a palm-based coating can now be substituted; • personal care products. These include the whole range of cosmetics and toiletries;

• Sterols. Palm oil also contains 250-620 ppm sterols. Beta-sitosterol is the major constituent at 60%. It is potentially hypocholesterolemic.

• lubricants/greases. As substitutes for mineral oil lubricants; and • agrochemicals. Surfactants derived from basic palm-based oleochemicals are used as inert ingredients in pesticide formulations - wetting and dispersing agents, emulsifers, solvents, carriers and diluents.

Environmental The oil palm industry is presently using its EFB waste for mulching and palm oil mill effluent (POME) as fertilizer. During replanting, the trunks and fronds are chipped and left in the inter-rows as mulch under the zero-burn practice. In the mills, the fibre, shell and EFB are burned as fuel for the boilers. Thanks to continuous R&D into new uses, most of the wastes are now considered co-products, especially as energy renewable resources. In particular, three products - palm oil, biomass and biogas - are being encouraged to be used as fuels.

Biocomposites The oil palm is a prolific producer of biomass. Oil constitutes only about 10% of the palm production while the rest is biomass. The biomass is available throughout the year as empty fruit

THE OIL PALM AND ITS SUSTAINABILITY

Palm oil can be burnt directly as boiler fuel or as diesel for power generation or vehicle propulsion. In addition, palm oil can be emulsified to palm diesel or methyl diesel. The biomass from the mill, such as EFB, fibre and shell, can be used for electricity generation. To date, more than 10 out of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 360 mills are applying to supply electricity to Tenaga Nasional Berhad. New technologies are now available to harness the biogas from effluent ponds for power generation. The total value of biogas energy available from the mills is estimated to be RM 1 billion, or US$ 0.263 billion (1 US$ = RM 3.80). It is also estimated that if all the biogas is used for the mill operation, then all the fibre and shell can be freed for generating electricity for sale. Besides the use of biomass and biogas for power generation, savings can be made in the diesel consumption. There is yet another untapped source of wealth that the industry is now actively pursuing. Under the Kyoto Protocol, which comes into effect in 2008, the industry should be able to claim carbon credits from the reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from reduced diesel use and also from the sequestration of carbon dioxide by the oil palm. Although Malaysia as a developing country is not required to reduce its emissions, it has nevertheless committed itself to sustainable development and will have to look at energy efficiency and renewable energy resources. The oil palm industry with its abundance of biomass offers a tremendous opportunity for the country to help reduce GHG emission and contribute to slowing down climate change.

reduced risks, higher morale and stronger corporate reputation. Thus, economic sustainability adds new dimensions to the concept for future business instead of the mere financial profitability of old. Economic sustainability looks beyond the current business horizon by focusing on the forces that will shape the markets in the future. The social and environmental trends are now playing increasingly important roles in defining the markets. By integrating profitability, environmental and social considerations into its business planning, the industry will be better prepared to manage the risks and capture the opportunities that the future will bring. The Malaysian palm oil industry is economically big and diversified. According to the latest statistics, the planted area at the end of 2002 stood at 3.67 million hectares. This represents about 60% of the total 6.075 million hectares designated for agriculture under the National Agriculture Plan (NAP3) (1998-2010). Also in the sustainability framework, the socioeconomic aspect needs to be emphasized. Here as at the end of 2001, the distribution of the planted area by ownership and management was private estates 58.9%, FELDA 20.4%, state schemes 7.1%, FELCRA 4.0%, RISDA 1.2% and smallholders 8.6%. Further at the end of 2001, the industry employed over half the agricultural work force of 1.399 million people. The industry had in the past generated about RM 22.6, 19.2, 14.9 and 14.1 billion in foreign exchange in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively. This was equivalent to US$ 5.95, 5.05, 3.92 and 3.71 billion respectively (1 US$ = RM 3.80). The agricultural sector led by oil palm production has continued to enjoy substantial financial gains. The financial benefits from the palm oil industry had indeed helped the country to weather the effects of the melt down of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997/8. All these pointed to the beneficial effect of the palm oil industry as a vehicle to eradicate rural poverty. The financial benefits derived from oil palm cultivation have been reported in other countries. They have ventured into the planting of the crop and reaped their harvests. They have also encouraged further expansion in the crop area. Over the last decade between 1990-2000, the major palm oil producing countries have steadily increased their production. At the end of 2000 for example, the respective mature areas, in million hectares, were Malaysia (2.941), Indonesia (2.014), Nigeria (0.360), Thailand (0.199), Ivory Coast (0.139), Colombia (0.081), and many other countries with smaller oil palm areas (0.731). The world total mature area as at 2000 stood

ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY From the discussion, the governing objective for maximizing value is to guide investment to generate the greatest returns and to position the industry for continued growth. Therefore by incorporating sustainability into the palm oil business, there must be taken into account the long-term profitability, benefits and impacts of the products and processes. In all circumstances, the protection of the environment and care of the health and safety of employees, communities (where the operations are located) and the local consumers (where the products are exported) are given the top priorities. As sustainability is a complex issue, how does one measure it? It involves the earning of profits in relation to the effort in protecting the environment, finding ways to use the resources more efficiently, making the work place safer, enhancing the skills of employees through training and working experience. All these activities return value in some form or other such as lower cost by recycling, higher quality,

ÂŠ MPOB 2004

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 16 (1)

at 6.563 million hectares. Despite the large production of palm and kernel oils, the oil palm, as a consequence of its superior productivity (about five to 10 times more oil per hectare than its nearest oilseed competitor, the soyabean) occupies the lowest area among the vegetable oil crops (Table 2).

The response from palm oil and other vegetable oils and fats producers to meet this export demand created by the increased population growth is by planting new areas. The increasing trends in production are shown in Tables 4 and 5, respectively. Looking at the two tables, oil palm seems the only

TABLE 2. AREAS UNDER CULTIVATION BY VARIOUS VEGETABLE OIL CROPS IN 2000

Crop

Production (106 t)

Oil ha-1 yr-1 (t)

Area (106 ha)

25.483 9.630 14.237 21.730

0.46 0.66 1.33 3.30

55.398 14.591 10.704 6.563

Soyabean Sunflower Rapeseed Palm oil

% Of total area 63.48 16.72 12.26 7.52

Source: Chan (2002).

likely crop to produce the steady increase in supply to meet the demand. The obvious losers will be the producers of animal fats which production contribution is expected to decline from 19.2% in 2000 to 15.8% in 2020. Soya oil, from its pole position of 22.1% in 2000 will drop slightly to 21.1%, having been overtaken by palm and kernel oils by 2015. Therefore, enhancing the sustainability of its production process will accord the palm oil industry many opportunities to increase its shareholder value. For example, besides providing employment and infrastructure development in the rural areas, the palm oil mills can also generate electricity from their surplus biomass and biogas. Based on the by-products from the 360 mills in Malaysia, the potential electricity generation is shown in Table 6. To improve the oil palm sustainability, our effort now is to improve the efficiency in power generation and its use. Improvement in the technology such as continuous sterilization has reduced the use of steam and resulted in better extraction. Through continuous sterilization, the DOBI index is higher and this will reduce the use of bleaching earth in the refinery. The spent bleaching earth, which is another waste, is now minimized. The use of scrubbers has reduced black smoke from the incinerators. Process improvement will lead to reduce consumption of water through

There should therefore be more forest conserved if oil palm is planted instead of the other oilseed crops. The economic sustainability of palm oil as a business is the single most important factor responsible for the expansion of oil palm as a commercial crop. This is shown not only by Malaysia but by most of the other countries straddling the equator throughout the world. Palm oil today is a global powerhouse in the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oils and fats trade.

PROCESS SUSTAINABILITY Palm oil production in Malaysia is one of the highest among the producing countries and this is attributed to the climate and good management arising from R&D. The country, with a small population of only about 22 million, has been exporting about 90% of its production. The priority of Malaysia presently is to ensure that the yearly surplus of palm oil is exported to satisfy the growing market demand of oils and fats worldwide which is expected to rise to about 58 million tonnes by 2020 as projected in Table 3. The large export market for oils and fats signifies that good prospects still exist for growing oil palm that needs so little land compared with other oilseed crops.

TABLE 3. WORLD OILS AND FATS CONSUMPTION, PRODUCTION AND EXPORT FROM 2000-2020

Year

Consumption (kg caput-1)

Total consumption (106 t)

2000 2005* 2010* 2015* 2020*

18.3 19.3 20.9 22.3 23.8

110.5 121.4 138.9 156.4 175.3

Note: * Estimate. Sources: MPOB (2001); Oil World (2001).

ÂŠ MPOB 2004

Production (106 t) Export (106 t) 111.2 127.7 139.4 156.7 175.7

36.7 42.1 46.0 51.7 58.0

THE OIL PALM AND ITS SUSTAINABILITY TABLE 4. WORLD CONSUMPTION OF MAJOR OILS AND FATS (106 t)

Year

PKO

SBO

SFO

RSO

Total

2000 2005* 2010* 2015* 2020*

19.8 23.5 29.0 34.9 40.6

2.5 3.1 3.6 4.3 4.9

24.8 26.5 30.3 33.2 37.0

9.4 10.8 12.5 14.5 16.6

13.9 16.3 17.5 19.6 22.1

21.4 22.4 24.2 25.9 27.9

110.5 121.4 138.9 156.4 175.3

Notes: *Estimate; PO = palm oil; PKO = palm kernel oil; SBO = soyabean oil; SFO = sunflower oil; RSO = rapeseed oil; AF = animal fats. Sources: MPOB (2001); Oil World (2001).

TABLE 5. WORLD PRODUCTION OF MAJOR OILS AND FATS (106 t)

Year

PKO

SBO

SFO

RSO

Total

2000 2005* 2010* 2015* 2020*

20.5 25.7 29.2 36.1 40.6

2.5 3.2 3.6 4.3 4.9

24.6 26.5 30.4 33.2 37.1

9.5 10.8 12.5 14.6 16.6

13.9 15.2 17.5 19.7 22.2

21.4 22.4 24.3 25.9 27.9

111.2 123.7 139.4 156.7 175.7

Notes: *Estimate; PO = palm oil; PKO = palm kernel oil; SBO = soyabean oil; SFO = sunflower oil; RSO = rapeseed oil; AF = animal fats. Sources: MPOB (2001); Oil World (2001).

TABLE 6. THEORETICAL POWER GENERATION USING BIOMASS FROM OIL PALM MILLS

Biomass

Fibre Shell EFB Biogas

% To FFB

FFB (kg t-1)

Calorific value (kJ kg-1 dry wt.)

H2O (%)

Energy (MJ)

Electricity (k Whr)**

14 8 23 -

140 80 230 14 Nm3

19 220 (11 350)* 21 440 (18 840)* 20 470 (8 160)* 13 818 (60% CH4)

40 10 50 -

1 589 1 507 1 306 193

441 418 362 54

Notes: (*) Indicates the calorific value of the sample at the moisture content in the moisture column; (**) = 1 kWhr equivalent to 3.6 MJ; FFB = fresh fruit bunches; EFB = empty fruit bunches. Source: Chan et al. (2002).

the evaporation process by which the water is condensed and recycled. The volume of effluent is reduced and the resultant semi-solids readily used as fertilizer substitutes. Thus, though the milling generates both solid and liquid by-products, the many innovative treatments that are being investigated will reduce their environmental impact and often result in usable byproducts. The milling produces GHG when diesel is used. The new processes with energy produced

ÂŠ MPOB 2004

from its own biomass more efficiently have substituted more and more for diesel, cutting down emissions. Further, the oil palm is generally known as a net-sequester of carbon dioxide over its 25-year growth cycle. In 2001, based on the area planted, the estimated net carbon sequestrated was equivalent to 90 million tonnes carbon dioxide annually. In effect, the crop helps to eliminate GHG from the atmosphere. The savings in reduced use of diesel and reduction in GHG are shown in Table 7.

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 16 (1) TABLE 7. POTENTIAL SAVINGS IN DIESEL USE AND REDUCTION IN GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) EMISSION FROM USE OF BIOMASS IN THE 360 MILLS IN MALAYSIA

Biomass

Savings in diesel (106 litres)

GHG reduction (106 t)

415 520 752

0.573 0.719 1.040

Fibre and shell EFB Biogas Sources: Chan (2002); Ma (2002).

Through environmental commitment, the industry will continue to extend the consideration of issues and that of the stakeholder concerns to better represent the other two aspects of economic and social dimensions of sustainability development of the industry.

example, in biotechnology for biodegradable plastics from palm oil. Our customer focus and leadership in product design have dramatically reduced material consumption. We have examined valueadded throughout the life cycles of the products and are committed to recycling. Product stewardship, a concept of responsibility for our products throughout their life cycles, is central to the industry’s approach to business. To this end, we have supported life cycle inventory studies on palm oil from mass balance and energy considerations to provide a final picture on the greenness of the products manufactured. Land use and biodiversity are important considerations for the industry. We are mindful of the employee and community concerns for the future of plantations. There is also interaction with the stakeholders, local authorities and environmental leaders so that any eco-tourism aspects of the plantation should be explored. We want to protect the country’s image as one of the 12 mega biodiversity centres of the world. In effect, we are very concerned about the negative image of the industry clearing pristine rainforest and causing the loss in biodiversity. The industry must categorically state that Malaysia, over the past decade from 19902000, as shown in Table 8, had protected its forests. As a matter of fact, the forested area in the country had improved from 74% to about 82% out of the total land area of 32.86 million hectares.

PRODUCT SUSTAINABILITY Producing sustainable products makes good business sense. MPOB as the custodian of the palm oil industry is fostering research to meet the ever evolving needs of our consumers. This is good for the shareholders, stakeholders, society and the world. The R&D have benefited society in that palm oil products, being environmentally-friendly and biodegradable, are now utilized more efficiently. Through recycling of, say, EFB and effluent, there are savings in mineral fertilizers, resulting in palm oil products incurring less fossil fuel use in their production and reducing the GHG emissions. Many of the end products being biodegradable, e.g. bioplastics, food wrappers, palm oil polyols, can now compete with the conventional products from petrochemicals. We have established strategic alliances with multinational companies and the world renowned universities to work together to develop products for the market. The industry continues to assume the leadership role in these partnerships, for

TABLE 8. STATUS OF FOREST, TREE CROPS AND PARKS IN MALAYSIA (106 ha)

Year

Forest

Tree crops

Parks

1990 2000

18.24 20.20

4.60 4.80

1.50 1.83

Note: ( ) = Figures in bracket indicate % based on total area in Malaysia of 32.86 million hectares. Sources: Chan (2002); MPI (2001).

Total 24.34 (74.07) 26.83 (81.65)

THE OIL PALM AND ITS SUSTAINABILITY

Globally, the industry is fully aware of the environmental, health and safety standards on food set by the importing countries. The increase in oil palm area vis-Ă -vis the declines in areas of the other tree crops over the last decade is provided in Table 9 to dispel the unsubstantiated claim by palm oil competitors and environmentalists that the country has been clearing its forests for the crop. It must again be categorically stated that over the past decade 1990-2000, the bulk of the increase of about 1 million hectares of palm oil land came mostly from the conversion of ex-rubber, cocoa and coconut areas. There is also rehabilitation of idle lands which is not documented.

Environmental management systems (EMS) will be implemented to improve the operation at each facility and to strengthen the readiness for emergency responses and raise the overall environmental performance. All facilities, including estates, mills, refineries and manufacturing plants, will eventually be certified to ISO 14001. Already many of these operation centres have obtained the ISO certification and many others on the way to get theirs. Implementing EMS is a key strategy in moving towards greater sustainability. Targeting efforts to minimizing climate change is reflected in the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effort to reduce emission from its production, increase its energy efficiency, and

TABLE 9. CHANGES IN AREAS OF PLANTATION TREE CROPS (106 ha)

Year

Oil palm

Rubber

Cocoa

Coconut

Total

1990 2000

1.984 3.377

1.823 1.430

0.416 0.078

0.315 0.108

4.538 4.993

Source: Chan (2002).

promote more efficient use of its resources. A good example is that of MPOB setting up a pilot plant to extract phenolics from POME for the production of antioxidants. The industry is developing and fine-tuning the methods for measuring and monitoring the GHG inventory. There are global targets for GHG emission to be set if the palm oil industry is to excel though Malaysia is not required as a developing country to have emission reduction targets at present. Being proactive, the industry has started in its journey on GHG emission reduction. In addition, the programme allows bankable improvements in GHG emission to be traded in the carbon exchange market. This is to encourage the industry to go beyond its annual GHG reduction goals. Resource stewardship is a fundamental practice that offers savings both for the environment and bottom line. Given the energy, capital and materials required for the industry to produce palm oil and its products, the effort to produce the products more efficiently will be given emphasis. Gains can be made from energy efficiency, water conservation, recycling, alternate material use, raw material management and many others. We believe that as long as we are vigilant we are on the right track to produce the palm oil dedicated to the market requirement. Pollution prevention is best done by satisfying or exceeding the regulatory requirements or demands. Where possible we will strive for 100% compliance. In the case of non-compliance, the necessary steps must be taken with cooperation from the relevant authorities, employees and community. Likewise, for product stewardship, the use of life

It can be seen that the total area of tree crops of 4.993 million hectares showed that in the decade from 1990-2000, the net gain of 0.455 million hectares is still within the 6.075 million hectares designated for agriculture as specified under the NAP 3 (19982010).

CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE The industry has worked to continuously improve its financial performance by setting high standards for growth and value maximization. Maximizing value means that the industry must challenge its traditional strategies and align its resources with the opportunities that have the greatest value creation potential. Risk management of unanticipated events such as natural fires, accidents and floods, and the liability claims arising from them may have negative impacts on employees, operation and financial return. In implementing the sustainable framework for the industry, new requirements for compliance and monitoring will minimize the cost of risks. As loss prevention engineering and an insurance programme as well as environmental, health and safety (EHS) management, compliance monitoring will minimize the cost of risks. Economic performance metrics will always be updated and this means the evolution of measures to gauge the progress in increasing shareholder value. Improved financial performance will always be the priority area to enhance corporate value and sustainability both in the short- and longer-terms. ÂŠ MPOB 2004

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 16 (1)

Competitive Edge in the Malaysian Palm Oil Industry. 19-20 March 2002. In press. 17 pp.

cycle analysis (LCA) to quantify the use of materials and energy as well as environmental interaction of our products will be given more focus. Product design, process improvement and recycling are all part of LCA and these involve close cooperation with all the stakeholders. LCA leading to eco-labelling (EL) allows the industry to improve its production, in the process discovering new and better products which are more sustainable. R&D will cover the whole value chain spectrum from raw material acquisition and production, through product and process development to, ultimately, end-use and disposal of the products. MPOB’s R&D will continue to spearhead the industry efforts to increase productivity and quality and reduce the cost. Finally, the triple economic, process and product sustainability goal is to be achieved.

CHAN, K W; CHOW, M C; MA, A N and YUSOF BASIRON (2002). The global challenge of GHG emission reduction: palm oil industry’s response. Proc. of the 2002 National Seminar on Palm Oil Milling, Refining Technology, Quality and Environment, 10-20 August 2002, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. 12 pp. In press. MPOB (2001). Oil Palm Statistics. 21st edition, MPOB, Bangi. 131 pp. MPI (2001). Report on Malaysian Primary Commodities. Ministry of Primary Industries Malaysia, Ninth Issue, December 2001. 243 pp. OIL WORLD (2001). Oil World Monthly. January 2001.

REFERENCES MA, A N (2002). Oil palm based project types: biomass, biogass and biodiesel. Proc. of the First Industry Workshop: Carbon Finance for the Oil Palm Sector. 25-26 February 2002. 6 pp. In press.

ABDUL RAZAK HUSSEIN (1968). Opening address. Oil Palm Development in Malaysia (Turner, P D ed.). Incorporated Society of Planters, Kuala Lumpur. p. 1-17.

YUSOF BASIRON; JALANI, B S and CHAN, K W (2000). Advances in Oil Palm Research. Volume I and Volume II, MPOB, Bangi. p. 1-782, 783-1526.

CHAN, K W (2002). Oil palm sequestration and carbon accounting: our global strength. Proc. Malaysian Palm Oil Association Seminar on R&D for

JOURNAL Journal of OFOil OILPalm PALMResearch RESEARCHVol. 17 (DECEMBER 17 December 2005) 2005, p. 124-135

BEST-DEVELOPED PRACTICES AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OIL PALM INDUSTRY CHAN KOOK WENG* ABSTRACT The long-term economic viability of any crop production system is dependent on implementation of its bestdeveloped practices (BDPs). Improperly managed, any resource can pollute the soil, water and air. The growing challenge for agriculture is to find ways to increase crop yields and improve nutrient use efficiency while stabilizing nutrients, replacing those removed in the harvested crop, recycling those in the crop residues and ultimately retaining them in the soil organic matter. Nutrient balance management is the most significant BDP that has evolved to be site-specific and cost-effective in palm oil production. The practice of nutrient balance management is, at the same time, accompanied by protection of the soil, water and air resources. This would result in not only protection from surface runoff and leaching but also in the reduction of gaseous emissions. The management policies on BDPs now require plantations, firstly, to look at protection of the physical environment such as the air, soil and water. Secondly, to look at the impact of chemical environment such as pesticide usage, nutrient balance and soil organic matter on chemical pesticides in palm oil; and, thirdly, at maintaining the biological environment such as biodiversity, high yielding planting materials and reduced weeds, pests and diseases. There are also a host of other objectives imposed on the palm oil industry that arise from the globalization of its trade. They include challenges such as overall ecosystem protection, food security and sustainability with the aim of slowing down climate change by stabilizing greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations. This implies using less energy inputs on resources like pesticides and fertilizers. From this review of the important future challenges, there is no reason why the oil palm production system, using the latest BDPs, cannot sustain its high yield while protecting the environment. As per Article 2 in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the triple requirements of ecosystem protection (ecological), food security (social) and sustainable economic development (economic) can be met. There is now a need for the oil palm industry to demonstrate this inherent strength of high productivity without undue imposition on the limited world resources. Keywords: best-developed practices, sustainable development, nutrient balance, greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, climate change. Date received: 21 February 2004; Sent for revision: 20 July 2004; Received in final form: 29 August 2005; Accepted: 24 November 2005.

INTRODUCTION * Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: chankw@mpob.gov.my

The greatest challenge to plantation agriculture is to continually increase its yield per unit land area in order to meet the demand for food by the growing world population that is currently six billion and projected to reach eight billion by 2025. Sustainable 124

BEST-DEVELOPED PRACTICES AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OIL PALM INDUSTRY

oil palm cultivation dictates that the best agromanagement techniques be compiled with a systems approach and be made available to the plantations involved. Such a compilation of the BDPs for implementation must be in accordance with the way nature aspires, provide food for society’s needs, and ensure a safe and viable environment, by maintaining the very ecological base on which agricultural production is dependent upon. Progressive agriculture is intrinsic to sustainable development. Up to now, most of the BDPs have emphasized solutions to one or more of the triple pillars of sustainable development - economic, social and ecological. The time has come for the BDPs to contribute to the stabilization of atmospheric GHG concentrations. This paper draws together a generic selected lists of BDPs from the physical, chemical and biological environments currently in use that can increase yield but yet address the issue of climate change. These BDPs are highly cost-effective, noncapital intensive, and ecologically and culturally sound. They are also easily replicable, up scalable and can be incorporated into the agricultural policies of the plantation with ease.

THE APPROACH Many individual plantation groups have themselves reported several BDPs that have improved the social, economic and environmental aspects in their local situations. These BDPs have kept the companies profitable and viable. In the early 1990s, the question of how best to introduce these BDPs into other plantations and to make them perform just to well if not better, was examined (Chan, 1993). Since then, the pace of introducing more BDPs has gathered momentum as several new advances in agronomy and management practices have been brought in. Many of these newer BDPs have the potential to make the industry even more competitive (Chan, 1995a). Sustainable agriculture then becomes the clarion call made several years ago (Chan, 1995b) and the oil palm industry soon becomes the champion for the protection of its own environment. In fact, as early as the 1970s, Corley et al. (1976) had pointed out that in a developing economy like Malaysia, mechanization, while raising productivity and reducing the input per unit land area, would lead to an increasing dependence on fossil fuels. This has now become an increasingly relevant point in light of the call to the plantations to reduce GHG emissions from the use of fossil fuels. Wood and Corley (1991) subsequently showed that the oil palm industry being highly energy efficient should exploit its energy resources, and even Pauli and Gravitis (1997) had called for zero emission from its fuel sources. 125

Later, with further developments on the pressure to go for emission reduction targets by developed countries resulting from globalization, the palm oil trade saw several plantation companies coming out with their own guidelines for sustainable production (Rushworth, 2002; Tek and Chandran, 2002; Basri et al., 2002). These groups assembled many valuable good agricultural practices that were not only useful but which had actually the potential to contribute to the well-being and profitability of their plantation operations. Although some of these BDPs may have evolved from the specific social and cultural conditions of individual plantations, their use can nevertheless be expanded to benefit other plantations as well. Very often, the BDPs of a particular plantation can be replicated in another plantation with only some modifications to suit the specific circumstances of the recipient plantation. The Criteria For any scientific finding/experience/practice to be classified as a BDP, it must meet one of the following criteria: • the BDPs must improve on the current position, welfare and quality of life of the people in the individual estates initially, and then over the plantation group subsequently; • it must be innovative in meeting the socioeconomic needs; • it must be environmentally sound and sustainable; • it must have a significant impact environmentally, socially and economically over the existing policy; and • it must provide a solution to an existing problem yet only use local materials and knowledge where possible. The Reporting of a BDP For each finding/experience/practice to be qualified as a BDP, there has evolved a common framework in which the information and analysis for reporting a BDP must follow: • a description of the finding/experience/ practice; • a description of the institution responsible for the BDP; • statement of the problem addressed or the socio-economic need served by the finding/ experience/practice; • the benefit of the finding/experience/practice over the current performance; • the problems and obstacles encountered and how they were overcome; • the possibility of upscaling; • the significance on policy-changes and the impact on existing policies; and

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 17 (DECEMBER 2005)

• the possibilities and scope for transferring or replicating the finding/experience/practice to other companies or countries. Analysis of BDPs The analysis of BDPs used in plantation agriculture, as recorded in the many technical agricultural policies of plantation companies, is based on the information provided by the major plantation companies in six sub-sectors. They include many of the best agricultural and processing practices that fitted into a framework. They are compiled from the physical, chemical and biological improvements to the environments when these BDPs are implemented. • From the physical environment, there are the BDPs which improve on water, the soil, radiation, interception, wind breaks, topographic and terrain modifications. • From the chemical environment, the BDPs are on providing nutrient balance and maintenance of organic matter to preserve the inherent soil fertility and integrated pest management to reduce pesticide usage. • From the biological environment, there are BDPs for the improvement in nursery and planting materials, optimum age of field planting, the areas to be planted by each age groups, harvesting operations, improve fuel consumption in mechanization, and use of natural bio-pesticides for control of weeds, pests and diseases. There are, of course, BDPs that straddle all the three areas, especially those in downstream processing. Here the emphasis is on BDPs that have linkages with all the six sub-sectors. The synergy arising from the linkages of these BDPs is explored. The analysis, done by broadly classifying the BDPs into the six sub-sectors of land use change and conservation, agricultural practices, processing, waste management, transport and mechanization, and energy, is shown in Table 1 to show the generic practices. This would enhance their usage in all plantations as they may vary slightly in their implementation.

FRAMEWORK FOR SELECTING AND IMPLEMENTING BDPs IN NEW POLICIES AND MEASURES The process for selecting a BDP for inclusion as a new policy has been honed using a well-trodden path way. Plantation companies use the framework in Figure 1. To include a BDP into a new policy, it is guided by a number of instruments such as economic, fiscal,

voluntary, informational, educational, public awareness and research. These instruments are to ensure that each BDP has been well tested to suit initially the local conditions and that the benefit is not only technical but also has socio-economic and environmental importance. They are several steps in proving that a BDP for its usefulness. When a benefit is claimed, the first step is to publish the finding in the company’s internal publication/ communication. This is for awareness. It may simultaneously be published in journals or presented in seminars and conferences for technology transfer. The aim is to inform the plantation industry and, at the same time, educate it. Implementation of the finding is voluntary at this stage, especially by other TABLE 1. CLASSIFICATION OF THE BDPs THAT INCREASE YIELDS AND IMPROVE THE ENVIRONMENT INTO SIX SUB-SECTORS

Land use change and conservation • Protection and sustainable management of the plantation. • Conservation of soil, water, air, biodiversity and wildlife. • Enhancing the carbon sink capacity of the soil and plantation crop. Agricultural practices • Practise zero burning and establish a legume ground cover. • Reduce nutrient runoff, leaching and volatilization. • Exploit genotype x environment interaction of high yielding materials. • Improve the environmental performance of energyintensive nutrients with recycling, and use of biopesticides through biological control of weeds, pests and diseases. Processing • Promote sustainability with emphasis on improved food quality, safety and rural development. • Reduce emissions of GHG during the processing of by-products. • Reduce waste at source from milling and refining. • Improve efficiency of industrial processing. Waste management • Waste minimization and recycling. • Reduce waste impact on soil, air and subterranean water. • Capture methane from effluent ponds. Transport and mechanization • Improve air quality management. • Reduce soil compaction from mechanization. • Reduce fossil energy requirement through use of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Energy • Promote energy efficiency in supply and end-use sides. • Promote the growth of energy sector in the plantations. • Promote carbon emission trading through carbon credit earned from efficient use of resources in mills.

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companies, but for the company discovering the finding, implementation will allow the problems in upscaling and application to another site to be learnt quickly. Modifications are made, either technical or socio-economical or both for better improvement. Under technical improvement, the potential gains are also examined from the physical, chemical and biological environments. The improvements, listed as A-G, etc., can come from a number of areas such as a yield increase, higher productivity, higher earning, less labour requirement, less soil compaction, etc. Non-technical improvements would have to be assessed under the local conditions of the estate from four angles. They are, firstly, from the management point of view, whether the workers are committed and interested in achieving the goals set for them. Secondly, whether the management has benefited from the new uses of resources of land, capital and labour? Thirdly, does the management need to reengineer the attitude of the workers? Or are they still sticking to their old ways of doing things? Or do they, finding their needs not satisfied, fail to pitch in to realize the management targets? Fourthly, the reengineering of attitudes must be done considering the different anthropological backgrounds of the labour force – are they Malaysians, Indonesians, Filipinos or Bangladeshis? Finally, the quality of the commitment of the executive and staff members is also important in motivating the workers. The framework allows feedback for fine-tuning in order to realize the full potential of the technical improvement. The feedback on socio-economic aspects is whether the finding has been accepted widely as a BDP. Only after a period of testing will the new BDPs, designated X2 or Y2, be allowed to replace the old BDPs designated X1 and Y1. When the new BDP is finally incorporated into the company policy, it is allowed to be implemented throughout the plantation group. However, further minor modifications may have to be made for the different individual sites, prompting the need for site-specific recommendations for each BDP.

LISTING OF BDPs IN OIL PALM PLANTATIONS Classifying BDPs in Sub-Sectors 1: Land Use Change and Conservation and 2: Agricultural Practices under the Three Environments of Physical, Chemical and Biological Factors From the analysis of the BDPs in Table 1, the two major sub-sectors of, firstly, land use change, soil and water conservation, and, secondly, agricultural practices, are expanded to show the more important BDPs under the three environments of physical, chemical and biological factors. Soils, for example, can be evaluated on these three factors (Paramananthan et 127

al., 2000). The BDPs are tabulated in following Tables 2, 3, 4a and b. It is also possible to project the BDPs in a systematic approach based on the various phases of development of the oil palm plantation. a. Physical environmental factors. In the systems approach for raising yield, the yield-defining physical factors like climate, soils, site environmental variables such as sunshine, rainfall, temperature, incident radiation and the canopy of the palms, are taken together to determine the growth rate and yield. Together, they form the major category of growthdefining factors that are physical in nature but yet must be managed. Some of the BDPs are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2. BDPs FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

Planning • Carry out an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) prior to development of the plantation or change of planting materials. • Evaluate the land use change and soils by encompassing the physical, social and financial factors. • Provide a management plan for biodiversity. Development • Conserve forest areas, especially those with high conservation value (HCV). • Retain buffer zones, e.g. wildlife corridors and riparian strips. • Zero burning of debris to improve the soil health with emphasis on microbial diversity. • Construct contour terraces in undulating to hilly terrain. • Establish legume covers for soil protection and for building up of organic matter and soil N. • Harvest rainfall, minimize runoff, prevent soil erosion, and maintain natural ground cover. • Drain low lying areas, maintain the water level in peat and acid sulphate soils.

From Table 2, the emphasis in planning a plantation is in improving the sustainability of oil palm cultivation. This is done, as shown by the BDPs implemented, by protecting the biodiversity. The BDPs are integrated to conserve the maximum biodiversity within the economic constraint. It is hoped that a model system will evolve in which these groups of BDPs serve as a benchmark for environmentally-friendly planning protocols for a biodiversity action plan to suit the local conditions. A database on the differences in microorganisms, invertebrates and bird, plant and mammalian communities between natural forests and plantations is being compiled for functional agricultural bio-diversity. Samples from forests will provide the baseline targets for assessing the BDPs and improvements will be suggested as more data are obtained and become available.

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Source: Adapted from Chan (1993).

Figure 1. A framework for implementing best-developed practices phases.

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b. Chemical environmental factors. Besides the soil, moisture and climate as yield-defining factors, the nutrient supply may also be limiting to palm growth and yield. Proper nutrient management has been and continues to be important for high yields. Nutrients which are yield-limiting must be applied at the correct amounts and time (Chan, 1999). The soil must be maintained fertile to keep any nutrient from being limiting. For this, the BDPs for crop balanced nutritional needs are detailed in Table 3.

TABLE 3. BDPs FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE CHEMICAL ENVIRONMENT

Immature phase • Build up the potassium status in the palms prior to the first harvest. Mature phase • Manage the ground cover with judicious use of pesticides/IPM for legume purification to ensure persistence. • Place pruned fronds on the lips of terraces and in between inter-rows to recycle organic matter, conserve moisture and prevent erosion. • Apply empty fruit bunches at replanting. • Apply treated POME for nutrient recycling and moisture conservation. • Practise discriminatory fertilizer application based on the individual nutrient needs of the crop as assessed from soil and foliar analyses and responses from fertilizer trials. • Integrate precision agriculture to accommodate the soil variability through variable rate technology. • Maintain a nutrient export/input balance at each site with a yield target of 35 t ha-1 yr-1 FFB.

Understanding the site-specific optimum nutrient rate, and time and method of application is essential for the improvement of crop yield, quality and profitability while protecting the environment. Soils, when properly managed with the application of mineral fertilizers and recycling of by-products from the plantation like pruned fronds, empty fruit bunches and palm oil mill effluent can increase productivity and enhance sustainability. More importantly, it can increase carbon sequestration and act as sinks when the debris breaks down over four to five years. With the appropriate BDPs in place, the challenges with both the application of mineral fertilizers and by-product recycling will be to ensure a balanced nutrition in which N, P, K and Mg are at the optimum levels. The organic mulch used must be allowed to decompose so that the nutrients they contain can be released in the inorganic form, the only form usable by crops. Soil organic matter (SOM) has long been recognized to have a positive effect on the soil 129

structure, tilth, bulk density and moisture holding characteristics. The SOM increases the soil cation exchange capacity (CEC), reduces runoff and erosion losses. The SOM retains a significant amount of P yet reduces P fixation. Excess NO3– in the ground water will pose a potential threat to humans, and contamination is more likely in sandy soils without SOM than in clays or clayey loams that drain slowly and allow denitrification to reduce the NO3– leaching to the ground water. As regards air quality, ammonia (NH3), hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and other gases like methane from effluent ponds can contribute to the GHGs causing global warming. Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH 4) and nitrous oxide (N 20) from nitrogene fertilizers are the most important GHGs associated with agriculture. CO2 is already reduced with the BDP of zero burning. Efforts are underway to capture the methane as biogas for fuel, while N2O, arising from the denitrification of all forms of N fertilizers, both inorganic and organic, can be minimized by the proper application of fertilizer and mulch. The oil palm is a good sequester of CO2 and the plantation has a great potential to store carbon in both the debris in soil and standing biomass in vegetation. Basically, we need to build up the soil OM level and improve its fertility to produce more yield per unit area. Recent studies have confirmed that improving the OM level will improve the N level, as both organic N and C are highest with soil conservation and recycling of the crop residues. Such BDPs when practised together will result in balanced supply of nutrients through improved soil fertility which should increase the crop yield. c. Biological environmental factors. The biological factors form the third category of growth and yield. Generally they are the yield-limiting factors. There are two aspects. Firstly, the planting materials set the yield potential. The planting materials should be carefully chosen for particular sites. This is to ensure that the site x environment x nutrient interaction is exploited synergistically to obtain the highest yields. However, each site-specific environment should also be considered for its yield-reducing factors. They include above- and below-ground micro fauna and flora such as pathogens, insects, weeds, pollutants of the air, water, soil, and the extremes in weather caused by haze, cold and high temperatures, and drought associated with the El Nino phenomenon. It may well be to consider that some of the weed, pest and disease problems have resulted from disturbance resulting in imbalance where the biodiversity is being reduced. The two aspects of i) setting the yield potential, and ii) yield reduction by the biological environment are detailed in Tables 4a and b.

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 17 (DECEMBER 2005) TABLE 4a. BEST-DEVELOPED PRACTICES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE BIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

become weeds, pests and diseases. The BDPs in Table 4b are some further measures to reduce the causes of yield loss.

i. Yield Potential Setting Nursery practices • Use top-soil only from disease-free areas, supplemented where possible with EFB compost or effluent solids mixed with soil and oil palm shell or fibre as mulch in polybags. • Cull stringently in the pre-nursery stage prior to transplanting into big polybags at three months to ensure that only good healthy palms are planted in the field eventually. Planting materials and clones • Plant the right mix of legume covers with correct seeding rates for maximum ground cover, nitrogen fixation, organic matter buildup, soil structure improvement and shade tolerance. • Maintain a genetically diverse germplasm through conservation of oil palm breeding stock for the industry to meet the changing needs of the future. • Exploit the potential of genotype x environment x fertilizer interaction synergistically to raise the sitespecific yield. • Breed for higher efficiency and value-addition. Biodiversity • Develop a local Biodiversity Plan with actions to be taken in specific areas to conserve and enhance the species and habitat biodiversity, including soil microbial population. • Conserve biodiversity in the plantation and its surroundings by retaining high conservation value forest, riparian reserves, wildlife corridors and native tree species in hilly areas. • Avoid pesticide damage to the beneficial flora and fauna, e.g. by using alternatives to the secondgeneration anticoagulants for rat poisoning as they are less harmful to owls.

Biodiversity is defined as the variety in forms including genes, species and the ecosystem. Biodiversity conservation in plantations seeks to maintain the life support systems provided by nature. Biodiversity encompasses all living things, including human beings, and not just rare or threatened species. Thus, human intervention that threatens these life support systems would need to be curtailed to conserve the biodiversity. They would include the establishment of wildlife corridors, riparian strips and high conservation value forests. The soil microbial population is preserved to maintain soil organic matter and fertility. The necessity for agricultural biodiversity preservation in plantations to reduce use of pesticides has been highlighted by Mohd Hashim et al. (2000). Thus, with the BDPs of planting of high yielding oil palm, good nursery management, planting a legume mix and a biodiversity action plan, the plantation should be able to ensure that none of the indigenous species are upset environmentally to

TABLE 4b. BEST-DEVELOPED PRACTICES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE BIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

ii. Yield Reducing Factors Weed management • Use fibre mulch mats or empty fruit bunches around the bases of young palms immediately after field planting to obviate the need for herbicides for weed control. • Use only ecologically and medically safe compounds approved by the Pesticides Board, and in accordance with the manufacturers’ instructions. • Avoid the development of weed resistance by alternating the use of different herbicides. • Reduce herbicide use by not blanket spraying as the resultant bare ground condition is prone to erosion. • Maintain soft weeds in the inter-rows and epiphytes on the trunks, and plant beneficial plants with nectaries for pest control by predator insects. Pest and disease management • Minimize losses from known fungal diseases such as Ganoderma with a high standard of field sanitation. • Do not carry out prophylactic spraying of pesticides but be selective and provide good supervision when using pesticides to avoid eco-balance disruption. • Practice integrated pest management by using owls to control rats, Metarhizium and virus for rhinoceros beetle, Bt formulation for leaf-eating pests like the bagworm and nettle caterpillar.

Weed, pest and disease management is best tackled with the integrated pest management (IPM) approach. The aim is to discourage any displaced biodiversity life form from developing into a nuisance, and to keep pesticide use to the minimum to minimize the risk to health and the environment. The objective is to adopt cultural, biological, mechanical and physical methods in lieu of chemical pesticides. Sub-Sector 3: Harvesting and Processing Sustainable agriculture must be profitable besides socially acceptable and environmentally sound. After the BDPs for optimizing the yield factors have been implemented, there comes the harvesting of the high yield. The BDPs for harvesting are to obtain the maximum product value. They include the mill practices for efficiency in obtaining high oil and kernel extraction ratios. The BDPs for harvesting and processing are listed in Table 5.

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Harvesting • Maintain short-harvesting rounds (at least 30 rounds yr-1) with the minimum ripeness standard and collect all the loose fruits without debris. • Mechanize field FFB collection to ensure quick transport to the mill to increase productivity and oil quality, and to reduce the physical load on the workers. • Enforce strict quality control to avoid contamination of the FFB. Milling • Ensure high mill efficiency with high oil and kernel extraction ratios. • Ensure efficient management of the wastes (Table 6) from milling, processing and refining. Product quality and value • Keep FFA and oxidation to acceptable levels for marketability. • Process fruits from the field immediately. • Reduce the backlog of FFB on the ramp. • Avoid all contamination. Biofuel and biogas production • Directly burn palm oil in the boiler to reduce the use of fossil fuel. • Convert palm oil into biodiesel to replace fossil fuel. • Capture biogas from the digestion of POME for fuel. • Determine the GHG emissions saved and convert them into carbon

To obtain the maximum product value, there must be a policy to obtain the optimum amounts of high quality products with the least adverse environmental impact. The BDPs in Table 5 under processing have been developed taking into account consumer concern for food safety, environmental performance and corporate responsibility. This is further supported by the BDPs on waste management in Table 6. Generally, in processing FFB to refined oil, or in the production of biodiesel and biogas, there are considerable savings possible. The GHG emissions saved from the use of fossil fuels mixed with biofuel can be converted to carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. The value realized from the carbon credit will strengthen the viability of the production of biodiesel (Choo et al., 2002). Sub-Sector 4: Waste Management The GHG emissions reduction from the waste sub-sector can be substantial. There is a need to draw up the GHG profile of the wastes from the oil palm industry as part of a long-term life cycle analysis. The BDPs for incorporation into a policy must have the following objectives – ensure clean air, prevent 131

soil and subterranean water contamination and the production of malodours. The policy will then significantly reduce the GHG emissions. The palm oil industry is distinctly different from other industrial operations in that the oil palm takes in CO2 and uses solar energy to produce palm oil. No toxic wastes are produced. This must be highlighted in its marketing effort since palm oil wastes are clean of only heavy metal contamination. For sustainable waste management, the following BDPs and activities are implemented - waste minimization, source separation, waste reuse, material recycling, energy recycling i.e. incineration to generate electricity, and application of the empty fruit bunches and POME in the field as mulch. The BDPs are listed in Table 6. TABLE 6. BEST-DEVELOPED PRACTICES FOR WASTE MANAGEMENT

BDPs for Efficient Waste Management Mill waste • Draw up the GHG profile for the milling of FFB (using the LCA standard). • Reduce smoke emissions (Clean Air Regulation 1978). • Treat POME effectively and apply to the field as fertilizer substitute (Environmental Quality (Prescribed Premises) (Crude Palm Oil) Regulations 1977). • Implement a zero POME discharge system and determine the CH4 and N2O emissions saved from the reduced waste treatment. • Apply empty fruit bunches as mulch for nutrient recycling. • Capture the biogas instead of discharging it to waste. Corporate governance • Formulate a company Environmental Corporate Policy that incorporates the biodiversity action plan outlined earlier. • Implement environmental management systems such as ISO 14001 EMS. • Establish an occupational safety and health policy (OSHA, 1994). • Establish food safety and HACCP policy as per ISO 22000.

Sub-Sector 5: Transport and Mechanization Transport is a major source of GHG emissions. In the plantation, road transport of FFB is the largest single source of emissions. It is therefore a priority area for intervention. There should be a policy to improve the energy efficiency of the vehicle fleet and the carbon density of the fuel. Further, non-technical measures to switch to less polluting transport modes and planning the traffic flow are important BDPs to consider. The transport policy is linked to air quality management, congestion of lorries at the mills and

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energy security, i.e. to be less dependent on fossil fuels. While transport policies are easily replicable by other estate groups, more innovative and effective measures have to be defined, though presently there has only been limited success in this context. Some measures on transport and mechanization are shown in Table 7. TABLE 7. BEST-DEVELOPED PRACTICES ON TRANSPORT AND MECHANIZATION

Transport • Encourage more efficient FFB transport like using the returning vehicles to carry EFB to the field. • Improve the transport efficiency by using larger vehicles. • Reduce the fossil fuel density by blending with palm biodiesel. • Use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) wherever possible as it is a cleaner energy source. • Reduce unnecessary transport movements with better planning. • Shift to less polluting transport, e.g. buffalo cart for in-field FFB collection. Mechanization • Reduce the demand for mechanization by using the buffalo cart for in-field transport and larger vehicles for main road FFB transport. • Comprehensive transport planning. • Consider the fuel mix and select suitable vehicle engines for better efficiency. • Set the new frond piles at replanting on the harvesting paths of the old stand. Government incentives • Tax exemption for using biodiesel fuel blends. • CO2 tax exemption for the use of natural gas (LPG, biogas). • Appeal for government incentive for using biogas from the digestion of effluent. • Tax incentives for the use of low ground pressure tyres for in-field machines.

Mechanization has been another area of concern. The current trend is to increase mechanization even as the vehicles are used less and less efficiently with low load factors. Special attention should be paid to the energy consumption per tonne-km and the fuel mix. The increase in demand for mechanization has gradually eroded the need for non-motorized transport like the buffalo cart, the bicycle and use of harvesting knife, etc. Their decline and perhaps subsequent demise has led to higher emissions from mechanization. Mechanization also presents a Catch-22 situation. It is important for higher efficiency to use larger tractors and trailers, yet the larger the transport the greater potential for damage to the soil, especially in soft clayey areas. It is therefore important that low ground-pressure tyres be used on soft soils.

Sub-Sector 6: Energy The industry has a great potential to generate surplus electricity from the burning of its mill wastes viz. fibre, shell and empty fruit bunches. In addition, there is the biogas from effluent ponds that is at present still largely untapped. The potential energy from the biogas alone should suffice for the mills’ requirement thereby freeing the fibre, shell and empty fruit bunches for use in the production of electricity for sale to the national grid. The government is offering incentives for individual mills to become power suppliers. The mills only have to link their supply to the nearest grid. With this move, CO2 emission will be reduced considerably from the lower use of fossil fuels to generate the electricity (Table 8). TABLE 8. BEST-DEVELOPED PRACTICES FOR ENERGY AND ENERGY INDUSTRIES

Energy • Draw up the GHG profile from fuel combustion and compare it to the total emission from the palm oil industry using the LCA approach. • Break down the GHG emissions into CO2, CH4, N2O by identifying the sources. • Promote efficient energy supply and use, and also energy security. • Reduce CO 2 emission by using cleaner gaseous fuels such as LPG instead of diesel in energy production. Energy industries • Determine the GHG profile of energy generation by the oil palm industry using LCA. • Establish the potential electricity that can be generated from the wastes of the oil palm industry. • Determine the CHP that can be generated from oil palm biomass and adopt a renewable resources portfolio for energy generation and use. • Encourage consumers to use electricity generated from renewable resources. • Adopt broader energy reforms such as economic efficiency and consumer choice of energy sources designed to reduce GHGs. • Use oil palm plantations to sequester CO2 as a parallel alternative while technologies to improve energy efficiency and reduce GHG emissions are being developed.

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AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BDPs A refined and integrated approach for the implementation of BDPs is shown in Figure 1. A greater emphasis is given to mitigation and adaptation, especially in the six sub-sectors, to enhance the effectiveness of the BDPs. Importance is also attached to new technologies which include those using biomass wastes and biogas to generate electricity, improving the efficiency of boilers, using effluent as fertilizer substitute, obtaining higher energy efficiency from the direct burning of palm oil and conversion of palm oil to biodiesel. The ultimate aim is to reduce GHG emissions and add value to the wastes. In the future, more BDPs are expected to be developed for the palm oil industry in energy technology, such as improved biomass generation of electricity. In addition to the BDPs for energy generation, there will also be attempts to reduce GHG emission such as capturing CH4 from effluent ponds, decreasing N2O production by applying N fertilizers to mulch and reducing CO2 by carbon sequestration using oil palm plantations. The BDPs in all the six sub-sectors will be subjected to new and stringent environmental criteria, like ISO 14000 standards, especially EMS and LCA, to monitor their implementation over the whole chain of production (Chan, 2000). Implicit to this will be environmental responsibility and costeffectiveness although other criteria such as social inclusiveness, employment, human health, safety and welfare will also be examined continuously. The environmental responsibility will include not only climate change mitigation but also other environmental aspects like air and water pollution. These criteria, when included in the long-term monitoring of the policies adopted, will reduce the emission levels. In calculating the cost-effectiveness of BDPs, the costs are rarely considered presently by the companies applying the BDPs. It may, therefore, not be possible to do a detailed analysis to arrive at a figure of, say, RM t-1 GHG emission saved. Standard methods and procedures need to be developed to calculate the costs of the mitigation. In this way, the monitoring can be done in a more systematic way so that the policies, aimed at energy efficiency, emission reduction and sequestration, can be incorporated into an economic model for calculating the profitability of palm oil production. The use of the GHG standard ISO 14064 for measuring, qualifying and verifying GHG emissions should be expanded. A database, currently being developed by MPOB, will contain all the information on the BDPs that have been reported and used in key policies and measures to help improve the profitability of the industry. Such 133

sets of BDPs have been proven to have a significant long-term effect on reducing GHG emission besides increasing the FFB yield and reducing costs to improve the industry competitiveness. As an indication of this type of research, Choo et al. (2002) has indicated that biodiesel, besides producing 78% less CO2, is derived from a renewable energy resource when compared with diesel. Further, the CO 2 from biofuel does not add to the CO 2 accumulation in the atmosphere. Therefore, it does not contribute to global warming unlike the CO2 from fossil fuels which require plants like the oil palm to sequester it from the atmosphere. The Malaysian oil palm industry in 2000 has been estimated to sequester, through its standing biomass, 90 million tonnes of carbon (Chan, 2002).

BEST-DEVELOPED PRACTICES AND BENCHMARKING When completed, the database of BDPs will reveal a whole range of operating environments from the wide distribution of estates throughout Malaysia. There will therefore be variations in the results obtained from the same BDPs. The solution is to benchmark the BDPs over all the six sub-sectors as this will allow the value chain methodology to attribute to the BDPs their contributions to the improvements in costs and productivity. Benchmarking is already practised by several plantation companies, notably Boustead (Chow, 2000). In the way it is done, the plantation group is able to identify a particular set of BDPs for a site, so that even in a short time the management will be able to assess the improvement over the old practices. Thus, the objective of benchmarking is for organizational progress. As the data are collected after implementing a new set of BDPs, the new information will allow the effects to be gauged in a programme of continuous improvement. The benchmark goals set will help the estates to improve their performance and thereby their productivity and profit. With a commitment by management to benchmark the BDPs and analyzing the causes of any shortfall, all the goals are very much more likely to be achieved.

DISCUSSION Increased emissions of GHGs are the causes of global warming. The oil palm industry has an important role to play because it provides well for the growing demand for food and energy while promoting economic and social development. Nevertheless, it has to contribute to the international efforts to mitigate the risk of climate change. While this poses

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a fundamental challenge to many nations with their different crops, the oil palm is naturally positive in its contribution. Recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected a rise of 1.4ยบC to 5.8ยบC in the average global surface temperature if GHG emissions are left unabated. The growing demand for food and energy is the main cause of the rise in GHG emissions. Fossil fuels will likely continue to be the primary choice to meet growing energy demand. Thus, oil palm with its high production of oil per unit area and generation of renewable energy from its biomass provides an option for reducing the use of fossil fuels. As the use of oil palm fuel is still small at the moment, the challenge is to significantly increase its use in the future. There are two approaches to increase the contribution by the oil palm - firstly, to use the biomass directly for energy production, and secondly, to improve significantly the energy efficiency of the whole palm oil industry. This calls for balanced utilization. Development of new technologies to sequester CO2 and store it both in the ground and vegetation, using the oil palm as the preferred crop because of its other benefits, is to be encouraged as it offers a significant potential for reducing the net atmospheric CO2. The oil palm should now be recognized as a crop that has the potential to reduce GHG emissions and help in stabilizing the net atmospheric GHG concentration. The government should exploit this point in its market promotion by positioning the oil palm as a very environmentally-friendly crop. Unfortunately, the current focus of the international climate change policy makers is on making the developed countries reduce their GHG emissions. This has caused them to miss the fact that there are possibilities for emission mitigation such as that offered by the planting of oil palm in countries with a suitable climate. But perhaps this can be incorporated in the longer-term plan of action. In facing the challenge of reducing GHG emissions, an option would be to use the oil palm to sequester CO2 while providing food and energy for all. The oil palm industry should indeed be considered one of the leaders in the field of net GHG emission removal.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author is grateful to the Director-General of MPOB, for instituting a programme on carbon offset within the MPOB R&D strategy and involving the author heavily in its work. The author also acknowledges the contribution of Dr Mohd Basri Wahid, the Deputy Director-General (R&D) and Dr Ahmad Kushairi Din, the Director of Biology, MPOB

through whom the author was asked to chair the National Committee on Carbon Offset in SIRIM and internationally the ISO/TC207 Working Group 5 on Climate Change. The work reported here highlights the need for the industry to reduce its GHG emissions as emphasized by the Conference of Parties (COP) up to COP10 at Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2004. The work also forms a major part of the Focus Project 2004 by the author to develop a diagnostic approach to high yield precision agriculture.

REFERENCES BASRI, M W; CHAN, K W and YUSOF BASIRON (2002). Advances in research and development for the sustainability of the oil palm industry in Malaysia. Keynote paper delivered at the Agriculture, Biotechnology and Novel oil Crops (ABNO) Module of the International Oils and Fats Congress organized by the Malaysian Oil Scientists and Technologists Association (MOSTA). 7-10 October 2002. 19 pp. CHAN, K W (1993). How best to introduce the best developed practices in Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad estates. Paper presented in the in-house Seminar on Best Developed Practices. June 1993, Guthrie Research Chemara, Seremban. 4 pp. CHAN, K W (1995a). Sustainable agriculture: the case of the Malaysian plantation industry. Keynote paper. Proc. of the Soil Resources and Sustainable Agriculture (Aziz, B ed.). Malaysian Society of Soil Science, p. 57-70. CHAN, K W (1995b). Advances in agronomy and management practices and their effects on the competitive advantage and sustainable development challenges in the palm oil industry. Keynote Paper 2. Proc. of the 1995 PORIM National Oil Palm Conference - Technologies in Plantation: The Way Forward (Jalani, B S; Ariffin, D; Rajanaidu, N; Mohd Tayeb, D and Basri, M W eds.). PORIM, Bangi, p. 51-74. CHAN, K W (1999). Systems approach to fertilizer management. Proc. of the 1999 PORIM International Palm Oil Congress - Emerging Technologies and Opportunities in the Next Millennium (Ariffin, D; Chan, K W and Sharifah Sharul, R S A eds). PORIM, Bangi. p.171-188. CHAN, K W (2000). The development, application and implication of ISO 14000 series of environmental management standards on the oil palm and related business. Proc. of the International Planters Conference 2000: Plantation Tree Crop in the New Millennium - The 134

BEST-DEVELOPED PRACTICES AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OIL PALM INDUSTRY

Way Forward (Pushparajah, E ed.). The Incorporated Society of Planters, Kuala Lumpur. p. 887-905. CHAN, K W (2002). Oil palm carbon sequestration and carbon accounting: our global strength. Paper presented at the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) Seminar 2002 on R&D for Competitive Edge in the Malaysian Oil Palm Industry. MPOA, Kuala Lumpur. 17 pp. CHOO, Y M; MA, A N; CHAN, K W and YUSOF BASIRON (2002). Case study on palm diesel. Invited paper to be presented at the Seminar on Green House Gas Mitigation Options in the Energy Sector. Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel. 17 December 2002 organized by the Pusat Tenaga Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. 9 pp. CHOW, K C (2000). Benchmarking estate performance on plantations in Peninsular Malaysia. Proc. of the International Planter Conference 2000: Plantation Tree Crop in the New Millennium - The way Forward (Pushparajah, E ed.). The Incorporated Society of Planters, Kuala Lumpur. p. 807-818. CORLEY, R H V; WOOD, B J and HARDON, J J (1976). Future developments in the oil palm culture. Developments in Crop Science 1, Oil Palm Research (Corley, R H V; Hardon, J J and Wood, B J eds). Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company. p. 507-512. JOSEPH TEK, C Y and CHANDRAN, M R (2002). Palm oil: the changing contract with the environment. Paper delivered at the Agriculture, Biotechnology and Novel Oil Crops (ABNO) Module of the International Oils and Fats Congress organized by the Malaysian Oil Scientists and Technologists Association (MOSTA). 7-10 October 2002.

135

MOHD HASHIM, T; MOHD NOOR, A G and HO, C T (2000). Is biodiversity and plantation agriculture mutually exclusive? - Golden Hope’s experience. Proc. of the International Planter Conference 2000: Plantation Tree Crop in the New Millennium - The Way Forward (Pushparajah, E ed.). The Incorporated Society of Planters, Kuala Lumpur. p. 853-867. PARAMANANTHAN, S; CHEW, P S and GOH, K J (2000). Towards a practical framework for oil palm in the 21st Century. Proc. of the International Planter Conference 2000: Plantation Tree Crop in the New Millennium - The Way Forward (Pushparajah, E ed.). The Incorporated Society of Planters, Kuala Lumpur. p. 869-885. PAULIS, G and GRAVITIS, J (1997). Environmental management of plantations: through zero emission approach. Proc of the International Planters Conference on Plantation Management for the 21 st Century (Pushparajah, E ed.). Vol 1. Incorporated Society of Planters, Kuala Lumpur. p. 193-207. RUSHWORTH, M (2002). Sustainable agriculture update on Unilevers’ blueprint. Paper presented at the Seminar 2002 on R&D for Competitive Edge in the Malaysian Oil Palm Industry. 19-20 March 2002. MPOB, Bangi. 18 pp. WOOD, B J and CORLEY, R H V (1991). The energy balance of oil palm plantation. Proc. of the 1991 PORIM International Palm Oil Conference - Progress, Prospects and Challenges Towards the 21st Century (Yusof, B; Jalani, B S; Chang, K C; Cheah, S C; Henson, I E; Norman, K; Paranjothy, K; Rajanaidu, N and Tayeb, M D eds.). PORIM, Bangi. p. 130-143.

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 17 June 2005, p. 47-52 PALM DIESEL: AN OPTION FOR GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION IN THE ENERGY SECTOR

PALM DIESEL: AN OPTION FOR GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION IN THE ENERGY SECTOR CHOO YUEN MAY*; MA AH NGAN*; CHAN KOOK WENG* and YUSOF BASIRON* ABSTRACT The fast diminishing energy reserves coupled with increasing energy consumption as a nation develops and greater environmental awareness have led to an intensified search for viable alternate sources of energy. Natural and renewable resources such as vegetable oils can be chemically transformed into clean-burning biodiesel. Biodiesel is a fuel substitute that is biodegradable and can contribute to alleviating environmental pollution. Research and developmental efforts have demonstrated that palm diesel (palm oil methyl esters) is a good source for energy production. Palm diesel produced using patented PORIM/PETRONAS production technology has been extensively tested as a diesel substitute in a wide range of diesel engines including stationary engines, passenger cars, buses and trucks. Palm diesel exhibits fuel properties comparable to those of petroleum diesel and can be used directly in unmodified diesel engines. The production and usage of palm diesel has great environmental impact with its closed carbon cycle. A fuel switch from fossil fuel to palm diesel will contribute greatly to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that lead to global warming. Therefore, palm diesel production, because of its contribution to lower GHG emissions, can generate carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol 1997. The financial incentives, like the attractive carbon credit scheme, would bring about an additional positive impact on the economic viability of palm diesel production as a renewable fuel. Furthermore, exhaustive field trials have also shown that diesel engines running on palm diesel do not emit black smoke. There are also reductions in carbon particulates, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide. The effort and initiative to utilize palm oil as an alternative energy source are also in line with the Malaysian Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s five-fuel diversification policy to include renewable energy as the fifth fuel. Keywords: palm diesel, palm oil methyl esters, biodiesel, diesel substitute, greenhouse gas. Date received: 5 March 2004; Sent for revision: 22 March 2004; Received in final form: 29 August 2004; Accepted: 8 September 2004.

being renewable and biodegradable, have the greatest potential as biofuel resources. In 2002, the annual worldwide vegetable oil production was about 97.8 million tonnes, with 29.9 million tonnes of soyabean oil, 25.0 million tonnes of palm oil, 13.3 million tonnes of rapeseed oil and 7.6 million tonnes of sunflower oil (MPOB, 2003). The production of biodiesel in European Union (EU) countries and the U.S.A in 2002 was more than one million tonnes and about 0.54 million tonnes, respectively (Anon, 2003). Out of the world production, 84% was from rapeseed oil, 13% from sunflower oil, 1% from palm oil, 1% from soyabean oil and 1% from other sources (Figures 1 and 2) (Korbitz, 2002). Biodiesel is made from palm

INTRODUCTION Three issues, the energy crisis in the mid 1970s coupled with the fast diminishing energy reserves, a greater environmental awareness and an increasing energy consumption, have all led to an intensified global search for viable alternative sources of energy. In recent years, a great deal of attention has been directed to plant-based resources for fuels, particularly fuels for diesel engines. Vegetable oils, * Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: choo@mpob.gov.my

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 17 (JUNE 2005)

oil wells are made, Malaysia will be a nett importer of petroleum by the 2100s and thus alternative renewable fuels have to be sought. Diesel consumption in Malaysia in 2002 was 8.61 million tonnes, 50% of that consumed by the transportation sector (Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multimedia, 2004). The diesel demand is expected to increase steadily to keep pace with industralization and growth of the economy. In addition, the government initiative in promoting renewable energy, especially from oil palm biomass, has also been seen as a move towards another clean and environment-friendly alternative fuel. In the sixth edition of International Energy Agency (IEA, 2002) published statistics on GHG, the two largest overall sources of emissions were from energy and agriculture. The energy sector contributes about 70% of the emissions, mainly in the form of CO2, while agriculture contributes about

(Malaysia), coconut (Philippines), rapeseed (Europe) and soya (United States) oils. If the choice of vegetable oil depends on the cost of production and reliability of supply, palm oil would be the preferred choice. One reason is that oil palm is the highest oilyielding crop (4-5 t ha-1 yr-1). In line with international efforts in promoting the use of green fuels to reduce air pollution, the Malaysian Government has expanded its four-fuel diversification policy to include renewable energy as the fifth fuel under the Eighth Malaysian Plan and the Third Outline Perspective Plan for 2001-2010 (OPP3). It is reported that Malaysiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crude oil reserves stood at 3.39 billion barrels in 2001. Natural gas reserves also declined to 82.5 trillion standard cubic feet (tscf) for the same period (PETRONAS, 2002). At the current rate of production, the average lives for Malaysiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oil and gas reserves are 16 years and 32 years, respectively. If no new discoveries of

Figure 1. Raw materials for biodiesel production.

Figure 2. World production of biodiesel. 48

PALM DIESEL: AN OPTION FOR GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION IN THE ENERGY SECTOR

20% of GHG emissions, mainly as CH4 and N2O (IEA, 2002). The palm oil industry therefore has an important role to play in the energy sector and contribute to the reduction in emissions to slow down climate change. Biodiesel is the term that refers mainly to methyl or ethyl esters derived from vegetable oils. It can also refer to pyrolysis products, diesel-vegetable oil blends, microemulsions of alcohols and water in vegetable oils and fermentation butanol. The concept of using vegetable oil as a fuel dates back to 1895 when Dr Rudolf Diesel developed his engine to run on vegetable oil (Nitske and Wilson, 1965). He successfully demonstrated the engine at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 using peanut oil as fuel. The use of methyl esters of vegetable oils as diesel substitute has been extensively evaluated in many countries (Choo et al., 1997; Choo and Cheah, 2000; Choo and Ma, 2000; Korbitz, 2000).

mixture, which is neutral, is then transesterified in the presence of an alkaline catalyst. The conventional washing stage or neutralization step after the esterification process is obviated and this is an economic advantage.

Vegetable Oil

+ Alcohol

Esters

+ Glycerol

CH2OOCR1

R1COOMe

CH2OH

CHOOCR2 + 3 MeOH

R2COOMe

+ CHOH

CH2OOCR3

R3COOMe

CH2OH

(Methyl esters) 1t

(Glycerol)

(Triglycerides)

(Methanol)

0.1 t

This patented process can also be applied to other raw materials such as palm oil products (palm stearin and palm olein) and used frying oil.

PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF PALM DIESEL Commercially, methyl esters of fatty acids can be manufactured either by esterification of fatty acids or by transesterification of fat triglycerides. The predominant process for the manufacture of methyl esters is transesterification of fats and oils with methanol. The ester interchange, i.e. replacement of the glycerol component by methanol, takes place quite easily at low temperature, 50˚C to 70˚C, and under atmospheric pressure with excess methanol and an alkaline catalyst such as sodium hydroxide (Sonntag, 1982; Kreutzer, 1984; Freedman et al., 1984; 1986). These mild reaction conditions, however, require oils neutralized by alkaline refining, steam distillation or pre-esterification of the free fatty acids. Esterification may be carried out batchwise at 200˚C to 250˚C under pressure. For high yield, the water produced during the reaction has to be removed continuously. Esterification can also be carried out continuously in a counter current reaction column using superheated methanol (Kreutzer, 1984). Esterification is the preferred method for ester preparation from specific oil and fat fractions such as palm stearin and olein. Vegetable oils such as crude palm oil with varying amounts of free fatty acids can be converted to esters in a continuous process by combining the esterification and transesterification processes. This was successfully demonstrated in a 3000 tpy pilot plant (Choo et al., 1992). The novel aspect of this patented process is the use of solid acid catalysts for the esterification (Choo and Goh, 1987; Choo and Ong, 1989; Choo et al., 1992). The reaction is carried out below 100˚C at atmospheric pressure in a column of solid catalyst. The resultant of the reaction

ENGINE PERFORMANCE OF PALM DIESEL Crude palm oil methyl esters (palm diesel) were systematically and exhaustively evaluated as diesel substitute from 1983 to 1994. These included laboratory evaluation, stationary engine testing and field trials on a large number of vehicles including taxis, trucks, passenger cars and buses. All the tests were successfully completed. It is worth mentioning that the tests also covered stationary engine testing and field trials with 30 Mercedes Benz of Germany mounted onto passenger buses running on three types of fuels, namely, 100% petroleum diesel, blends of palm diesel and petroleum diesel (50:50) and 100% palm diesel. Each bus covered 300 000 km, the expected life of the engines (total mileage covered by the 10 buses on 100% palm diesel was 3.7 million km). Generally, palm diesel has very similar fuel properties to petroleum diesel (Table 1). Its specific gravity is slightly higher than that of petroleum diesel. Palm diesel has higher cetane number (63) than petroleum diesel (less than 40) (Table 2). A higher cetane number indicates a shorter ignition time delay characteristic and, generally, a better fuel. Although its viscosity is slightly higher than that of petroleum diesel, the flow is satisfactory under warm weather. However, its high pour point of 15˚C limits its use as fuel to tropical countries only. It can be improved by adding pour point depressants or other processes for possible use in temperate climate countries. Furthermore, with very little or no sulphur, it does not contribute to SOx pollution. It can be used directly 49

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 17 (JUNE 2005)

•

as fuel in conventional diesel engines without modification and obviously it can be used as diesel improver. No technical problem was reported throughout the field trial as long as the engines were maintained according to their service manuals. The operators were not able to detect any difference in terms of general engine performance. The conclusions derived from the engine evaluation are as follows: • no modification of the engines is required; • the performance of engines running on palm diesel is generally good, smooth and easy to start with no knocking; • the exhaust emission is much cleaner compared to petroleum diesel with less hydrocarbon, CO2 and SO2; therefore the fuel is more environment-friendly;

•

the engine lubricating oil was not unduly diluted by the palm diesel and was still usable at the recommended mileage; palm diesel does not produce an explosive air-fuel vapour. With a higher flash point (174˚C compared to 96˚C for petroleum diesel), it offers enhanced safety; for the buses under trial, the fuel consumption of palm diesel was comparable to that from petroleum diesel (e.g. 3-4 km litre-1); and palm diesel shows good ignition property. It can be used as a cetane number/diesel improver because of its high cetane number (62.4 compared to 37.7 for petroleum diesel from Europe).

TABLE 1. FUEL CHARACTERISTICS OF METHYL ESTERS OF CRUDE PALM OIL (CPO) AND CRUDE PALM STEARIN (CPS)

Test

Methyl esters of CPO

Methyl esters of CPS

Malaysian diesel

Specific gravity ASTM D1290 Colour (visual) Sulphur content (% wt.) IP 242 Viscosity @ 40˚C (cSt) ASTM D445 Pour point (˚C) ASTM D97 Distillation: final recovery (ml) ASTM D86 Gross heat of combustion (kJ kg-1) ASTM D2382 Flash point (˚C) ASTM D93 Conradson carbon residue (% wt.) ASTM D198

0.8700 @ 74.5˚F

0.8713

0.8330 @ 60.0˚F

Reddish < 0.04

Orange < 0.04

Yellow 0.10

4.5

4.6

4.0

16.0

17.0

15.0

98.0

98.5

40 135

39 826

45 800

174

165

0.02

0.05

0.14

TABLE 2. CETANE NUMBER OF CRUDE PALM OIL (CPO) METHYL ESTERS, PETROLEUM DIESEL (from Europe) AND THEIR BLENDS

CPO methyl esters (%)

Petroleum diesel (%)

Cetane number (ASTM D613)

100 0 5 10 15 20 30 40

0 100 95 90 85 80 70 60

62.4 37.7 39.2 40.3 42.3 44.3 47.4 50.5

PALM DIESEL: AN OPTION FOR GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION IN THE ENERGY SECTOR

under the CDM. This mechanism allows emission reduction projects to be implemented and credits awarded to the investing parties. Financial incentives, like attractive carbon credits, should further enhance the economic viability of these renewable fuels. In 2002, Malaysia consumed 8.61 million tonnes of petroleum diesel. The transport sector alone consumed 4.63 million tonnes and generated 18.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Transport has also been identified as one of the chief contributors to air pollution, particularly black smoke (from diesel) and carbon dioxide. If 10% of the diesel (0.463 million tonnes) were replaced by palm diesel, the industry will be entitled to 1.81 million tonnes of carbon credit or USD 18.1 million at USD 10 t-1 of carbon dioxide.

CARBON CREDITS FOR PALM DIESEL Palm diesel can be used to replace conventional fuels, e.g. petroleum, coal and natural gas, to certain extent for power production. However, at present, its higher production cost is the major obstacle to its widespread use. The economics of the palm diesel project can be enhanced by the recovery of useful co-products such as carotenes, vitamin E, sterols, squalene, co-enzyme Q and phospholipids as well as glycerol derivatives. One main benefit derived from this renewable source of energy is the reduction in emission of GHG such as carbon dioxide. The production and consumption of palm diesel form a closed carbon cycle (Figure 3). Oil palm draws carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to build its trunk, fronds, seed and roots. When biodiesel (converted from palm oil) is burned and the leftover plant materials decompose, carbon from the fuel and plant matter is merely being returned to the atmosphere. This closed carbon cycle recycles the carbon dioxide and, therefore, there is no accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It was reported that biodiesel (methyl esters) produces 78% less carbon dioxide than diesel. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (2000), biodiesel produces 0.6898 kg carbon dioxide per litre compared to 3.266 kg litre-1, which is about 4.7 times higher for petroleum diesel. Subsequently, as palm diesel, because of its lower GHG emissions, can generate carbon credits under the CDM of the Kyoto Protocol 1997. Under the terms of Kyoto Protocol 1997 (a major international initiative established to reduce the threat of global warming), there is potential value to transact the GHG benefits by the palm oil industry

CONCLUSION Palm diesel has been previously found to be a suitable fuel for diesel engines. It can readily replace petroleum diesel used for power generation and transportation. A fuel switch from a fossil fuel to renewable fuels will contribute greatly to the reduction in GHG emissions that lead to global warming. Unlike petroleum diesel, it does not contribute to the increase in carbon dioxide and hence, cause global climate change. Furthermore, the raw material can be replenished by growing of oil palm, a perennial crop.

REFERENCES ANON (2003). Biodiesel battles for bigger market share. Oils and Fats International Vol. 19 No. 4 (July 2003). CHOO, Y M and GOH, S H (1987). Esterification of carboxylic acid/glyceride mixtures. U.K. patent 2148897. CHOO, Y M and ONG, A S H (1989). Carboxylic acid esterification. U.K. patent 2161809. CHOO, Y M; ONG, A S H; CHEAH, K Y and BAKAR, A (1992). Production of alkyl esters from oils and fats. Australian patent No. AU 626014. CHOO, Y M; MA, A N and ONG, A S H (1997). Biofuel. Lipids: Industrial Applications and Technology (Gunstone, F D and Padley, F B eds.). Marcel Dekker Inc., New York. p. 771-785. CHOO, Y M and CHEAH, K Y (2000). Biofuel. Advances in Oil Palm Research (Yusof Basiron; Jalani, B S and Chan, K W eds.). Volume II. MPOB. p. 12931345.

Figure 3. The production and consumption of palm diesel: a closed carbon cycle. 51

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 17 (JUNE 2005)

CHOO, Y M and MA, A N (2000). Plant power. Chemistry and Industry No. 16: 530-534.

presented at New Markets for Biodiesel in Modern Common Rail Diesel Engine. Graz, Austria. 22 May 2000.

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (2000). The United States.

KREUTZER, U R (1984). Manufacture of fatty alcohol-based on natural fats and oils. J. Amer. Oil Chem. Soc., 61(2): 343-348.

FREEDMAN, B; PRYDE, E H and MOUNTS, T L (1984). Variables affecting the yields of fatty esters from transesterified vegetable oils. J. Amer. Oil Chem. Soc., 61: 1638-1643.

MPOB (2003). Malaysian Oil Palm Statistics 2002. 22nd edition. MPOB, Bangi. p. 117.

FREEDMAN, B; BUTTERMFIELD, R O and PRYDE, E H (1986). Transesterification kinetics of soyabean oil. J. Amer. Oil Chem. Soc., 63: 1375-1380.

MINISTRY OF ENERGY, COMMUNICATIONS AND MULTIMEDIA (2004). National Energy Balance (Quarter 1 and 2) 2003. Draft.

IEA (2002). CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion 19712000. International Energy Agency, 2002 Edition OECD. p. 105.

NITSKE, R W and WILSON, C M (1965). Rudolf Diesel, pioneer of the power age. University of Oklahoma Press, UK.

KORBITZ, W (2002). New trends in developing biodiesel world-wide. Asia Bio-Fuels: Evaluating and Exploiting the Commercial Uses of Ethanol, Fuel Alcohol and Biodiesel. 22 – 23 April 2002, Singapore.

PETRONAS (2002). Private communication. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. SONNTAG, N O V (1982). Fat splitting, esterification and interesterification. Bailey’s Industrial Oil and Fats Products. Vol. 2. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 4th edition. p. 97-173.

KORBITZ, W (2000). Worldwide trends in production and marketing of biodiesel. Paper

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 18 June 2006 p. 225-230 ASSESSMENT OF AQUATIC EFFECTS OF PALM-BASED ALPHA-SULPHONATED METHYL ESTERS (SME)

ASSESSMENT OF AQUATIC EFFECTS OF PALM-BASED ALPHA-SULPHONATED METHYL ESTERS (SME) RAZMAH GHAZALI*; ZULINA ABDUL MAURAD*; PARTHIBAN SIWAYANAN*; MOHTAR YUSOF* and SALMIAH AHMAD* ABSTRACT The toxicities of palm-based alpha-sulphonated methyl esters (SME) produced in MPOB’s SME pilot plant were consistent throughout the production period, i.e. around 1.00-1.41 mg litre-1. Its toxicity was comparable to two palm-based commercial SMEs whether tested in temperate or tropical environment. The surfactants were found to be less toxic when tested under tropical conditions. The toxicity is related to the carbon chain length of methyl esters used to produce SME. Higher carbon chain length will cause an increase in the toxicity of anionic surfactant as seen in palm-based SME (C16/18) and commercial SME 1 (C16/18). Commercial SME 2 (C14/16) was slightly less toxic due to the lower carbon chain length. Their toxicities, however, were still within the same toxicity range, i.e. moderately toxic. Palm-based SME is not expected to cause environmental concern due to only 10% - 30% of it is used in detergent products, its biodegradability was more than 80% in only eight days and the dilution in aquatic environment will cause the local predicted environmental concentration to be very low. The use of palm-based SME will help to stimulate Malaysia’s agricultural economies and lessen our dependence on imported petroleum-based surfactants. Keywords: sulphonated methyl esters (SME), detergents, ecotoxicity, biodegradability, aquatic organisms. Date received: 1 August 2005; Sent for revision: 21 September 2005; Received in final form: 6 March 2006; Accepted: 10 March 2006.

INTRODUCTION Surfactants are used for a variety of purposes but primarily in commercial detergents, personal care and household cleaning products. They represent a particularly interesting product group because they were originally made from renewable resources, whereas today the major part is of petrochemical origin. Still, renewables have not entirely lost their importance, and are in fact regaining popularity due to their sustainability, good cost-performance ratio and environmentally friendliness. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has a technology to produce an anionic surfactant from palm oil - alpha-sulphonated methyl ester (SME) by converting the oil to methyl ester followed by hydrogenation to reduce the unsaturation and then * Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: razmah@mpob.gov.my

225

sulphonating the ester to SME. The 20 kg hr-1 SME pilot plant in MPOB is capable of producing SME with high active for cleaning products, such as liquid and powder detergents. Due to their widespread use, surfactants have become common constituents in municipal effluent and river water. Surfactants in surface water have become an environmental concern and, as a consequence, toxicity data on their effects on freshwater and marine life gathered since the early 1950s (Lewis, 1992). SME has good surface-active properties, excellent detergency performance, good biodegradability and is less sensitive to water hardness (Salmiah et al., 1998). It is important that the ecotoxicity and biodegradability of SME be evaluated since, nowadays, in addition to excellent performance, good economic prospects and sustainability, a product must also fulfill the ecological requirements in order to be accepted worldwide. This paper will discuss the ecotoxicity of palmbased SME produced by MPOB in tropical and © Malaysian Palm Oil Board 2006

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 18 (JUNE 2006)

temperate environments, its effect on tropical and temperate test species and its biodegradability. Two commercial SMEs are used for comparison.

MATERIALS AND METHOD Test Samples Palm-based SME (C16/18:60/40) was produced from palm stearin methyl esters in MPOB’s SME pilot plant. Two commercial palm-based SMEs, commercial SME 1 (C16/18:60/40) and commercial SME 2 (C14/16:20/80) were obtained from Chemithon Corporation, USA and Lion Corporation, Japan, respectively, and used for comparison. The active in each sample was more than 80%. Test Method Ecotoxicity test. The OECD 203 Fish Acute Toxicity Test is the most commonly used test to determine the toxic effects of materials to aquatic organisms in short-term exposure. The fish are exposed to the test substance for 96 hr. Mortalities are recorded daily and the concentrations that kill 50% of the fish (LC50) determined. Test organism. A local fish, Tilapia nilotica, was chosen as the test species for tropical environment for several reasons, including its ready availability throughout the year, ease of upkeep, convenience for testing, common presence throughout the country and previous experience (Razmah, 2002) confirming its suitability for ecotoxicity testing as per the OECD Guidelines for Testing of Chemicals (1992). The fish were purchased from a supplier in Rawang, Selangor, Malaysia. The fish (2-5 cm long) were acclimatized for at least 12 days in dechlorinated tap water of 50 to 250 mg CaCO3 litre-1 hardness. They were fed twice daily with commercial dry fish food until one day before the test. They were not fed during the test. Samples of the palm-based and commercial SMEs were also sent to Stantec Consulting Ltd, Canada to determine their toxicities in a temperate environment. Three tests were run: ⇑ non-GLP OECD 203 Fish Acute Toxicity Test towards rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss); ⇑ non-GLP OECD 202 Daphnia sp., Acute Immobilization Test towards Daphnia magna; and ⇑ non-GLP OECD 201 Algal Growth Inhibition Test towards Selenastrum capricornutum.

Conditions of exposure. Although not always possible, it is best to provide for the test conditions to be as close as possible to the natural environment (APHA, 1980). OECD 203 was adapted to tropical conditions which, inter alia, included a maximum loading of 1.0 g fish litre-1 water (static test), 12 to 16 hr photoperiod daily and temperature of 25oC ± 3oC. For the temperate environment, all the conditions were the same except that the temperature was 20oC ± 1oC as stated in the standard test methods OECD 201, 202 and 203. Test concentrations. The range-finding test was first performed to estimate the concentration range to be used in the second stage (definitive test). It was a short-term test (24 hr) with 5 fish/concentration and the concentration of SME increasing logarithmically, e.g. 0.1, 1.0, 10.0 and 100.0 mg litres-1. The concentration of SME that killed all the fish and the concentration that killed very few or none of the fish were used as the upper and lower limits in definitive test. The definitive test used at least five concentrations in geometric series, e.g. 2.0, 4.0, 8.0 and 16.0 mg litres-1. The test period was 96 hr and 10 fish were used per concentration. In both tests, each concentration was tested in duplicate in the test chambers. Control test chambers with no test substance were tested simultaneously. Observations. The conditions of the fish were observed after 24, 48, 72 and 96 hr. Fish were considered dead if there was no discernible movement and if touching of the caudal peduncle produced no reaction. The mortalities and pH, dissolved oxygen and temperature of the water were recorded daily. Treatment of results. The acute toxicity of a chemical to aquatic organisms is expressed in terms of its LC50, that is, the concentration lethal to half of the population exposed during the test. The geometric mean of the highest concentration causing no mortality and the lowest concentration causing 100% mortality were calculated for the LC50. Biodegradability test. The test was performed according to the standard method OECD 301D Closed Bottle Test (1992). A solution of 2 mg test substance in 1 litre mineral medium was inoculated with microorganisms from the secondary effluent of sewage treatment plant (7 ml litre-1) and kept in completely full, closed bottles in the dark at constant temperature. The biodegradation was calculated based on the dissolved oxygen of the test solution over a 28-day period. The amount of oxygen taken up by the microbial population during biodegradation of the test substance, corrected for uptake by the blank inoculum run in parallel, was expressed as the percentage THOD (theoretical 226

ASSESSMENT OF AQUATIC EFFECTS OF PALM-BASED ALPHA-SULPHONATED METHYL ESTERS (SME) TABLE 1. ECOTOXICITY OF VARIOUS BATCHES AND DRUMS OF SME PRODUCED FROM THE PILOT PLANT

oxygen demand). The dissolved oxygen of the samples was measured every four days (in duplicate) for construction of the biodegradation curve.

Batch December 2001

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Ecotoxicity of Various Batches of SME Produced from the Pilot Plant

17 October 2002

Various batches of SME produced from the pilot plant had consistent toxicity values towards Tilapia nilotica (Table 1), i.e. 1.00-1.41 mg litre-1, and were considered as moderately toxic (according to the rating scheme in Table 2).

28 October 2002

July 2003

Drum

LC50 (mg litre-1)*

2 4 6 8 1 2 1 2 3 1

1.41 1.41 1.41 1.41 1.41 1.00 1.41 1.00 1.41 1.13

Note: * Mean value of two tests.

Toxicity of Palm-Based SME and Commercial SMEs towards Tropical and Temperate Test Species

TABLE 2. RATING SCHEME USED BY THE UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICES FOR AQUATIC TOXICITY

The OECD 203 Test was carried out in MPOB and Canada on the three samples using Tilapia nilotica as test species in tropical conditions and rainbow trout in temperate conditions. The tests on Daphnia magna and Selenastrum capricornutum were done only in Canada. The toxicities of palm-based and commercial SMEs were within the same toxicity range in both the temperate and tropical environments (Table 3), although somewhat less toxic under the tropical conditions. The toxicities of SME (MPOB) and commercial SME 1 were similar while commercial SME 2 had slightly higher LC50 and EC50 values. The palm-based SME and commercial SME 1 were produced from palm stearin methyl esters (PSME) with C16-C18 carbon chain lengths while commercial SME 2 consisted of C14-C16 chain lengths. For most anionic

Rating

LC (mg litre-1)

Super toxic Extremely toxic Highly toxic Moderately toxic Slightly toxic Practically non-toxic Relatively harmless

< 0.01 1.01 – 0.1 0.10 – 1.0 1.0 – 10.0 10.0 – 100.0 100.0 – 1 000.0 > 1 000.0

Source: Drozd (1991).

surfactants, the toxicity increases with the chain length (Schoberl et al., 1988). The longer carbon chains of PSME caused the slightly higher toxicities of SME (MPOB) and commercial SME 1 over commercial SME 2 as shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3. ECOTOXICITY OF PALM-BASED AND COMMERCIAL SMEs IN TEMPERATE AND TROPICAL CONDITIONS

Test/conditions

Temperate

Tropical

Acute aquatic toxicity (96 hr) on fish a. SME (MPOB) b. Commercial SME 1 c. Commercial SME 2

Rainbow trout LC50 = 0.35 mg litre-1 LC50 = 0.35 mg litre-1 LC50 = 0.71 mg litre-1

Acute aquatic toxicity (48 hr) on Daphnia a. SME (MPOB) b. Commercial SME 1 c. Commercial SME 2

Daphnia magna EC50 = 0.98 mg litre-1 EC50 = 0.79 mg litre-1 EC50 = 1.91 mg litre-1

No data

Selenastrum capricornutum EC50 = 7.57 mg litre-1 EC50 = 5.23 mg litre-1 EC50 = 8.83 mg litre-1

No data

Acute aquatic toxicity (72 hr) on algae a. SME (MPOB) b. Commercial SME 1 c. Commercial SME 2

227

Tilapia nilotica LC50 = 1.41 mg litre-1 LC50 = 1.41 mg litre-1 LC50 = 5.66 mg litre-1

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 18 (JUNE 2006)

Biodegradability of Palm-Based SME Palm-based SME was found to be readily biodegradable with more than 80% degraded in only eight days in the OECD 301D Closed Bottle Test (Figure 1) (Razmah and Salmiah, 2004). The SME is not expected to cause environmental concern because its high biodegradability will leave very little residual and therefore is not toxic to water organisms. The SME exists primarily in the ionized form at environmental pHs. Due to its ionized properties, it can be assumed that bioaccumulation is insignificant. Also, as the surfactant is mainly released into the aquatic environment, very little would enter the air and soil environments. Predicted Local (Malaysian) Environmental Concentrations of SME

Local predicted environmental concentration of SME content in detergent (%)/100 x amount of detergent (mg) used in washing machine x [100-removal rate (%)]/100 = ——————————————————————––––––––––– Release value (l) of domestic effluent per family per day x dilution factor 30 (%)/100 x 15000 (mg) x [100 – 80 (%)]/100 = ——————————————————————––––––––––– 1000 (l) x 100 = 0.009 mg litre-1

The predicted environmental concentration at day 0, where the wash is released directly into the aquatic environment with no biodegradation, would be 0.045 mg litre-1. Local predicted environmental concentration

The maximum concentration of SME in detergents is 10%-30%. The concentration of detergent recommended by the manufacturers is 15 g in 30 litres water (OECD-SIDS, 2003). Therefore, the concentration of SME in washing machine water is 50 mg litre-1 assuming that the detergent contains 10% SME. Its concentration in domestic effluent from one family is 1.5 mg litre-1 family-1 day-1 as the average volume of effluent is assumed to be 1000 litres for one family (four persons) per day. The amount of effluent discharged may be higher. The removal via biodegradation is 80% after eight days. Assuming that the maximum concentration of SME (30%) is used in detergents and that the dilution factor is 100 when the wash is released into a river, the predicted environmental concentration calculated is 0.009 mg litre-1.

content in detergent (%)/100 x amount of detergent (mg) used in washing machine x [100-removal rate (%)]/100 = ——————————————————————––––––––––– Release value (l) of domestic effluent per family per day x dilution factor 30 (%)/100 x 15000 (mg) x [100 – 0 (%)]/100 = ——————————————————————––––––––––– 1000 (l) x 100 = 0.045 mg litre-1

Compared to the LC50 of SME towards Tilapia nilotica and Rainbow trout (Table 3), this would be sufficiently low not to cause any impact on the aquatic organisms. Palm-based SME also showed comparable no-observed-effect-concentration (NOEC) and lowest-observed-effect-concentration

Note: * Mean value of two measurements.

Figure 1. Biodegradability of palm-based SME.

228

ASSESSMENT OF AQUATIC EFFECTS OF PALM-BASED ALPHA-SULPHONATED METHYL ESTERS (SME)

(LOEC) to the commercial SMEs (Table 4). LOEC is the lowest tested concentration at which the test substance has a significant effect on the test species, while NOEC is the highest tested concentration below LOEC where the stated effect was not observed. Palm-based SME has LOEC value, or will have significant effect on the algae’s growth, of 2.43 mg litre-1, which is 53 times higher than the predicted environmental concentration at day 0, i.e. 0.045 mg litre-1. Again, this shows that SME is not expected to cause an impact on algae and other aquatic organisms.

SME (MPOB) Commercial SME 1 Commercial SME 2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors wish to thank the Director-General of MPOB for permission to publish this paper. The authors would also like to thank those who are directly or indirectly involved in this project.

REFERENCES

TABLE 4. NOEC AND LOEC VALUES OF PALM-BASED SME AND THE COMMERCIAL SMEs

SME

b) promoting the use of renewable resources so that more oil palm can be planted to boost its agricultural economy.

NOEC* (mg litre-1)

LOEC** (mg litre-1)

< 2.43 2.43 2.43

2.43 8.1 8.1

AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION (APHA) (1980). Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater, Part 800. 15th ed. p. 800-823. DROZD, J C (1991). Use of sulfonated methyl esters in household cleaning products. Proc. of the World Conference on Oleochemicals into the 21st Century (Applewhite, T H ed.). American Oils Chemists’ Society. p. 256-268.

Notes: * No-observed-effect-concentration. **Lowest-observed-effect-concentration.

CONCLUSION The public concerns over the safety of detergents to the user and environment is at an all-time high. Palm-based SME is a good and sustainable active ingredient to be used in detergent formulations to replace the active ingredients derived from petrochemicals, which are not biodegradable. The palm-based SMEs produced in MPOB’s pilot plant have consistent toxicities, i.e. around 1.00-1.41 mg litre-1. Their toxicities are comparable to those of commercial SMEs whether tested in temperate or tropical environment, and whether using a temperate or tropical test species. The SMEs were found to be less toxic under tropical conditions. The toxicity increased with the carbon chain length, e.g. C16/18 SME being slightly more toxic than C14/16 SME. The toxicities of all the SMEs (MPOB and commercial) were within the same toxicity range, i.e. moderately toxic. SMEs are not expected to cause any environmental damage as the local predicted concentrations are likely to be very low, between 0.009 mg litre-1 and 0.045 mg litre-1, due to their high biodegradability (more than 80% in eight days). These concentrations are very low and will not impose any effect on the aquatic organisms. Malaysia will benefit from using palm-based surfactants through: a) less dependence and saving in foreign exchange from less imports of petroleumbased surfactants; and

229

LEWIS, M A (1992). The effects of mixtures and other environmental modifying factors on the toxicities of surfactants to freshwater and marine life. Water Res., 26(8): 1013-1023. OECD 203 (1992a). Fish, acute toxicity test. OECD Guidelines for Testing of Chemicals. OECD 301D (1992). Closed bottle test. OECD Guidelines for Testing of Chemicals. OECD GUIDELINES FOR TESTING OF CHEMICALS (1992). Summary of Considerations in the Report from the OECD Expert Group on Ecotoxicology. OECD-SIDS (Screening Information Data Set) REPORT (2003). Initial Assessment Report on Hexadecanoic Acid, 2-Sulfo, 1-Methylester, Sodium Salt. UNEP Publication. RAZMAH GHAZALI (2002). Ecotoxicity studies of palm oil-based products. Completed project report, Viva No. 196/2002(10). MPOB, Bangi. RAZMAH GHAZALI and SALMIAH AHMAD (2004). Biodegradability and ecotoxicity of palm stearin-based methyl ester sulphonates. J. Oil Palm Research Vol. 16 No. 1: 39 - 45. SALMIAH AHMAD; ZAHARIAH ISMAIL and JASMIN SAMSI (1998). Palm-based sulphonated methyl esters and soap. J. Oil Palm Research Vol. 10 No. 1: 15-35.

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 18 (JUNE 2006)

SCHOBERL, P; BOCK, K J; MARL and HUBER, L (1988). Data relevant to the ecology of surfactants in detergents and cleaning agents. Report on the state of discussion in the study-groups Degradation/

Elimination and Bio-Testing of the Main Committee Detergents. Copyright of Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich.

230

ÂŠ Malaysian Palm Oil Board 2006

JOURNAL Journal of OFOil OILPalm PALMResearch RESEARCHVol. 20 (JUNE 20 June 2008)2008 p. 484-494

LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM OIL A GATE TO GATE CASE STUDY OF 12 PALM OIL MILLS VIJAYA, S*; MA, A N*; CHOO, Y M* and NIK MERIAM, N S**

ABSTRACT Life cycle inventory (LCI) is the heart of a life cycle assessment (LCA) study. LCA is a tool to determine the environmental impacts of a product at all stages of its life right from cradle to grave. In order to carry out a LCA, inventory data have to be collected and the raw data have to be extrapolated to produce a LCI. This study has a gate to gate system boundary. The inventory data collection starts at the oil palm fresh fruit bunch hoppers when the fresh fruit bunches are received at the mill up till the production of the crude palm oil in the storage tanks at the mill. For this study, 12 palm oil mills were selected. These palm oil mills were selected based on the type of mill which were either plantation- based mills or private mills and have different processing capacities of oil palm fresh fruit bunches ranging from 20 t hr-1 up till 90 t hr-1. The mills selected are all located at different zones in east and west Malaysia basically from north, mid south, south Peninsular Malaysia and east Malaysia. Inventory data collection consists of input and output of materials and energy. The input data basically are inputs of raw materials such as oil palm fresh fruit bunches, electricity, diesel, water, fuel for boiler etc. and the output consists of the biomass wastes, palm oil mill effluents, flue gases from stack, kernel etc. All data were collected for duration of three months from each mill. These inventory data were then calculated for the functional unit of every 1 t of crude palm oil produced at the palm oil mill. Keywords: biomass, crude palm oil, fresh fruit bunch, life cycle assessment, life cycle inventory. Date received: 29 March 2007; Sent for revision: 24 April 2007; Received in final form: 26 July 2007; Accepted: 5 February 2008.

INTRODUCTION Malaysia is one of the world leaders in the production and export of crude palm oil. In Malaysia, the oil palm industry has contributed immensely towards the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic well being. * Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: vijaya@mpob.gov.my ** Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

During the economic crisis in 1997/1998, the industry has helped to cushion the impact of the economic downturn through its export-oriented activities, which provided the much needed foreign exchange for the country. In 2006, crude palm oil (CPO) production reached 15.9 million tonnes (Mohd Basri Wahid, 2007). The oil palm industry is a self-sufficient industry. The concept of recycling of the palm oil mill byproducts is not new but merely resurfaces in the light of recent economic and environmental concerns (Ma, 2002). Over the years, the oil palm industry has been very responsible and all the by-products have gradually been utilized. Since the 1980s, the judicious utilization of the various by-products through nutrient recycling in the fields has reduced the 484

LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM OIL - A GATE TO GATE CASE STUDY OF 12 PALM OIL MILLS

environmental impact paving the way towards zerowaste policy (Chan, 1999). Generally, some of the by-products mainly shell and mesocarp fibre are used as fuel in boiler to generate steam to run a turbine to generate electricity.

LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY Life cycle inventory (LCI) is the heart of a life cycle assessment (LCA) study (Narayanaswamy et al., 2002). The Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Code of Practice defines LCA as: “… a process to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a product, process or activity by identifying and quantifying energy and materials used and wastes released to the environment, to assess the impact of those energy and materials used and released to the environment, and to identify and evaluate opportunities to effect environmental improvements. The assessment includes the entire life cycle of the product, process or activity, encompassing extraction and processing raw materials, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, use, reuse, maintenance, recycling and final disposal (SETAC, 1993).” LCI is an inventory of input and output data. Typically inventory data include raw materials and energy consumption and emissions of solid, liquid and gaseous wastes. A LCI consists of data which are extrapolated to quantify the inputs and outputs of a product based on its functional unit (Awang et al, 1999; Sanchez, 2003).

OBJECTIVE The objective or goal of this study is to identify and quantify the environmental inputs and outputs associated with the production of CPO at the palm oil mill.

485

SCOPE/SYSTEM BOUNDARY A gate to gate study was carried out whereby the system boundary was set to only include the production process of the CPO as shown in Appendix 1. The starting point is at the oil palm fresh fruit bunch (FFB) hoppers where the FFBs are received up till the production of the CPO in the storage tanks. The functional unit for this study is 1 t of CPO produced.

METHODOLOGY Twelve palm oil mills were selected for this study. These palm oil mills were selected based on the type of mill which were either plantation-based mills or private mills. They have different processing capacities of FFBs ranging from 20 t hr-1 up till 90 t hr-1 and also these mills are all located at different zones in Peninsular Malaysia basically from north, mid south, southeast and east Malaysia Inventory data were collected from the selected palm oil mills over a period of three months. They consisted of raw material usage as well as the emissions of solid, liquid and gaseous wastes as shown below: • • • • • • • • •

raw material usage; excess fibre and shell mix from the boiler; excess shell; quantification of palm oil mill effluent (POME); emissions of flue gas from the boiler stack and POME pond; quantification of empty fruit bunch (EFB) and boiler ash; quantification of fuel flow rate; energy consumption; and recycling and treatment of wastes.

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 20 (JUNE 2008)

QUANTIFICATION OF WASTE

Excess fibre & shell mix

Empty fruit bunch

Quantifying boiler ash

Monitoring stack emission

Quantifying fuel flow rate in boiler

Figure 1. Quantification of biomass and other emissions.

486

LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM OIL - A GATE TO GATE CASE STUDY OF 12 PALM OIL MILLS

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Inventory data collected over a period of three months from each mill were divided into inputs and outputs. The data were then extrapolated to quantify the inputs from the environment and outputs to the environment for every 1 t of CPO produced as shown in Tables 1 and 2. Palm oil mills numbered 3, 4 and 12 are private mills. These mills do not own oil palm plantations. They receive their FFBs from other private oil palm plantation owners. The other nine palm oil mills are

all plantation-based mills which have their own oil palm plantations. The environmental inputs to produce 1 t of CPO as shown in Table 1 are FFB, power consumption from turbine and grid, diesel consumption, boiler fuel, water consumption for boiler as well as process and steam input to turbine, sterilization or cooking of the fruits. The rows which have been highlighted in Table 1 are basically renewable energy and recycled materials. Based on the inventory data (Appendix 2), approximately 5.09 t of FFB are required to produce

TABLE 1. LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY FOR PALM OIL MILLS NUMBERED 1 TO 12 ENVIRONMENTAL INPUTS FOR EVERY 1 t CRUDE PALM OIL (CPO) PRODUCED

Mill

Type

Processing 20 capacity (t hr-1)

Fuel flow rate (t hr-1)

2.50

3.50

5.60

4.50

4.88

5.00

6.00

5.90

7.50

13.00 11.00

Fuel ratio fibre: shell

80:20 70:30

70:30

80:20

70:30

90:10 80:20

80:20

80:20 80:20 60:40 90:10

Steam output (t hr-1)

10.00 14.00

22.50

17.50

19.00

18.00 24.00

23.50

30.00 30.50 52.00 42.50

5.34

5.48

5.27

4.67

5.10

4.67

Environmental Inputs FFB (t) 4.93

5.07

5.47

4.67

4.87

5.39

Power from 98.59 101.38 106.73 109.57 105.48 93.41 109.34 101.91 93.48 93.46 97.36 107.71 turbine (kWhr) Power from grid (kWhr)

2.00

1.99

0.18

0.25

2.95

0.00

0.10

Diesel for mill use (l)

2.17

0.00

1.29

1.98

2.92

2.86

2.45

2.12

4.47

3.37

4.51

0.38

Diesel for vehicles 0.28 in mill (l)

0.15

2.60

2.96

0.84

3.54

1.08

1.25

3.40

3.41

0.68

2.10

Mesocarp fibre (t) 0.51

0.63

0.52

0.57

0.47

0.58

0.55

0.52

0.43

0.55

0.60

Shell (t)

0.13

0.27

0.22

0.14

0.20

0.06

0.14

0.13

0.11

0.36

0.07

Boiler water 2.50 consumption (l)

3.64

2.92

2.79

2.66

2.35

2.88

2.54

2.10

2.14

3.64

2.55

Steam for 2.46 sterilization (t)

3.29

2.77

2.63

2.64

2.34

2.84

2.55

2.10

3.16

2.53

Steam to turbine (t)

2.50

3.64

2.92

2.79

2.66

2.35

2.88

2.54

2.10

2.14

3.64

2.55

Water consumption for process (t)

3.42

2.95

3.48

3.79

3.67

3.26

3.68

3.57

3.51

3.47

3.66

3.38

Boiler fuel

Notes: PL â&#x20AC;&#x201C; plantation, PR- private. Bolded rows indicate renewable energy or recycled materials.

487

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 20 (JUNE 2008)

1 t of CPO. The variation in values is because each mill has a different oil extraction rate (OER) and the mills with higher OER, will have a lower value of FFB per tonne of CPO. The average power consumption from turbine for per tonne of CPO is 101.85 kWhr. This power is a renewable energy source. In the palm oil mills, mesocarp fibre and shell are used as fuel in the boiler and are burnt to produce heat to convert water into steam. This steam is then used to run a turbine which generates electricity for the milling process and the whole mill compound. The mesocarp fibre and shell are actually wastes from the FFB which are then recycled as boiler fuel. The mesocarp fibre is the waste after oil has been pressed out of the mesocarp of the fruit. The shell is the outer layer of the nut which when cracked produces kernel and shell. Kernel will be shipped to kernel crushing plants to extract palm kernel oil while shell is a waste. However in the palm oil mill these wastes are considered very valuable byproducts which serve as an energy source for the mill. Due to the existence of these by-products, the palm oil mills are very self-sufficient producing their own energy to operate and also to supply energy to the estates in some cases. The load to produce electricity using fossil fuel sources has been taken off from the environment and at the same time the load to treat that amount of mesocarp fibre and shell has been removed from the environment. The steam that has passed through the turbine is then stored at a back pressure receiver tank. This steam now which is at a lower pressure is used for the sterilization or cooking process. Here this steam is recycled and the load to produce steam again for this process has been taken off from the environment. For every tonne of CPO produced about 2.57 t of steam is recycled for sterilization. However, there is some electricity consumption from the national grid supply which ranges from as low as 0.10 kWhr to 2.95 kWhr t -1 CPO. This consumption is mainly for office use and lighting purposes when the mill is not operating. For palm oil mills numbered 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, the grid consumption is zero because these mills are not connected to the grid. When the mills are not in operation they use diesel generator sets to generate electricity. Palm oil mills numbered 9 and 11 supply power not only for the mill compound but also to the workers quarters and other facilities within the estate. Although the grid consumption is zero but the diesel consumption at these mills are 4.47 and 4.5 litre t-1 CPO respectively. These values are higher compared to other mills for this reason. In the case of mill numbered 2, it does not consume any diesel for milling purposes. This is because this mill directly uses the electricity from the grid when the mill is not operating. Even then the power consumption from the grid is not too high.

This is because this mill is a 30 t mill and it operates for almost 24 hr a day and so the need to get power from the grid is little. Palm oil mill numbered 12 which is a 90 t mill only consumes about 0.38 litre of diesel per tonne CPO. This is because this mill also operates for almost 24 hr a day. This is also the reason why the grid consumption is also very low about 0.10 kWhr t-1 CPO as this mill uses the renewable energy generated from the turbine when operating. Since the mill is always running, less electricity is consumed from the grid and less diesel is consumed for the mill. The vehicles used in the mill for the milling process are mainly, tractors and showlers. The quantity of diesel used in the vehicles within the mill all depend on the size of the mill as well as the operating hours and also how much automation is involved in the process. The diesel consumption for vehicles used for the milling process for mills numbered 6, 9 and 10 t-1 CPO is 3.54, 3.40 and 3.41 litre respectively. These values are higher than the rest because these mills are rather large mills and use many vehicles as part of their milling process mainly showlers to transport biomass and also to pull in and out the sterilization cages. Palm oil mill 3, 4 and 12 uses 2.60, 2.96 and 2.10 litres of diesel respectively. This is mainly because these three private mills operate for long hours and so the vehicles are running for longer periods. Palm oil mills numbered 1,2,5,7,8 and 11 have low consumptions ranging from 0.15 litre diesel to 1.25 litre of diesel per tonne CPO as these mills use less vehicle support for their milling process and the mill operation hours are less compared to the private mills. The quantity of fuel used in the boiler all depends on the capacity of the boiler itself and this is calculated based on the quantification of the fuel flow rate at each palm oil mill. The flow rate ranges from 2.1 t hr-1 to 13 t hr-1 as shown in Table 1. The fuel ratio varies from mill to mill. Palm oil mills numbered 2, 3 and 5 use the ratio of 70: 30, mesocarp fibre: shell. However, mills numbered 1, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10 uses 80: 20 while mills numbered 6 and 12 have a ratio of 90:10. Palm oil mills 6 and 12 use more of the mesocarp fibre and less shell. This is because they can sell the excess shell at a good price for use in other furnaces elsewhere. Mill 11 uses a ratio of 60: 40. This mill tends to use a larger amount of shell mainly because they have 13 t hr-1 fuel consumption and also this mill has to meet the high demand for power supply for the whole estate which not only consisted of the workers quarters but also other facilities. The other input is water which is the source of the steam as well as water for process. This water is normally extracted from rivers, wells or ponds. The amount of steam required to run the turbine to produce electricity mainly depends on the turbine 488

489

Mulching Mulching

Recycled Waste EFB

Sold as fuel

Land Land Land application application application

Note: PL â&#x20AC;&#x201C; plantation, PR- private.

Boiler ash

Sold as fuel

Treated as Treated as Sold as fertilizer fertilizer fertilizer

Excess Sold as mesocarp fuel fibre & shell

POME

Mill 4

0.14 0.06 56.06 0.001 0.09

0.02

0.42 0.16 0.17 1.21 3.16 57.59 31.01

5 PL

0.02

0.15 0.06 59.41 0.001 0.09

0.02

0.41 0.09 0.23 1.17 3.06 55.64 29.96

8 PR

0.01 0.02

0.39 0.43 0.04 0.05 0.00 0.31 1.12 1.247 2.92 3.23 53.16 58.81 28.62 31.67

Mulching

Mulching Mulching

0.17 0.45 0.70 0.07 0.14 0.13 68.81 161.20 142.18 0.001 0.003 0.003 0.10 0.20 0.25

0.01

0.37 0.13 0.22 1.07 2.80 51.03 27.48

Mulching

0.16 0.07 67.99 0.001 0.10

0.01

0.37 0.13 0.22 1.08 2.80 51.04 27.48

Mulching Mulching Mulching

Land application

Sold as fuel

Land Land Land Land Land Land Land Land application application application application application application application application

Sold as fuel

Treated & Treated as Treated as Treated as Treated as Treated as Treated as Treated as Treated & discharged fertilizer fertilizer fertilizer fertilizer fertilizer fertilizer fertilizer discharged

Mulching

0.13 0.15 0.06 0.06 60.72 60.70 0.001 0.001 0.11 0.10

0.01

0.37 0.44 0.00 0.10 0.26 0.24 1.07 1.26 2.80 3.28 51.00 59.70 27.46 32.15

Shredded & Mulching used as fuel

0.13 0.05 57.39 0.001 0.10

0.15 0.11 0.05 0.06 43.47 56.87 0.001 0.001 0.08 0.12

0.02

0.44 0.09 0.24 1.26 3.29 59.82 32.21

0.41 0.43 0.00 0.12 0.09 0.15 1.17 1.23 3.04 3.20 55.35 58.27 29.81 31.38

Type

Environmental Outputs Kernel 0.39 Mesocarp fibre (t) 0.08 Shell (t) 0.22 EFB (t) 1.13 POME (t) 2.96 3 Methane (m ) 53.83 CO2 from POME 28.99 pond (m3 ) Boiler ash (t) 0.01 Flue gas from stack particulate matter (kg) 0.07 CO (kg) 0.02 CO2 (kg) 13.74 SOx (kg) 0.001 NOx (kg) 0.04

Mill

TABLE 2. LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY FOR PALM OIL MILLS NUMBERED 1 TO 12 ENVIRONMENTAL OUTPUTS FOR EVERY 1 t OF CRUDE PALM OIL (CPO) PRODUCED

LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM OIL - A GATE TO GATE CASE STUDY OF 12 PALM OIL MILLS

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 20 (JUNE 2008)

capacity. The amount of steam required to run the turbine varies from mill to mill. It ranges from 10 t steam per hour to 52 t steam per hour. The higher the requirement the more steam is needed and the more water is required. The water consumption in the mills is for the process itself which include dilution and also for washing. An average of about 6.21 t of water is required both for steam production and process water to produce 1 t of CPO Table 2 shows the outputs to the environment when 1t of CPO is produced. The quantity of mesocarp fibre and shell shown in Table 2 are the final value after subtracting the amount recycled as boiler fuel. The values range from as low as 0.00 t to as high as 0.16 t of mesocarp fibre per tonne CPO. The range of the excess mesocarp fibre is quite high as the amount depends on the fuel flow rate for the boiler and fuel ratio used. Some mills do not have any excess mesocarp fibre as they use up all their mesocarp fibre as boiler fuel. Palm oil mills numbered 2 and 6 use up all their mesocarp fibre. An average of 0.09 t of mesocarp fibre is produced for every tonne of CPO. Almost all the mills have higher quantity of excess shell compared to mesocarp fibre with the exception to palm oil mill numbered 11 which uses up all the shell. This is because this palm oil mill has to meet the high demand of its 13 t hr-1 boiler and fuel ratio of 60:40 to supply power for the whole estate compound. An average of 0.20 t of shell is produced for every tonne of CPO. Approximately 1.17 t of empty fruit bunch (EFB) is produced for every tonne of CPO. The plantationbased mills all send their EFB back to the plantation for mulching purposes. Private mill numbered 3 shreds the EFB and uses it as fuel in their second boiler to process part of their palm oil mill effluent into fertilizers for sale. The private mills also send back the EFB to the plantations for mulching in the same lorries that bring the FFBs to the mills. These mills actually pay a small cost to transport back the EFB. This is mainly to dispose of the EFB as these mills do not own their own plantations. All the mills treat their POME which is actually the sludge from the oil and waste water from the process. An average of 3.05 t of POME is produced for every tonne of CPO. Most plantation mills send the treated effluent (anaerobic liquid) back for land application as substitute for fertilizers at the oil palm plantations. Mills numbered 4 and 12 treat the effluent in accordance to the regulated standards for water discharge into the stream nearby. Mill numbered 3 processes the POME and sells it as fertilizers to the private planters. Another output emitted from the POME ponds during the anaerobic process is biogas. This biogas mainly consists of methane, carbon dioxide and traces of hydrogen sulphide (Ma et al., 1999). Unfortunately at the current moment less than 5%

of mills in Malaysia harvest the biogas and use it as fuel. We may wonder why this biogas is not harvested and we cannot completely blame the industry for not harvesting and stopping this impact. The reason behind this is mainly lack of infrastructure to channel this excess energy. For now most mills have excess energy from their biomass itself. In order to invest in a large sum of money to harvest the biogas will mean that they will need the infrastructure to dispose and sell the harvested biogas. However it is sad to say that such demands for this kind of energy is very minimal in Malaysia and because the mills themselves do not need anymore energy this does not seem to be a logical move to invest large amounts of money on a harvesting system. Approximately 85.55 m3 of biogas is produced for every tonne of CPO. Out of this 65% is methane and 35% is mainly CO2 and traces of other gas. Thanks to the current shift of events and increased environmental awareness, this situation is likely to change in the near future. The other gaseous emissions are the flue gas emitted from the boiler stack. These emissions are the result of burning biomass as fuel in the boilers. The flue gas comprises particulate matter, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides. All these emissions at the 12 mills are within the regulated limits and some mills achieve far better levels than the regulated limits. The emissions of sulphur oxides are very low and almost negligible. In order to control the particulate matter emissions all the mills have multi cyclone systems in place. The increase in boiler fuel directly relates to the increase in the flue gas emissions from the stack. Palm oil mill numbered 11 shows the highest emission mainly because it has the highest fuel consumption per hour. Another output from the boiler is the boiler ash. This is the ash formed due to the burning of biomass in the boilers. The ash is normally used for land application in the roads leading to the mills. About 0.02 t of boiler ash is produced for every tonne of CPO. The other output or rather the by-product from the production of CPO is palm kernel. About 0.41 t of kernel is produced for every 1 t of CPO. The kernel is transported to kernel crushing plants to be crushed to produce palm kernel oil.

CONCLUSION Based on the LCI, the main input for turbine system processing of CPO is electricity and this electricity is self generated in the boiler using the by-products from the milling process. The other input is diesel. This quantity is not much as it is only used when the mill is not operating and for the vehicles. All the outputs from the mills are either recycled within the 490

LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM OIL - A GATE TO GATE CASE STUDY OF 12 PALM OIL MILLS

compound or at the plantation or some even sold and reused as energy or fertilizers elsewhere. Palm oil mills are now slowly upgrading their boilers and this has resulted to lesser gaseous emissions to the environment. The methane emitted from the POME ponds are a potential energy source; however the unharvested biogas is a source of pollution. In order to overcome this problem, it has to be seen on a wider scale involving not only the palm oil industry on its own but also the whole energy sector of Malaysia which also includes changes in policies to make harvesting such valuable biogas energy worth the while for the palm oil industry. Another option is to actually re-look at this 20 over years old sludge treatment system using the ponding system. Maybe it is time for the industry to also become environmentally savvy and look into other options of sludge treatment instead of sticking to the historical method used. The harvested biogas can be used as energy in the mills for the milling process thereby freeing the biomass and since there is demand for the use of biomass outside the mills even now. The biomass should just be an additional source of fuel to just top up whatever energy is needed for the mills. The palm oil mills which are currently not connected to the grid are using diesel when not operating. Maybe they should look into the option of harvesting the biogas and completely substituting the diesel. However the economics to implement such steps should be examined.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors would like to thank the Director-General of MPOB for permission to publish this article. Special thanks to the palm oil millers for allowing MPOB to conduct the study at their mills and MPOB staff for their support

491

REFERENCES AWANG, M; HASSAN, M N and ZAKARIA, Z (1999). Life cycle assessment. Environmental Managements Standards ISO 14000, Towards a Sustainable Future. Universiti Putra Malaysia Press. Serdang, Selangor. CHAN, K W (1999). Biomass production in the oil palm industry. Oil Palm and the Environment. Malaysian Oil Palm Growersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Council, Kuala Lumpur. p. 45-50. MA, A N; TOH, T S and CHUA, N S (1999). Renewable energy from oil palm industry. Oil Palm and the Environment. Malaysian Oil Palm Growersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Council, Kuala Lumpur. p. 253-259. MA, A N (2002). Carbon credit from palm: biomass, biogas & biodiesel. Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin No. 65: 24-25. SANCHEZ, I G; WENZEL, H and JORGENSEN, M S (2003). Assessing and improving the feasibility of LCM. Paper presented at CIRP Seminar on Life Cycle Engineering, Denmark. SETAC (1993). Guidelines for Life-Cycle Assessment: A Code of Practice. SETAC Foundation for Environmental Education. Pensacola. NARAYANASWAMY, V; ALTHAM, J; BERKEL, R V and MCGREGOR, M (2002). A Primer on Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for Australian Grains. Curtin University of Technology Australia, Perth. MOHD BASRI WAHID (2007). Overview of Malaysian oil palm industry 2006. http:// mpob.gov.my/foreword

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 20 (JUNE 2008)

Appendix 1

Tipper

Sterilizer

Stripper

FFB hopper EFB hopper

Sand trap tank

Press liquor

Screw press

Digester

Vibrating screen

Pressed fibres & nuts

Depericarper

Fibre Fibre cyclone

Crude palm oil Nut

Nut polishing drum

Oil from pits

Pure oil tank

Clarifier

Boiler

Oil Destoner

sludge Purifier

Sludge tank 1

Nut silo

Wet shell bunker Holding tank

Desander

Nut crackers

Vacuum dryer

Sludge tank 2

Winnowing columns Clay bath

Rotary brush strainer

shell Crude palm oil storage tank

Sludge CPO

Fats Oil

Sludge pit

Palm oil milling process (system boundary). 492

493

Environmental outputs Kernel Mesocarp fibre (t) Shell (t) Empty fruit bunch (t) Palm oil mill effluent (t) Methane gas (m3) CO2 from POME pond (m3)

0.39 0.08 0.22 1.13 2.96 53.83 28.99

0.51 0.13 2.50 2.46 2.50 3.42

4.93 0.25 98.59 2.00 2.17 0.28

Environmetal inputs FFB (t) Time (hr) Power from turbine (kWhr) Power from grid (kWhr) Diesel for mill (litre) Diesel for vehicles in mill (litre)

Boiler fuel Mesocarp fibre (t) Shell (t) Boiler water consumption (t) Steam input for sterilization (t) Steam input to turbine (t) Water consumption for process (t)

PL 20 2.50 80:20 10.00

Mill type Processing cap (t hr-1 ) Fuel flow rate (t hr-1 ) Fuel ratio FB : SH Steam output (t hr-1 )

Mill

0.41 0.00 0.09 1.17 3.04 55.35 29.81

0.63 0.27 3.64 3.29 3.64 2.95

5.07 0.26 101.38 1.99 0 0.15

PL 30 3.50 70:30 14.00

0.43 0.12 0.15 1.23 3.20 58.27 31.38

0.52 0.22 2.92 2.77 2.92 3.48

5.34 0.13 106.73 0.18 1.29 2.60

PR 40 5.60 70:30 22.50

0.44 0.09 0.24 1.26 3.29 59.82 32.21

0.57 0.14 2.79 2.63 2.79 3.79

5.48 0.16 109.57 0.25 1.98 2.96

PR 40 4.50 80:20 17.50

0.42 0.16 0.17 1.21 3.16 57.59 31.01

0.47 0.20 2.66 2.64 2.66 3.67

5.27 0.14 105.48 2.95 2.92 0.84

PL 45 4.88 70:30 19.00

0.37 0.00 0.26 1.07 2.80 51.00 27.46

0.58 0.06 2.35 2.34 2.35 3.26

4.67 0.13 93.41 0.00 2.86 3.54

PL 45 5.00 90:10 18.00

0.44 0.10 0.24 1.26 3.28 59.70 32.15

0.55 0.14 2.88 2.84 2.88 3.68

5.47 0.12 109.34 0.00 2.45 1.08

PL 50 6.00 80:20 24.00

0.41 0.09 0.23 1.17 3.06 55.64 29.96

0.52 0.13 2.54 2.55 2.54 3.57

5.10 0.11 101.91 0.00 2.12 1.25

PL 50 5.90 80:20 23.50

0.37 0.13 0.22 1.08 2.80 51.04 27.48

0.43 0.11 2.10 2.10 2.10 3.51

4.67 0.07 93.48 0.00 4.47 3.40

PL 60 7.50 80:20 30.00

0.37 0.13 0.22 1.07 2.80 51.03 27.48

0.43 0.11 2.14 2.10 2.14 3.47

4.67 0.07 93.46 0.00 3.37 3.41

PL 65 7.50 80, 20 30.50

0.39 0.04 0.00 1.12 2.92 53.16 28.62

0.55 0.36 3.64 3.16 3.64 3.66

4.87 0.07 97.36 0.00 4.51 0.68

PL 70 13.00 60, 40 52.00

TABLE 3. LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY OF THE PRODUCTION OF 1 t OF CRUDE PALM OIL FOR 12 PALM OIL MILLS INCLUDING MEAN

0.43 0.05 0.31 1.24 3.23 58.81 31.67

0.60 0.07 2.55 2.53 2.55 3.38

5.39 0.06 107.71 0.10 0.38 2.10

PR 90 11.00 90, 10 42.50

0.41 0.09 0.20 1.17 3.05 55.61 29.94

0.52 0.15 2.66 2.57 2.66 3.55

5.09 0.11 101.85 0.35 2.64 2.19

Average

Appendix 2

LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM OIL - A GATE TO GATE CASE STUDY OF 12 PALM OIL MILLS

Boiler ash (t) Flue gas from stack particulate matter (kg) CO (kg) CO2 (kg) SOx (kg) NOx (kg)

Mill 0.02 0.15 0.05 43.47 0.001 0.08

0.07 0.02 13.74 0.0005 0.04

0.01

0.11 0.06 56.87 0.001 0.12

0.02

0.13 0.05 57.39 0.001 0.10

0.02

0.14 0.06 56.06 0.001 0.09

0.02

0.13 0.06 60.72 0.001 0.11

0.01

0.15 0.06 60.70 0.001 0.10

0.02

0.15 0.06 59.41 0.001 0.09

0.02

0.16 0.07 67.99 0.001 0.10

0.01

0.17 0.07 68.81 0.001 0.10

0.01

0.45 0.14 161.20 0.003 0.20

0.01

0.70 0.13 142.18 0.003 0.25

0.02

TABLE 3. LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY OF THE PRODUCTION OF 1 t OF CRUDE PALM OIL FOR 12 PALM OIL MILLS INCLUDING MEAN (continued)

0.23 0.08 79.13 0.001 0.13

0.02

Average

JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 20 (JUNE 2008)

494

Journal Journal ofofOil OilPalm PalmResearch ResearchVol. 22 (december 22 December 2010)2010 p. 878-886

Life Cycle Assessment of OIL PALM SEEDLING PRODUCTION (Part 1) Halimah Muhammad*; Zulkifli Hashim*; Vijaya Subramaniam*; Yew Ai Tan*; Puah Chiew Wei*; chong chiew let* and Choo Yuen May*

ABSTRACT The oil palm nursery is the first link in the palm oil supply chain where oil palm seedlings are produced for the cultivation of palms in plantations. One seedling is the defined functional unit. This article outlines the environmental impacts, identified using life cycle assessment (LCA), associated with the production of a single seedling, and the proposed mitigation measures. LCA is a cradle-to-gate study which starts at the pre-nursery stage, proceeding to the main nursery before subsequent transplantation of the seedlings in the plantation. An audit on electricity, diesel, fertilizers, pesticides, polybags and water consumption was carried out using data obtained from a questionnaire on the life cycle inventory of seedling production. The information obtained was then verified by follow-up site visits. The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) was carried out for a single seedling produced, using the SimaPro software version 7.1 and the Eco indicator 99 methodology. Polyvinylchloride (PVC) pipes were also included in the study. Ecotoxicity was found to be the major impact category followed by fossil fuel and respiratory inorganics.

Keywords: nursery, seedling, life cycle inventory, environmental input, life cycle impact assessment. Date received: 4 October 2010; Sent for revision: 6 October 2010; Received in final form: 18 October 2010; Accepted: 20 October 2010.

INTRODUCTION

final disposal (Birkved and Hauschild, 2006; Yusof and Hansen, 2007; Avraamides and Fatta, 2008). The oil palm nursery is the starting link in the palm oil supply chain. In 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, the average production of germinated oil palm seeds in Malaysia was 66.7, 65.2, 88.2 and 86.4 million, respectively (http://econ.mpob.gov.my). The productivity of an oil palm plantation depends on many factors, and the most important starting point is the quality of the oil palm seedlings derived from cross pollination of selected parent palms for use in planting. The production of high quality oil palm seedlings is very much dependent on good nursery management and practices. A nursery stage is required because palms require constant close attention during the first 10 to 12 months of their growth and development. A nursery will enable closer supervision over a smaller area, and will facilitate pest control and the culling of undesirable oil palm seedlings. There are two types of nursery practice â&#x20AC;&#x201C; singlestage and double-stage. The technique of raising

The life cycle inventory (LCI) is the most important resource-intensive phase when conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA is a process tool to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with a product, process or activity by identifying and quantifying energy and materials used as well as waste released into the environment. LCA subsequently evaluates opportunities to effect environmental improvements. A full LCA includes the entire life cycle of a product, process or activity; encompassing extraction and processing of raw materials, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, use, reuse, maintenance, recycling and

* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: halimah@mpob.gov.my

878

Life Cycle Assessment of OIL PALM SEEDLING PRODUCTION (Part 1)

FUNCTIONAL UNIT

seedlings in large polythene bags (polybags) before transplanting them to the field is known as a singlestage nursery system. However, currently most of the oil palm nurseries are practicing the doublestage nursery system. A double-stage nursery consists of a pre-nursery and a main nursery. In the pre-nursery, seeds are sown in small polybags in which the seedlings are maintained until they are approximately three to four months. These seedlings in the small polybags are kept under shade to protect them from direct sunlight. Later in the main nursery, the seedlings are transplanted into larger polybags and grown without protective shade until they are 10 to 12 months old and are ready for planting in the plantation (Corley and Tinker, 2003; Esnan et al., 2004). This practice ensures that welldeveloped seedlings with optimum vigour at the time of field planting can quickly establish in the field so that the field immature period is minimized and high early yields are obtained. For the pre-nursery stage, polybags of size 15 cm × 23 cm (6” × 9”) and of 250 gauge (0.0625 mm) thickness are used. Germinated seeds are planted in these polybags which are placed close to one another so that the young seedlings can be easily managed. This entails easier maintenance in comparison to seedlings in a single-stage nursery. The polybag size used in the main nursery is 30 cm × 38 cm (12” × 15”) or 38 cm × 45 cm (15” × 18”) with a thickness of 500 gauge (0.125 mm). These polybags are arranged at 0.9 m × 0.9 m × 0.9 m, or 0.75 m × 0.75 m × 0.75 m, measured centre to centre, to achieve an equal triangular spacing. All seedlings should get sufficient water of 0.5 litre per polybag per day in the pre-nursery, and 1.5-2.5 litre per polybag per day in the main nursery. Watering is normally done twice daily, before 11.00 am and after 4.00 pm (Anon., 2009).

The relevant functional unit of the system was used to provide the seedling with links to upstream plantation, midstream and downstream processing of food and non-foods products. Therefore, the appropriate functional unit for this LCA study of the nursery is a single oil palm seedling. ALLOCATION OF CO-PRODUCTS More often than not, a system will yield more than one product. In such cases, allocation must be made for input and output flows for each product. In oil palm seedling production, no allocation is required because the present system produces only one product, i.e. a seedling. SYSTEM BOUNDARY This LCA study has a cradle-to-gate system boundary, beginning with the transportation of the germinated seeds to the nursery and ending with the transportation of 12-month-old seedlings in big polybags to the plantation. The system boundary includes the production of pre-plantation inputs, i.e. the oil palm seedlings in the nursery. The boundary determines which unit processes should be included or excluded in an LCA study. In this study, all processes are considered relevant unless excluded based on the exclusion criteria shown in Table 1. Figure 1 shows the supply chain in oil palm seedling production. Items Excluded from the Study Buildings and machinery, road works, road lighting, workers and the production of top soil were not considered.

OBJECTIVES There are two main objectives to this LCA study and they are as follows:

METHODS Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)

• to identify the potential environment impacts associated with the production of seedlings from cradle-to-gate, and ultimately when linked to the plantation, mill, refinery and production of palm biodiesel in a later part of the study; and • to use this assessment for evaluating opportunities to mitigate the potential impacts.

Foreground data which describe the specific production sub-systems include the production of seedlings. These data for each unit process were collected directly from oil palm nurseries through the use of questionnaires. The input data for each unit process were validated by on-site visits, telephone conversations, on-site measurements, and communication via e-mail and fax.

The LCA study is outlined in different parts, namely, Parts 1-5. Specific to this article is the use of LCA to identify the stages in the oil palm nursery that could contribute to the environment load.

Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) The system boundary for LCIA starts from the germinated seed until the transportation of the 879

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010) TABLE 1. SYSTEM BOUNDARY DEFINITION CRITERIA

Excluded Insignificant Not directly Difficult to obtain environmental relevant to scope representative data impact and goal of study

Processing category

Included

Production of polyvinylchloride for pipes Production, maintenance and replacement of capital equipment Transportation of capital goods Production of agricultural inputs, e.g. polybags, fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides and fungicides



 -



 



 -



 -



Disposal of small polybags (15 cm × 23 cm) Transportation of polybags, fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides and fungicides Water supply Agricultural activities, e.g. application of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides and fungicides; use of polybags Transportation of germinated seeds to nursery Land occupation by nursery Transportation of seedlings to plantation Electricity generation Diesel for running water pump Production of top soil Partitioning of pesticides in different compartments Emissions from the application of pesticides

   -

used because it comprises a comprehensive set of impacts to meet the requirements of ISO for a range of impact categories.

seedling to the nursery. Modelling of environmental impact was carried out using the software SimaPro version 7.1. Background data for the inputs were sourced from inventory databases, notably the Ecoinvent database developed by the Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventory which is included in this software. The LCA methodology used was Ecoindicator 99. This methodology uses the damageoriented approach or end-point approach for impact assessment. Impact categories considered in this methodology include carcinogens, respiratory organics and inorganics, climate change, ionizing radiation, ozone layer depletion, ecotoxicity, acidification or eutrofication, land use, mineral and fossil fuels. The Eco-indicator set of impacts were

Co-product There is no co-product in the production of seedlings. Capital Goods In this study, capital goods such as machinery, e.g. the water pump for irrigation of the seedlings, had been excluded in the production of seedlings. However, the polyvinylchloride pipes used to 880

Life Cycle Assessment of OIL PALM SEEDLING PRODUCTION (Part 1) Irrigation equipment (pumps)

Irrigation equipment production

Water supply equipment production Water supply equipment (PVC pipes)

Mining of diesel/petrol

Fertilizer production

Palm seed germination

Removal of top soil from land

Germinated seeds

Diesel/petrol production

Fertilizer

Soil

Seedling cultivation

Diesel/petrol application

Fertilizer application

Seedling

Irrigation

Water

Seedling transplantation

Used polybags

Oil palm

Irrigation water supply

Waste at landfill

Oil palm cultivation

Fertilizer

Pesticide production

Pesticide

T Pesticide application

Bags at landfill

Pesticide

Land preparation

Figure 1. Flow chart for cultivation of oil palm seedlings.

transfer water for watering the seedlings were included in this study.

TABLE 2. AVERAGED life Cycle inventory (LCI) FOR THE PRODUCTION OF A SINGLE SEEDLING

Input

RESULTS

Electricity (kWhr) Diesel (litre) Polybag (kg) Water (litre)

Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Twenty-one oil palm nurseries licensed by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) were selected for collection of inventory data for the production of oil palm seedlings in nurseries. These oil palm nurseries, located in Peninsular Malaysia, practised the double-stage nursery system. Questionnaires were posted to the operators of the nurseries and one selection criterion, based on the average value of a 25-year economic life for one cycle of an oil palm tree (Corley and Tinker, 2003), was adopted. Inventory data were collected from the oil palm nurseries over a period of four years (from 2004 to 2007). Annual inventory data collected from the identified 21 nurseries over a four-year period were analyzed. One of the most time-consuming exercises is the LCI data collection, and this was carried out with the co-operation of nursery owners and stakeholders (Sime Darby Sdn Bhd, United Plantation Sdn Bhd, FELDA, etc.). Table 2 shows the averaged inputs for a single seedling based on

Fertilizers N (kg) P2O5 (kg) K2O (kg)

881

Amount 0.006 (0.22 MJ) 0.004 (0.15 MJ) 2.10E-03 1.5 5.10E-04 2.60E-04 2.10E-04

Pesticides Thiocarbamate (kg) Pyrethroid (kg) Organophosphate (kg) Dithiocarbamate (kg) Unspecified pesticide (kg) Urea/sulfonyl urea (kg) Glyphosate (kg) Transportation (tkm) Van (< 3.5 t) B250

1.12E-05 3.54E-06 2.00E-05 9.61E-05 1.35E-06 2.17E-05 8.90E-06 6.47E-09

Capital good Polyvinylchloride (kg) â&#x20AC;&#x192; for pipes

0.000713

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

data obtained from the 21 oil palm nurseries. Input energy such as electricity and fossil fuel, materials (polybags), plant nutrition (fertilizers) and plant protection chemicals (herbicides, fungicides and insecticides) were considered. Energy used for machinery to water the seedlings, transportation of germinated seeds to the nursery, transportation of the seedlings to the plantation, transportation of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and polybags from the port to the nursery were included in the inventory. Table 2 shows the transportation required for the production of an oil palm seedling. In the computation of the environmental burden for seedling production, all distances were considered as half of a round trip, and the delivery van (<3.5 t) loads were considered full load weights. Data on delivery van weights and distances were obtained through responses to the distributed questionnaires and also through dialogues with stakeholders. Electrical energy (electricity) from the national grid and fossil fuel (diesel) were used as power sources to run the pump for watering the seedlings in the oil palm nurseries. According to the inventory data, the amount of diesel and electricity needed to produce one seedling was 0.004 litre and 0.006 kWhr, respectively. The inventory data also revealed that the amount of polybags needed to produce one seedling was 2.10 × 10-03 kg. Most insecticides, herbicides and fungicides are only applied in oil palm nurseries during the time of specific pest attacks. From this LCA study, we found that the major infestation in the oil palm seedlings was by fungi. The commonly used fungicides in the oil palm nurseries were mancozeb, thiram, carbendazim, maneb and dithane (collectively classified under dithiocarbamates). The other pesticides used in order of frequency were sulfonylurea urea (herbicide) and organophosphates (insecticide). The total quantity of pesticides used was very low at 1.63 × 10-04 kg per seedling. For the production of one seedling, the nurseries used 9.8 × 10-04 kg of NPK fertilizers. Materials such as fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and polybags are transported to the nursery for the production of the single oil palm seedling. Transportation includes delivery of the germinated seeds to the nursery, of the seedlings to the plantation, and of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and polybags from the port in Malaysia to the nursery. The total amount was found to be 6.47 × 10-09 tkm. In general, the sum total of inputs needed to produce one seedling from the nursery was quite low. According to the data obtained through the distribution of questionnaires and confirmed by evidence collected during on-site visits, water, fertilizers and pesticides were required to produce

healthy oil palm seedlings. Among the pesticides used, dithiocarbamates were the most commonly used in the oil palm nursery. Fertilizers were manually applied. However, some nurseries used a drip system for supplying seedlings (less than four months old) with a pre-mixed fertilizer solution. Water for seedlings was mostly sourced from nearby rivers with catchment ponds. When rainfall was sufficient (enough to wet the soil in the polybag), watering was not carried out. Irrigation was by sprinklers powered by diesel pumps or electric pumps using electricity from the grid. Table 3 shows the data type and source in the nursery system for transportation and production of fertilizers, polybags, pesticides, seedlings and water. The table also shows where the input data were obtained, and whether they were from background or foreground data sources, and whether they were taken from the Ecoinvent database or from the Malaysian data base (SIRIM). Foreground data for each unit process were collected directly from the oil palm nurseries through the questionnaires. The input data for each unit process were validated by on-site visits, telephone conversations, on-site measurements, and communication via e-mail and fax. Foreground data included information on field electricity generation and diesel used to run pumps, and consumption of water for irrigation of the oil palm seedlings in the nursery. Direct pesticide application, oil palm seedling cultivation and transportation were considered foreground data. Transportation of raw materials such as fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and polybags to nurseries were also included in the nursery stage as foreground data. Background data which included information on generic materials were collected from published sources or proxies, i.e. the same operation but in another country. Some of the data were obtained from literature and public databases, or calculated using published models. Generally, data on the production of raw materials such as fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides and fungicides for the inputs were obtained from the Ecoinvent database, while data on the application of the raw materials were obtained from the questionnaires. However, electricity and polybag production were from Malaysian-based (SIRIM) data. It is to be noted that some inflows and outflows were not included in this system boundary because of difficulty in quantification, and these have been shown in Table 1. The LCI data for the nursery were reviewed by the LCA Technical Working Group, the LCA Technical Committee and the National Committee on LCA Studies for the Oil Palm Industry which comprises representatives of the stakeholders, SIRIM Berhad and the MPOB LCA team. These review meetings checked the quality of the 882

Fertilizer production N, P2O5 and K2O

883 Physical

Chemical processing

Physical

Pesticides stored at nursery

Acquisition of raw materials Collection of herbicides from port in Malaysia to nursery

Application of insecticides thiocarbamate, pyrethroid and organophosphate (including preparations for application at the recommended dosage)

Herbicide production; unspecified herbicide (glufosinate ammonium, urea/sulfonylurea and glyphosate)

Transportation of herbicides; unspecified herbicide (glufosinate ammonium, urea/ sulfonylurea and glyphosate) to nurseries (includes intermediate storage and retailing)

Physical

Acquisition of raw materials Collection of pesticides from port in Malaysia to nursery

Chemical processing

Physical

Chemical processing

Physical

Energy conversion

Nature of transmission

Production of insecticides thiocarbamate, pyrethroid and organophosphate Transportation of insecticides thiocarbamate, pyrethroid and organophosphate to nurseries (include intermediate storage and retailing)

Application of fertilizers N, P2O5 and K2O (includes incorporation into soil at the recommended dosage)

Fertilizers stored at nursery

Acquisition of raw materials Collection of fertilizers from port in Malaysia to nursery

Irrigation

Transportation of fertilizers N, P2O5 and K2O to nurseries (includes intermediate storage and retailing)

Water at nursery

Irrigation water supply

Process starts Mining and extraction of fossil fuels Water from surface water

Electricity production

Unit process

TABLE 3. DATA SOURCE FOR NURSERY SYSTEM

B/Malaysian data from SIRIM B/site specific data

Data type (B/F*)/ Data source

Delivery of herbicides to nursery gate

Herbicides at the production unit gate

Pesticides applied to seedlings

Pesticides at the production unit gate Delivery of pesticides to nursery

Fertilizers into soil

F/site specific data

B/Ecoinvent database

F/site specific data

B/Ecoinvent database

F/site specific data

Water applied to F/site specific data germinated seeds/seedlings Fertilizers at the B/Ecoinvent database production unit gate Delivery of fertilizers to F/site specific data nursery

Distribution to the grid at the point of use Water at nursery

Process ends

Life Cycle Assessment of OIL PALM SEEDLING PRODUCTION (Part 1)

884

Acquisition of raw materials Collection of polybags from port in Malaysia to nursery Polybags stored at nursery Polybags stored at nursery Acquisition from land Physical Collection of top soil from estate or contractor to nursery Acquisition of oil palm germinated seeds

Polybag production

Transportation of polybags to nurseries (includes intermediate storage and retailing)

Use of polybags

Transportation of top soil to nurseries (includes intermediate storage and retailing)

Oil palm seedling cultivation

Note: *B/F = background/foreground.

Top soil supply

Fungicides stored at nursery

Application of fungicides (dithiocarbamate) (including preparations for application at the recommended dosage)

Biological

Physical

Chemical processing

Physical

F/site specific data

B/Ecoinvent database

F/site specific data

Data type (B/F*)/ Data source

F/site specific data

B/literature (Turner and Gillbanks, 2003)

F/site specific data

10- to 12-month-old oil F/site specific data palm seedlings for planting in plantations

Delivery of top soil to nursery gate

Soil for seedling cultivation

Polybags used at nursery

Delivery of polybags to nursery gate

Polybags at the production B/SIRIM database unit gate

Fungicides applied to soil

Delivery of fungicides to nursery gate

Physical

Collection of fungicides from port in Malaysia to nursery

Transportation of fungicides; (dithiocarbamate) to nurseries (includes intermediate storage and retailing)

Fungicides at the production unit gate

Herbicides applied to soil

Process ends

Chemical processing

Acquisition of raw materials

Fungicides production: dithiocarbamate

Physical

Nature of transmission

Herbicides stored at nursery

Process starts

Application of herbicides; unspecified herbicide (glufosinate ammonium, urea/sulfonylurea and glyphosate) (including preparations for application at the recommended dosage)

Unit process

TABLE 3. DATA SOURCE FOR NURSERY SYSTEM (continued)

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

Life Cycle Assessment of OIL PALM SEEDLING PRODUCTION (Part 1)

data before the subsequent phases of LCIA and improvement analysis.

Therefore, the use of bio-pesticides may have the potential to reduce this impact and should be further assessed as an alternative. The other hot spot in the production of seedlings was the use of diesel for irrigating the seedlings, and this is reflected in the impact from fossil fuel and respiratory inorganics.

Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)

mPt

Figures 2 and 3 show the weighted and characterized results of LCIA for the production of a single seedling. Ecotoxicity was found to be the major impact category, followed by fossil fuel and respiratory inorganics. The ecotoxicity impact was mainly due to emissions from pesticides used for the control of fungi, insects and weeds infesting oil palm seedlings at the nursery stage.

CONCLUSION In general, the production of seedlings in the nursery has an insignificant impact on the

40 38 36 34 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Carcinogens Resp. organic Resp. inorganic

Climate change

Radiation

Ozone layer

Nursery with pesticide emissions Diesel, at refinery/RER U Fertilizer (N) Fertilizer (K2O) Polyethlene, LDPE, granulate, at plant/RER U Pesticide unspecified, at regional storehouse/CH U Pyrethroid-compounds, at regional storehouse/CH U Glyphosate, at regional storehouse/CH U river water

Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ eutrophication

Land use

Minerals

Fossil fuels

germinated seed Electricity Malaysia Fertilizer (P205) Delivery van (<3.5 t) B250 Organophosphorus-compounds, at regional storehouse/CH U [thio]carbamate-compounds, at regional storehouse/CH U [sulfonyl]urea-compounds, at regional storehouse/CH U Dithiocarbamate-compounds, at regional storehouse/CH U Polyvinylchloride, at regional storage/RER U

Analyzing 1 p Nursery with Pesticide Emissions; Method: Eco-indicator 99 (H) V2.03 / Europe EI 99 H/A/weighting.

Figure 2. Weighted results in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) for the production of a single seedling. 120 110 100 90 80

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Carcinogens

Resp. organic Resp. inorganic

Climate Radiation Ozone layer change Nursery with pesticide emissions Diesel, at refinery/RER U Fertilizer (N) Fertilizer (K2O) Polyethlene, LDPE, granulate, at plant/RER U Pesticide unspecified, at regional storehouse/CH U Pyrethroid-compounds, at regional storehouse/CH U Glyphosate, at regional storehouse/CH U River water

Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ Land use Fossil fuels Minerals eutrophication germinated seed Electricity Malaysia Fertilizer (P205) Delivery van (<3.5 t) B250 Organophosphorus-compounds, at regional storehouse/CH U [thio]carbamate-compounds, at regional storehouse/CH U [sulfonyl]urea-compounds, at regional storehouse/CH U Dithiocarbamate-compounds, at regional storehouse/CH U Polyvinylchloride, at regional storage/RER U

Analyzing 1 p Nursery with Pesticide Emissions; Method: Eco-indicator 99 (H) V2.03 / Europe EI 99 H/A/characterization.

Figure 3. Characterized results in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) for the production of a single seedling. 885

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

environment. It is to be noted that land occupation by the nursery has been not been modelled into this LCA study.

BIRVED, M and HAUSCHILD, M (2006). PestLCI – a model for estimating field emissions of pesticides in agricultural LCA. Ecological Modelling, 198(3-4): 433-451.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

CORLEY, R H V and TINKER, B (2003). The Oil Palm. Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford. 562 pp.

The authors would like to thank the DirectorGeneral of MPOB for permission to publish this article. They greatly acknowledge the co-operation from the nurseries in providing raw data to conduct the LCI. The authors would also like to thank Rosilawati Yusof and Rosliza Razak for helping in the collection and verification of LCI data.

ESNAN, A G; ZIN, Z Z and MOHD BASRI, W (2004). Perusahaan Sawit di Malaysia – Satu Panduan. Edisi Melinium. MPOB, Bangi. p. 63-90. TURNER, P D and GILL BANKS, R A (2003). Oil Palm Cultivation and Management. Second edition. The Incorporated Society of Planters, Kuala Lumpur. p. 173-254.

REFERENCES

YUSOF, S and HANSEN, S B (2007). Feasibility study of performing a life cycle assessment on crude palm oil production in Malaysia. International J., LCA 12(1): 50-58.

ANON. (1999). A Proposal: Nursery Project for High Yielding Oil Palm. Compiled by CKM Consult (001197695-V) for RMF Ithbat Sdn Bhd, November 1999. p. 1-5.

http://econ.mpob.gov.my/economy/EID_web. htm, Seed: monthly demand of germinated seeds: 2006 & 2007, 2008 & 2009 (No. of seeds). Accessed on 20 September 2010.

AVRAAMIDES, M and FATTA, D (2008). Resource consumption and emissions from olive oil production: a life cycle inventory case study in Cyprus. J. Cleaner Production, 16: 809-821.

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LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR THE PRODUCTION AND USE OF PALM BIODIESEL (part 5) Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 22 December 2010 p. 927-933

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR THE PRODUCTION AND USE OF PALM BIODIESEL (part 5) PUAH CHIEW WEI*; CHOO YUEN MAY* and MA AH NGAN**

ABSTRACT In Malaysia, the major consumers of energy are the industrial and transport sectors. The demand is expected to increase steadily in tandem with the growth of the economy. As such, alternative sources of energy need to be developed, in particular energy from renewable sources, to meet the energy requirements. Fatty acid methyl esters, commonly known as biodiesel, derived from oils and fats have long been known as a potential diesel substitute. Biodiesel is suitable to be used neat or blended with petroleum diesel in any proportion in an unmodified diesel engine. However, the many concerns related to the emissions from the production and use of biodiesel have been discussed globally. Thus, this life cycle assessment study was conducted to investigate the environmental impacts from the production and use of palm biodiesel produced using MPOBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s production technology. The results show that the environmental impact from the production of palm biodiesel is related to the use of methanol, while the use of palm biodiesel contributes to the impact categories of respiratory inorganics and acidification/eutrophication. In spite of these, the production and use of palm biodiesel is more environmental-friendly as compared to petroleum diesel.

Keywords: biodiesel, environment, palm oil, sustainability. Date received: 4 October 2010; Sent for revision: 14 October 2010; Received in final form: 18 October 2010; Accepted: 20 October 2010.

INTRODUCTION

to produce biodiesel. However, commercially available biodiesel is mainly produced through the transesterification process using methanol in the presence of sodium hydroxide. In addition, this is the most economical approach as it requires only a low operating temperature and pressure, yields are high (>98% direct conversion to methyl ester) and achieved in a short reaction time. According to Freedman et al. (1984), the main advantage of an alkaline catalyst over an acid catalyst is the high conversion under mild conditions in a short reaction time. However, acid catalysts are suitable for esterification, especially for feedstocks with high fatty acids content. The alternative approach is esterification of fatty acids and alcohols in the presence of a solid acid catalyst (Choo and Goh, 1987; Choo and Ong, 1989). Esterification can also be carried out continuously in a counter-current reaction column using superheated methanol (Kreutzer, 1984).

The increase in energy demand worldwide and diminishing fossil fuel reserves have driven the development of sustainable alternative energy sources to progress at a faster pace to ensure energy security in every part of the world. To date, the most widely used renewable energy for transport is the first generation biofuel, namely biodiesel. Biodiesel is alkyl esters derived from vegetable oils and animal fats. Many pathways are available

* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: cwpuah@mpob.gov.my ** 39 Jalan 3, Taman Bukit Cantik, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.

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Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

Biodiesel can also be produced using supercritical methanol without any catalyst (Saka et al., 1986). In addition, methanol is not the only alcohol that can be used to produce biodiesel. Thus, methyl ester is not the only ester that can be considered as biodiesel. Other alcohols, such as ethanol, butanol and propanol, can also be used. For the transesterification process, sodium hydroxide is also not the only catalyst that can be used. Other usable base catalysts include sodium methoxide and potassium hydroxide. Lipases are also potential substitutes as the catalyst. Research and development of palm biodiesel in Malaysia has been carried out since the early 1980s. The key purpose in the development of palm biodiesel then was to provide a safety net to enhance and stabilize palm oil price in the country in times of over-supply of the commodity. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has developed a patented technology for the production of palm biodiesel (Choo et al., 1992). The process involves mild reaction conditions of transesterification to convert palm oil into palm biodiesel by methanol in the presence of a base catalyst. The palm biodiesel produced has been extensively evaluated through engine testing and exhaustive field trials with positive results, showing that palm biodiesel is a suitable diesel substitute (Choo et al., 1995). MPOB’s biodiesel production technology has been commercialized with plants operating in Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand. The biodiesel produced also meets the international specifications for biodiesel, such as the EN 14214 and ASTM D6751. Today, the drivers for biodiesel development, besides enhancing commodity prices, are the provision of energy security, the mitigation of global warming and climate change. However, the many concerns related to emissions from the production and use of biodiesel have been debated by environmentalists worldwide. In some reports, biodiesel is described as creating more problems instead of solving the existing environment problems. In view of this development, this article discusses a life cycle assessment (LCA) study conducted by MPOB to provide a quantifiable measure to evaluate the environmental impacts from the production and use of palm biodiesel in Malaysia.

Raw materials

Energy

Auxiliary materials

Transesterification

Wastewater

Palm biodiesel

Glycerol

Utilization in diesel engines vehicles

Air emissions

Figure 1. System boundary for the production and use of palm biodiesel. wastewater. Subsequently, palm biodiesel is transported and used for combustion in diesel engine vehicles. The exhaust emissions due to the use of palm biodiesel in diesel engine vehicles were also taken into consideration for this study. Functional Unit The functional unit for this study was the production and use of 1 MJ palm biodiesel in diesel engine vehicles. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Life Cycle Inventory Commercially, the most commonly used feedstock for the biodiesel production is refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm oil. The results of the cradle-to-gate study of LCA, i.e. from the nursery to the production of RBD palm oil have been discussed in the Parts 1 to 4 articles. Figure 2 shows the detailed process flow chart for the production of palm biodiesel. The inventory data for the production of palm biodiesel were obtained from two biodiesel plants using MPOB’s biodiesel production technology through questionnaires. Subsequently, validation and verification were carried out involving stakeholders from the biodiesel industry, and in consultation with representatives from the Malaysian Biodiesel Association. However, the processing technology is being continuously optimized and improved.

METHODOLOGY System Boundary Figure 1 shows the system boundary of LCA for the production and use of palm biodiesel. The production energy, raw materials and auxiliary materials were included as the inputs while the outputs included the products, by-product and 928

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR THE PRODUCTION AND USE OF PALM BIODIESEL (part 5)

Figure 2. Process flow chart for the production of palm biodiesel.

In addition, LCA is a site-specific assessment. As such, inputs and waste materials may vary from plant to plant, even if they were using the same production technology. In order to calculate the inventory data based on the functional unit, the energy values used are shown in Table 1. Thus, life cycle inventory (LCI) for this study was based on the functional unit as shown in Table 2. LCI obtained has been carefully evaluated to ensure the reliability of LCA of the present study.

TABLE 2. LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY BASED ON FUNCTIONAL UNIT OF USE OF 1 MJ PALM BIODIESEL

TABLE 1. ENERGY VALUE (MJ kg-1) FOR SELECTED INVENTORY

Material Palm oil Methanol Palm biodiesel

Energy value (MJ kg-1) 39.0 19.7 40.3

929

Inputs and outputs

Unit

Amount

Raw materials RBD palm oil Methanol Sodium hydroxide Hydrochloric acid

MJ MJbiodiesel-1 MJ MJbiodiesel-1 kg MJbiodiesel-1 kg MJbiodiesel-1

1.006 0.055 0.0001 0.0004

Utilities Electricity Water Steam Instrument air

MJ MJbiodiesel-1 kg MJbiodiesel-1 MJ MJbiodiesel-1 kg MJbiodiesel-1

0.0022 0.009 0.0144 0.00008

Products Biodiesel Glycerol Wastewater

MJbiodiesel-1 kg MJbiodiesel-1 kg MJbiodiesel-1

1.00 0.0030 0.009

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

Assumptions

study. Excess methanol is recycled and reused in the process, and therefore methanol recovery and intermediate tanks are more important to be taken into account. In addition, the catalyst used is in the range of 2 to 5 kg for every tonne of palm biodiesel produced; thus, transportation of the catalyst was also not taken into consideration.

There are limitations and assumptions used in the present study because palm biodiesel has yet to be used commercially as a diesel substitute in this country; thus, some data on infrastructure and facilities are not available for the use of biodiesel. Co-product allocation. The transesterification process produces biodiesel and glycerol as the co-product (Figure 2). Thus, glycerol which is produced in its crude form is not treated to higher purity. In addition, glycerol with different degrees of purity has different applications, especially in the oleochemicals industry. As such, mass allocation was carried out to distribute the environmental impact due to glycerol as it is not a waste material. Biodiesel and glycerol were allocated based on mass at a ratio of 89.3: 10.7.

Capital goods. The determination of capital goods was conducted by taking into account the total materials used to construct a 60 000 t biodiesel plant using MPOB’s biodiesel production technology. These comprise mainly stainless steel for vessels and tanks, pumps and agitators as well as pipes. Replacement factors based on annual replacement requirements were used to indicate the need to replace the equipment based on their shelf-lives. Table 3 shows a breakdown of the materials with their corresponding replacement factor. All vessels and tanks for the production of palm biodiesel at the processing plant were taken into consideration. A replacement factor of 10% was assigned to these, taking into consideration major vessels and tanks which are constructed with stainless steel are expected to last for more than 10 years. A replacement factor of 5% was allocated to all pumps and agitators, taking into account the higher wear and tear that is expected to occur with these equipment. The assumption was made that the main material to assemble these pumps and agitators is stainless steel. In addition, the total amount of stainless steel used in pumps and agitators is relatively low as compared to vessels and tanks. It was estimated that pumps and agitators made up 20% of the total amount of steel required for vessels and tanks. However, the construction materials are for a plant producing 60 000 t of biodiesel per year, and the contribution due to capital goods was expected to be insignificant when it was translated into the functional unit of the present study. Thus, the materials for the construction of the factory building were not included. They were expected to be insignificant, taking into account that the structure will last for at least 20 years.

Wastewater. In the biodiesel production process, water is mainly used for washing purposes. The wastewater generated is treated and recycled to be reused in the process. In general, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) is in the range of 15 000 to 30 000 mg litre-1 while the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is in the range of 10 000 to 20 000 mg litre-1. The discharged BOD and COD are 50 mg litre-1 and 100 mg litre-1, respectively. In addition, the wastewater generated in the production of 1 MJ of palm biodiesel is 0.009 kg (Table 2). The amount is relatively small as compared to other stages of biodiesel production. Transportation. Currently, palm biodiesel is not used in the domestic market but is mainly for export purposes. As such, there is no inventory data available on the transportation of palm biodiesel from the factory to the distribution terminal, and subsequently to the diesel kiosk to be used in diesel engine vehicles. In the present study, the transportation of RBD palm oil to the biodiesel factory was assumed to be negligible. Energy for the transportation of methanol and the catalyst was also considered to be low and was not taken into consideration in the present

Exhaust emission. The first exhaustive field trial on the use of palm biodiesel in diesel engine vehicles was conducted by MPOB from 1986 to 1989. A wide range of diesel engines such as stationary engines, passenger cars, lorries, tractors, taxis and vans in Malaysia was included in the study. Subsequently, palm biodiesel was evaluated in bench endurance tests by Mercedes Benz AG, Germany. This exhaustive and comprehensive field trial involved 30 buses covering more than 10 million kilometres in total (each travelling more than 300 000 km, the life time of the engine as recommended by the engine manufacturer). Results have shown that the exhaust emissions of

TABLE 3. MATERIALS BREAKDOWN OF BIODIESEL PLANT

Replacement Amount factor

Item

Unit

Vessels and tanks Pumps and agitators Pipes

tonne

10%

56.5

tonne

12.3

tonne

16.7 930

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR THE PRODUCTION AND USE OF PALM BIODIESEL (part 5) TABLE 4.â&#x20AC;&#x201A; TAILPIPE EMISSIONS (per km) FOR ULTRA LOW SULPHUR DIESEL (ULSD) BIODIESEL BLENDS USING PALM OIL

Impact category Carbon dioxide Methane Nitrous oxide Carbon monoxide Nitrogen oxides Non-methanic hydrocarbon Particulate matters (PM 10)

Tailpipe emission (g km-1) ULSD

BD2

BD5

BD10

BD20

BD100

692 0.01 0.016

679 0.01 0.016

659 0.01 0.016

626 0.01 0.016

560 0.01 0.016

0 0.01 0.015

2.81 8.68 0.72 283

2.78 8.71 0.71 278

2.75 8.76 0.71 271

2.69 8.84 0.71 260

2.57 8.99 0.71 238

1.79 10.33 0.71 119

the engines were cleaner with less hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide (Choo et al., 2005). Table 4 shows the tailpipe emissions (per km) for the use of ultra low sulphur diesel (ULSD) as compared to palm biodiesel blends (Beer et al., 2007). It is shown that the use of palm biodiesel contributes to lower emissions of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter. However, the use of biodiesel increases the emissions of NOx, while there are similar emissions of methane, nitrous oxide and non-methanic hydrocarbon as from ULSD.

namely fossil fuels and respiratory inorganics. Impact on fossil fuels was due to the use of nonrenewable sources of materials, including methanol which is produced from natural gas and fuel oil for the boiler to generate steam. Impact on respiratory inorganics is associated with emissions to the atmosphere, and therefore was due to emission from the boiler. The use of palm biodiesel contributed to respiratory inorganics and acidification/ eutrophication as both impact categories are related to emissions to atmosphere. Based on the latest findings reported by Beer et al. (2007), the use of 100% palm biodiesel contributes to greater reductions in emissions of total carbon dioxide, particulate matter and carbon monoxide (100%, 58% and 36%, respectively) (Table 4). The effects of acidification/eutrophication were due to a higher emission of NOx from the use of biodiesel. The presence of the oxygen component in biodiesel increases the formation of NOx. Currently, the use of B5 which is a blend of 5% biodiesel with 95% petroleum diesel is being implemented in the country. Thus, the emission from NOx is similar to that of petroleum diesel (Table 4). In this context, the adverse effects of acidification/eutrophication were not significant due to the use of 5% blends of palm biodiesel. More importantly, the results show that the production and use of palm biodiesel did not contribute significantly towards the impact category on climate change (Figure 3). The impact on climate change as contributed by RBD palm oil has been discussed in the Parts 1 to 4 articles. The impact category on climate change was also reduced with palm oil mills installed with biogas capture facilities. Figure 4 shows the weighted LCIA results for continued land use for oil palm plantations with biogas capture at palm oil mills. For biodiesel production, the environmental impacts associated with the production of capital equipment had been included and found to be

Life Cycle Impact Assessment The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) was carried out using the SimaPro software, version 7.1 with the methodology Eco-indicator 99. The foreground biodiesel production data based on MPOBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s production technology were obtained directly from the commercial biodiesel plants while the foreground capital goods data were obtained directly from the biodiesel technology provider. However, the background data were obtained from the Ecoinvent database under SimaPro. These included the production of capital equipment and various chemicals used in the transesterification process. LCIA for the use of 1 MJ of palm biodiesel in diesel engine vehicles was presented in this study based on two case studies: continued land use for oil palm plantations with biogas emission at palm oil mills, and continued land use for oil palm plantations with biogas capture at palm oil mills. LCIA that was conducted incorporated results from the nursery to the refinery as are presented in the Parts 1 to 4 articles. Figure 3 shows the weighted LCIA results for continued land use for oil palm plantations with biogas emission at palm oil mills. The processing step for the conversion of RBD palm oil to palm biodiesel contributed to two impact categories, 931

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

28 26 24 22 20 18 Pt

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Carcinogens

Resp. Resp. Climate Radiation organics inorganics change Biodiesel – revised oil palm and emission (Oct 2010) Methanol, at plant/GLO U (biodiesel) NaOH ETH U Electricity Malaysia

Ozone layer

Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ Land use Minerals Fossil fuels eutrophication Water, completely softened, at plant/RER U RPO Sept 2010 (OP to OP, without biogas capture, with capital) reviewer X5CrNI18 (304) Steam on Site A

Figure 3. Weighted life cycle impact assessment of cradle to grave for production and use of palm biodiesel based on continued land use for oil palm plantations with biogas emission at palm oil mills.

28 26 24 22 20 18 mPt

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Carcinogens

Resp. Resp. Climate Radiation organics inorganics change Biodiesel – revised oil palm and emission (Oct 2010) Methanol, at plant/GLO U (biodiesel) NaOH ETH U Electricity Malaysia

Ozone layer

Ecotoxicity

Figure 4. Weighted life cycle impact assessment of cradle to grave for production and use of palm biodiesel based on continued land use for oil palm plantations with biogas capture at palm oil mills.

lower emissions as compared to petroleum diesel. The greater reductions in emissions shown in a more recent study are mainly due to the advancement in technological development in diesel engine manufacture. Based on the LCIA results, it was found that the production of palm biodiesel using MPOB’s technology does not contribute significantly towards to overall life cycle while the use of palm biodiesel is more environmental-friendly as compared to petroleum diesel in terms of emissions.

insignificant. However, the impact due to the construction of the factory building was excluded based on results from earlier studies which indicate that their contribution is small. In addition, land occupation by the biodiesel factory have been excluded in this study. The use phase of biodiesel was the major contributor towards the impact on respiratory inorganics and acidification/eutrophication. The exhaust emissions based on published data show that the use of palm biodiesel contributes towards

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LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR THE PRODUCTION AND USE OF PALM BIODIESEL (part 5)

CONCLUSION

CHOO, Y M; MA, A N and YUSOF, B (1995). Production and evaluation of palm oil methyl esters as diesel substitute, Elaeis Special Issue: 5-25.

LCIA of this study shows that the environmental impact from the production of palm biodiesel is related to the use of methanol, while the use of palm biodiesel contributes to the impact categories of respiratory inorganics and acidification/ eutrophication. In spite of these, the production and use of palm biodiesel is more environmentalfriendly as compared to petroleum diesel.

CHOO, Y M; ONG, S H; CHEAH, K Y and ABU BAKAR, S N (1992). Production of alkyl esters from oils and fats. Australian patent No. AU 626014.

REFERENCES

CHOO, Y M; MA, A N; CHEAH, K Y; RUSNANI, A M; YAP, A K C; LAU, H L N; CHENG, S F; YUNG, C L; PUAH, C W; NG, M H and YUSOF, B (2005). Palm diesel: green and renewable fuel from palm oil. Palm Oil Developments No. 42: 3-7.

BEER, T; GRANT, T and CAMPBELL, P K (2007). The greenhouse and air quality emissions of biodiesel blends in Australia. Report for Caltex Australia Limited. Report number KS54C/1/F2.29.

FREEDMAN, B; PRYDE, E H and MOUNTS, T L (1984). Variables affecting the yields of fatty esters from transesterified vegetable oil. J. Amer. Oil Chem Soc., Vol. 61 No. 10: 1638-1643.

CHOO, Y M and GOH, S H (1987). Esterification of carboxylic acids/glyceride mixtures. United Kingdom patent No. GB 2148897.

KREUTZER, U R (1984). Manufacture of fatty alcohol-based on natural fats and oils. J. Amer. Oil Chem. Soc., Vol. 61 No. 2: 343-348.

CHOO, Y M and ONG, S H (1989). Carboxylic acid esterification. United Kingdom patent No. GB 2161809.

SAKA, S; DADAN, K and EIJI, M (2006). Noncatalytic biodiesel fuel production with supercritical methanol technologies. J. Sci. Ind. Res, 65: 420-425.

CHOO, Y M and ONG, S H (1987). Transesterification of fats and oils. United Kingdom patent No. GB 2188057 A.

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Journal Journal ofofOil OilPalm PalmResearch ResearchVol. 22 (december 22 December 2010)2010 p. 904-912

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM KERNEL OIL (part 3a) VIJAYA SUBRAMANIAM*; CHOO YUEN MAY*; HALIMAH MUHAMMAD*; ZULKIFLI HASHIM*; YEW AI TAN* and PUAH CHIEW WEI* ABSTRACT The present reality is that we have to deal with environmental deterioration. Mitigation using the life cycle assessment (LCA) concept must be viewed as an investment for our future generations, if not for ourselves, because efforts in mitigation of environmental degradation will translate into a concerted effort to combat the many environmental impacts resulting from mismanagement of natural resources and energy. The oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) are a unique crop product. Two types of oil can be obtained from this raw material. Crude palm oil (CPO) is obtained from the mesocarp while palm kernel oil is obtained from the kernel within the nut. CPO is processed at palm oil mills, and the kernels which are removed from the cracked nuts is a by-product at the palm oil mills as has been discussed in the Part 3 article. These kernels are then transported by trucks to kernel-crushing plants that process the kernels into crude palm kernel oil (CPKO). The objective of this study is to identify the potential environmental impacts associated with the production of CPKO, and to evaluate opportunities to overcome the potential impacts. This study has a cradle-to-gate system boundary. This resulting article is part of LCA of the whole palm oil supply chain which is linked to the upstream LCA for nursery (Part 1), plantation (Part 2) and palm oil mill (Part 3). The article examines the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of the production of 1 t of CPKO at the kernel-crushing plant. For this study, six kernelcrushing plants were chosen for their locations which were well-distributed all over Peninsular Malaysia. Five kernel-crushing plants were located near the ports, while the remaining plant was located right beside a palm oil mill. This selection strategy was carried out to examine the different scenarios that exist in Malaysia, and also to ensure that they were representative of the scenarios of all kernel-crushing plants in Malaysia. Inventory data collection consisted of inputs and outputs of materials and energy. LCIA was carried out using the Simapro software version 7.1, and the Eco-indicator 99 methodology was selected. Based on the results, the main impacts from upstream activities were from fertilizer production and application, and biogas emissions. The impacts directly associated with the production of CPKO were mainly from the transportation of palm kernels from the palm oil mills to the kernel-crushing plants and from the electricity consumption from the grid for the processing of the CPKO. The best scenario for the production of CPKO with the least environmental impact was when the kernel-crushing plant was integrated with a palm oil mill which captured the biogas. Keywords: life cycle assessment, life cycle impact assessment, kernel-crushing plant, palm kernel oil, palm kernel. Date received: 6 October 2010; Sent for revision: 10 October 2010; Received in final form: 22 October 2010; Accepted: 25 October 2010.

* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: vijaya@mpob.gov.my

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LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM KERNEL OIL (part 3a)

INTRODUCTION

As described in the Part 3 article on LCA of the production of CPO, palm kernels which are a by-product of the production of CPO are stored at the palm oil mill to be transported to the kernelcrushing plants. The palm kernels are transported to the kernel-crushing plants using 16-t trucks. The trucks deliver the palm kernels to the loading ramp at the kernel-crushing plant. The flow chart of the kernel-crushing process is shown in Figure 2. The palm kernels are cleaned and then processed. CPKO is obtained by a simple mechanical pressing method using a continuous screw press, commonly known as an expeller. The expeller consists basically of a perforated cylindrical cage in which runs a worm or screw. The discharge end of the cage is fitted with an adjustable cone which restricts the discharge opening of the cage. The rotation of the worm transports the meal towards the outlet end of the perforated cage, and the outlet is restricted by the cone. This results in pressure building up in the cage, thus causing the oil to be squeezed out of the meal. The internal pressure in the cage is regulated by adjustments to the outlet cone. The extracted oil flows through the perforations in the cage, whilst the solid matter or cake is discharged from the opening around the cone. When efficiently operated, the residual oil in the palm kernel cake is between 5% and 6% (Ma, 1994). All kernel-crushing plants in Malaysia use this double-press mechanical pressing method except for one crushing plant located in Pasir Gudang that uses the chemical extraction method. This study focused on the plants that use mechanical pressing only.

The present reality is that we have to deal with environmental deterioration. Mitigation using the LCA concept must be viewed as an investment for our future generations, if not for ourselves, because efforts in mitigation of environmental degradation will translate into a concerted effort to combat the many environmental impacts resulting from mismanagement of natural resources and energy. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool to evaluate the environmental impacts of a product or process throughout its entire life cycle (SETAC, 1993). LCA has become a common environmental management tool and a good analytical method for assessing and optimizing the environmental quality of a system over its whole life cycle (Stalmans et al., 1995). Palm kernel oil exports increased by 6.7% from 2008 to 1.12 million tonnes in 2009. USA was the major export market for palm kernel oil at 0.23 million tonnes, followed by China, P R at 0.19 million tonnes, the European Union (EU) at 0.10 million tonnes and Japan at 0.08 million tonnes. Exports of palm kernel cake increased by 5.2% from 2008 to 2.38 million tonnes. The major palm kernel cake export markets were the EU at 1.37 million tonnes, South Korea at 0.35 million tonnes and New Zealand at 0.32 million tonnes (Basri, 2010). The oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) are a unique crop product. Two types of oil can be obtained from this raw material. The palm fruit is drupe, oval in shape, and contains a kernel which is the seed (nut). The kernel is surrounded by the fruit wall made up of a hard shell (endocarp), fibrous fruit pulp or oil-bearing tissue (mesocarp) and the skin as shown in Figure 1 (Hamdan et al., 2000). Within the nut is the kernel. As shown in the crosssection of the oil palm fruitlet in Figure 1, crude palm oil (CPO) is obtained from the mesocarp while crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) is obtained from the kernel within the nut. CPO is processed at the palm oil mills and the kernels that are removed from the cracked nuts is a by-product at the palm oil mills.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS The objectives or goals of this study were to: â&#x20AC;˘ identify the potential environmental impacts associated with the production of CPKO; and â&#x20AC;˘ to use this assessment for evaluating opportunities to overcome the potential impacts.

SCOPE/SYSTEM BOUNDARY The LCI data presented in this article have a gate-togate system boundary (Tables 3 and 4). The starting point is at the palm oil mills where the palm kernels are collected and transported to the kernel-crushing plants, and the end point is the production of CPKO at the kernel-crushing plants. LCIA is carried out for a cradle-to-gate system boundary as shown in Figure 3 which includes LCI from Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 articles. This article is linked to LCA of

Figure 1. Cross-section of an oil palm fruitlet. 905

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

Palm oil mill

Collection of PK from the mill

System boundary

Transportation of PK to kernelcrushing plant

Diesel Legend: CPKO: crude palm kernel oil PK: palm kernel

PK Loading ramp for palm kernels at kernel-crushing plant

Electricity from grid Cleaning

CPKO Screw pressing 1st pressing

Screw pressing 2nd pressing

Filter press

Coarse screen filter

Palm kernel cake or palm kernel meal

Figure 2. Flow chart for processing of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO).

Figure 3. System boundary of life cycle inventory (LCI) for crude palm kernel oil (CPKO). 906

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM KERNEL OIL (part 3a)

oil palm seedling production (Part 1), LCA of FFB production (Part 2) and LCA of CPO production (Part 3). The functional unit for this study is 1 t of CPKO produced at the kernel-crushing plant.

was done to examine the different scenarios that exist in Malaysia and also to ensure that they were representative of the various scenarios of kernelcrushing plants in Malaysia. In this study, all processes were considered relevant unless excluded based on the exclusion criteria shown in Table 1. In general, processes are excluded if they are judged to have an insignificant contribution (< 3%) to the overall environmental load; if representative data for the processes are extremely difficult or impractical to gather; and if the processes are clearly part of a separate product system. Data on all capital goods were collected from the kernel-crushing plants through actual visits and information from the kernel-crushing plants except where stated. The use of capital goods was obtained by estimating the total stock of capital goods divided by the amount of CPKO produced in the year 2008, followed by multiplying the estimate with a replacement factor expressing the fraction of the goods replaced each year. Based on the data collected from the six kernel-crushing plants with CPKO processing capacities ranging from small to large, the average total palm kernel processed was assumed to be 21 600 t yr-1. The capital goods involved in the production of CPKO are shown in Table 4.

METHODOLOGY Inventory Data Kernel-crushing plants are normally located near the ports to enable easy access to export facilities for both CPKO and the palm kernel cake. Inventory data were collected directly from the kernelcrushing plants through questionnaires which were developed specifically for data collection, and also through actual on-site measurements and quantification. Compliance with geographical coverage for data collection was adhered to by collecting data from different regions in Malaysia. The data validation procedure was carried out by on-site visits, on-site measurements, communication and discussions via e-mail and telephone, and interviews to verify the reliability of collected data. For this study, six kernel-crushing plants were chosen for their locations which were welldistributed all over Peninsular Malaysia. Five of the kernel-crushing plants were located near the ports, namely, the Klang Port in the mid region, the Pasir Gudang Port in the south and the Kuantan Port in Pahang on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The remaining kernel-crushing plant was located right beside a palm oil mill. This selection

Allocation of Co-products More often than not, a system will yield more than one product. In such cases, allocation must be

TABLE 1. SYSTEM BOUNDARY DEFINITION CRITERIA

Excluded Processing category

Difficult to Insignificant obtain Included environmental representative impact data

Part of a different system

Not directly relevant to scope and goals of study

Production, maintenance and replacement of capital equipment



Transportation of capital goods Extraction of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) from palm kernels Electricity generation Transportation of palm kernels to the kernel-crushing plants Capital goods Exporting of palm kernel cake as animal feed Refining of CPKO



 -

 

 -



907

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

made for input and output flows of each product. Allocation was carried out upstream at the palm oil mill where the palm kernels were produced. In view of this, the LCI data for the production of palm kernels shared the inputs and outputs of the production of CPO at the palm oil mill. In the kernel-crushing plants for the production of CPKO, the by-product is palm kernel cake or palm kernel meal. Weight allocation was carried out at the kernel-crushing plant between CPKO and palm kernel cake. The allocation between CPKO and palm kernel cake was 47:53.

TABLE 2. LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY FOR THE PRODUCTION OF 1 t CRUDE PALM KERNEL OIL (CPKO) FOR FIVE KERNEL-CRUSHING PLANTS LOCATED NEAR PORTS (allocated)

Parameter

Amount

Palm kernels (t) Electricity from grid (MJ) Transportation of kernels (tkm) Palm kernel cake (t)

1.07 448.6 149.40 1.12

TABLE 3. LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY FOR THE PRODUCTION OF 1 t CRUDE PALM KERNEL OIL (CPKO) FOR ONE KERNEL-CRUSHING PLANT LOCATED BESIDE A PALM OIL MILL FAR FROM THE PORTS (allocated)

Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) LCIA was conducted using the SimaPro software version 7.1 and the Eco-indicator 99 methodology. LCIA was conducted for two scenarios as follows: Scenario 1: a kernel-crushing plant located near a port; uses electricity from the grid for processing; with biogas emissions at the palm oil mill. Scenario 2: a kernel-crushing plant located beside a palm oil mill; uses the renewable energy from the mill for processing; with biogas capture at the palm oil mill.

Parameter

Amount

Palm kernels (t) Electricity from grid (MJ) Electricity generated at palm oil mill (MJ) Transportation of kernels (tkm) Palm kernel cake (t)

1.07 44.0 421.30 2.24 1.12

TABLE 4. TOTAL CAPITAL GOODS AT KERNEL-CRUSHING PLANT (average of six plants, no allocation)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Life Cycle Inventory As discussed in the Part 3 article, CPKO is not the only product produced at the kernel-crushing plant. The by-product of the crushing process is palm kernel cake. In view of this, weight allocation was conducted to allocate part of the inputs and outputs to palm kernel cake. Table 2 shows the LCI data for 1 t CPKO produced at the kernel-crushing plants located nearer to the ports, while Table 3 shows the LCI data for 1 t CPKO from a kernel-crushing plant that was located just beside a palm oil mill but far away from the ports. The selected crushing plants all had identical processing methods and conditions. These crushing plants were typical of the majority of the crushing plants in Malaysia. All the kernel-crushing plants used the double squeezing method to press out as much CPKO as possible. Based on Tables 2 and 3, one of the environmental inputs was the energy consumption for the whole system for processing of palm kernels into CPKO. The energy source was the electricity supply from the national grid. On average, about 448.6 MJ electricity was consumed for every tonne of CPKO produced. The kernel-crushing plant (Table 3) which was located beside the palm oil mill also practiced processing methods identical with the other

Buildings, steel Buildings, concrete Kernel plant machinery Tractors Lorries

Weight (t)

Use of capital goods (kg t-1 CPKO)

490 1 370 505 6 2

2.57 7.19 5.30 0.08 0.03

crushing plants, but it had one big difference which was the source of energy. The other five kernelcrushing plants used only one energy source for processing, which was electricity from the national grid supply. However, the kernel-crushing plant located beside the palm oil mill used the electricity supply from the neighbouring mill. In other words, the palm oil mill generated electricity for its own milling process as well as for the kernel-crushing plant nearby. Life Cycle Impact Assessment The characterization and weighted results for both the scenarios were for the system boundary which started from the nursery right up to the production of CPKO at the kernel-crushing plant. Land occupation by the kernel-crushing plant was not included in LCIA for both scenarios. 908

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM KERNEL OIL (part 3a)

Scenario 1

The weighted results show that the most significant impact was from fossil fuels which showed the highest impact followed by the respiratory inorganics and climate change impact categories. The impact from upstream was from the production of palm kernels. This included the impacts from the plantation and the palm oil mill. In the plantation, the impact was caused by the production and application of fertilizers. At the palm oil mill, it was caused by the biogas emissions from the POME ponds. The other impacts for the production of CPKO came from the transportation of the palm kernels from the palm oil mill to the kernelcrushing plant, and the electricity consumption

0100

080

% 060

040

020

00 Carcinogens

Resp. organics

Resp. inorganics

Climate change

Radiation

Ozone layer

Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ eutrophication

Land use

Minerals

Fossil fuels

Analyzing 1 t CPKO (No LUC with biogas near ports) allocated Sept 2010, Method: Eco-indicator 99 (H) V2.03 / Europe EI 99 H/A/ characterization.

CPKO withBiogas Biogas near ports) allocated Sept 2010 CPKO(No (NoLUC LUC with near ports) allocated Sept 2010

Palm(No kernel with biogas) Malaysia Palm kernel LUC(No with LUC biogas) Sept 2010 Sept 2010 Electricity Malaysia Electricity Truck 16t B250

Truck 16t B250

Figure 4. Characterization for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of 1 t crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) – continued land use, biogas, plant located near port. 025

020

015

010

00 Carcinogens

Resp. organics

Resp. inorganics

Climate change

Radiation

Ozone layer

Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ eutrophication

Land use

Minerals

Fossil fuels

Analyzing 1 t CPKO (No LUC with biogas near ports) allocated Sept 2010, Method: Eco-indicator 99 (H) V2.03 / Europe EI 99 H/A/ weighting.

CPKO nearports) ports)allocated allocated Sept 2010 CPKO(No (NoLUC LUCwith with Biogas Biogas near Sept 2010

Palm kernel (No LUC 2010 Palm kernel (No LUCwith withbiogas) biogas) Sept Sept 2010

Electricity Malaysia Electricity Malaysia

Truck 16t B250 Truck 16t B250

Figure 5. Weighting for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of 1 t crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) – continued land use, biogas, plant located near port. 909

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

Scenario 2

from the grid for processing under the fossil fuels, respiratory inorganics and climate change impact categories. The impact from transportation was mainly from the diesel consumption by the trucks or lorries. Due to the distance between the palm oil mill and the kernel-crushing plant, transporting the kernels which used fossil fuel caused the potential impact under fossil fuels. The kernel-crushing plants in Malaysia are situated nearer to the ports for easier access to facilities for exporting their CPKO and palm kernel cake. This is the reason for the distance between the palm oil mills and the kernel-crushing plants. The palm oil mills, on the other hand, are normally located nearer the oil palm plantations. The other parameter causing the impact was the electricity consumption from the national grid. Again being a fossil fuel-based energy source, this also contributed as an impact under the fossil fuels impact category. Most kernel-crushing plants in Malaysia use predominantly electricity from the national grid for their processing. However, there are some kernelcrushing plants that use alternative energy sources. Although this is quite rare, there are crushing plants that are located right beside the palm oil mills. This type of kernel-crushing plant uses the electricity generated at the palm oil mill for its processing. When there is a shortage of generated electricity or shut-down of the palm oil mill, then the crushing plant uses the grid supply as back-up. In order to compare the differences between a kernel-crushing plant which uses electricity from the grid and is located near a port with a kernel-crushing plant which uses electricity from the neighbouring palm oil mill and is located near the mill, LCIA for the latter type of kernel-crushing plant was conducted, and the results are shown as Scenario 2.

LCIA was conducted for 1 t CPKO produced at the kernel-crushing plant. The system boundary included: • nursery; • plantation (continued land use); • palm oil mill (with allocation to palm kernels and shells, with biogas captured); and • kernel-crushing plant (located near a palm oil mill with allocation to palm kernel cake). The characterization weighted results are shown in Figures 6 and 7, respectively. The weighted results show that when the kernelcrushing plant was located either within the palm oil mill compound or nearby, the impact from diesel consumption was almost negligible. The potential impact from electricity consumption from the grid also became very small. As the kernel-crushing plant used electricity which was generated at the palm oil mill, the use of fossil-based energy was displaced. As discussed in the Part 3 article, in the palm oil mills, pressed mesocarp fibre and shells are used as fuel in the boiler and are burnt to produce heat to convert water into steam. This steam is then used to run a turbine which generates electricity for the milling process and the whole mill compound. The pressed mesocarp fibre and shells are actually wastes from FFB which are recycled as boiler fuel. The pressed mesocarp fibre is the waste after oil has been pressed out of the mesocarp of the fruit. The shell is the outer layer of the nut which when cracked produces the kernel and shell. However, the kernel-crushing plant still has to consume some electricity from the national grid supply when the palm oil mill is not processing. It should be noted

0120

0100

080

060

040

020

Carcinogens Resp. organics Resp. inorganics

Climate change

Radiation

Ozone layer

Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ eutrophication

Land use

Minerals

Fossil fuels

Analyzing 1 t CPKO (No LUC with Biogas capture near mill) allocated Sept 2010, Method: Eco-indicator 99 (H) V2.03 / Europe EI 99 H/A/ characterization.

CPKOCPKO (No LUC withwith biogas capture mill)allocated allocated Sept Palmwith kernel (No LUC Sept with 2010 biogas capture) Sept 2010 (No LUC biogas capturenear near mill) Sept 20102010 Palm kernel (No LUC biogas capture) Electricity generated at POM Electricity Malaysia Electricity generated at POM Electricity Malaysia Truck 16t B250 Truck 16t B250

Figure 6. Characterization for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of 1 t crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) – continued land use, biogas, plant located near mill. 910

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM KERNEL OIL (part 3a) 018

016

014

012

010

Pt 08

00 Carcinogens Resp. organics

Resp. inorganics

Climate change

Radiation

Ozone layer

Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ eutrophication

Land use

Minerals

Fossil fuels

Analyzing 1 t CPKO (No LUC with biogas capture near mill) allocated Sept 2010, Method: Eco-indicator 99 (H) V2.03 / Europe EI 99 H/A/ weighting.

CPKO near mill) mill) allocated allocatedSept Sept2010 2010 CPKO(No (NoLUC LUCwith withbiogas biogas capture capture near Electricity Electricitygenerated generatedat atPOM POM Truck Truck16t 16tB250 B250

Palm LUC with Palm kernel (No LUCkernel biogas(No capture) Septbiogas 2010 capture) Sept 2010 Electricity Malaysia Electricity Malaysia

Figure 7. Weighting for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of 1 t crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; continued land use, biogas, plant located near mill. that the amount in such a situation is very low. The impact under climate change was also reduced due to the capture of biogas at the palm oil mill. What was left were only the impacts from upstream activities in the plantation. This result shows the best scenario for the production of CPKO, i.e. a kernel-crushing plant should be integrated with a palm oil mill which captures its biogas, and at the same time gets FFB from a plantation that has been cultivating oil palm for 50 years or more so that there is no land use change or continued land use change. Again the impacts from capital goods were negligible in both scenarios.

has been cultivating oil palm for 50 years or more, i.e. practicing continued land use from oil palm to oil palm with no change. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors would like to thank the palm oil millers for allowing them to conduct the study at the mills. REFERENCES BASRI, W (2010). Overview of Malaysian oil palm industry 2009. MPOB, Bangi, Malaysia. p. 1-3. http://econ.mpob.gov.my/economy/ Overview_2009.pdf, accesses on 16 August 2008.

CONCLUSION The findings of this study are based on the Eco-indicator 99 methodology, and the system boundary was from nursery to kernel-crushing plant with weight allocation. Based on the results, the main impacts from upstream were from fertilizer production and application and from biogas emissions. The impacts directly associated with the production of CPKO were mainly from the transportation of palm kernels from the palm oil mill to the kernel-crushing plant, and from the electricity consumption sourced from the grid for the processing of CPKO. The best scenario for the production of CPKO with the least environmental impact is when the kernel-crushing plant is integrated with a palm oil mill which captures the biogas and which gets FFB from a plantation that

BASRI, W; CHOO, Y M; LIM, W S; LOH, S K; CHOW, M C; MA, A N; RAVI, M; MOHAMAD, S; NASRIN, A B; VIJAYA, S; AZRI, S; ASYRAF, K; MUZZAMMIL, N and NOOR FAIZAH, M (2008). Biogas Utilization in Palm Oil Mills. MPOB, Bangi. p. 8-9. HAMDAN, M; MAZNAH, M; CHEW, T Y; FADZIL, A; SYED ANUAR, S S M and WAN SITI, N W A H (2000). Feasibility Study on Grid Connected Power Generation Using Biomass Cogeneration Technology. A study funded by the Malaysian Electricity Supply Industry Trust Fund. Pusat Tenaga Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. 911

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

MA, A N (1994). Extraction of crude palm oil and palm kernel oil. Selected Readings on Palm Oil and its Uses. PORIM, Bangi. p. 30-31.

STALMANS, M H; BERENBOLD, J; BERNA, L; CAVALI, A; DILLARSTONE, M; FRANKE, F; HIRSINGER, D; JANZEN, K; KOSSWIG, D; POSTLETHWAITE, T H; RAPPERT, C; RENTA, D; SCHARER, K P; SCHICK, W; SCHUL, H and VAN SLOTEN, T R (1995). European life-cycle inventory for detergent surfactants production. Tenside Surf. Det., (32): 84-85.

SETAC (1993). Guidelines for Life-Cycle Assessment: A Code of Practice. SETAC Publications, Brussels. 2 pp.

Announcement In response to the numerous requests from the scientific community, academicians, students and readers, MPOB is pleased to announce that the Journal of Oil Palm Research (JOPR) will be published THREE times a year beginning 2010. Beginning 2010, JOPR is published in April, August and December. The Journal will continue to publish full-length original research papers and scientific review papers on various aspects of oil palm, palm oil and other palms. As part of our continuous effort to improve the quality and to offer value-added benefits to our valued readers, two new columns have been introduced in JOPR, i.e. Letters to Editor and Short Communications. Beginning JOPR December 2009, photos that are unique or related to the articles published in JOPR will be used for the cover. For more information on submission of manuscripts, subscription or advertisement in JOPR, please write to: Editor-in-Chief Journal of Oil Palm Research P. O. Box 10620 50720 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Tel: 603-8769 4400 Fax: 603-8925 9446 E-mail: pub@mpob.gov.my Website: www.jopr.mpob.gov.my

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Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 22 December 2010 p. 895-903

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM OIL (part 3)

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM OIL (Part 3) VIJAYA SUBRAMANIAM*; CHOO YUEN MAY*; HALIMAH MUHAMMAD*; ZULKIFLI HASHIM*; YEW AI TAN* and PUAH CHIEW WEI* ABSTRACT The oil palm industry is a very important industry which contributes immensely towards the economy of the country. In 2009 alone, the total exports of oil palm products, constituting palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake, oleochemicals and finished products, amounted to 22.40 million tonnes, resulting in totalÂ exportÂ earnings of RM 49.59 billion. The oil palm industry is an export-orientated industry which relies heavily on the world market. Therefore, it is vital for the oil palm industry to be sustainable and competitive to increase its longterm profitability. The objective of this study is to identify the potential environmental impacts associated with the production of crude palm oil (CPO), and to evaluate opportunities to overcome the potential impacts. This study has a cradle-to-gate system boundary. This article is part of the life cycle assessment (LCA) of the whole supply chain for palm oil, and is linked to the upstream LCA for nursery and plantation which can be found in Parts 1 and 2. This article examines the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of the production of 1 t of CPO at the palm oil mill. For this study, 12 palm oil mills were selected. These mills were selected based on the type of mill, i.e. whether they were plantation-based mills or private mills, and having different processing capacities for fresh fruit bunches (FFB). The mills selected were all located in different zones in West Malaysia. Inventory data collection consisted of inputs and outputs of materials and energy. LCIA was carried out using the Simapro software version 7.1 and the Eco-indicator 99 methodology. Results show that the impact categories with significant impacts were from fossil fuels, respiratory inorganics and climate change. The impact under the fossil fuels category came from the production of the fertilizers used as well as diesel usage for transportation and harvesting in the nursery and plantation phases. The impact categories of climate change and respiratory inorganics came from upstream activities and the palm oil mill effluent (POME) in the mill. Both these impact categories are related to air emissions. The main air emission from the POME ponds during the anaerobic digestion was biogas which consisted of methane, carbon dioxide and traces of hydrogen sulphide. The unharvested biogas is a greenhouse gas. The impact under respiratory inorganics and climate change from upstream was caused by the application of nitrogen fertilizers in the plantation as well as the nursery. When biogas was captured, the impact under climate change was reduced. What was left were the impacts from upstream activities. The Malaysian oil palm industry should seriously look into the old sludge treatment system which is emitting biogas. They should capture the biogas and use it as renewable energy source, or produce value-added products such as fertilizer from POME which will eliminate methane generation. Keywords: life cycle assessment, life cycle impact assessment, palm oil mill, crude palm oil, biomass, Malaysian oil palm industry. Date received: 4 October 2010; Sent for revision: 6 October 2010; Received in final form: 18 October 2010; Accepted: 25 October 2010.

* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: vijaya@mpob.gov.my

895

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

INTRODUCTION

The oil palm industry is a very important industry which contributes immensely towards the economy of the country. In 2009 alone, the total exports of oil palm products, constituting palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake, oleochemicals and finished products, amounted to 22.40 million tonnes, resulting in total export earnings of RM 49.59 billion (Basri, 2010). The oil palm industry is an export-orientated industry which relies heavily on the world market. Therefore, it is vital for the oil palm industry to be sustainable and competitive to increase its long-term profitability and sustainability. The flow chart of the milling process is shown in Figure 1. Fresh fruit bunches (FFB) which are delivered to the palm oil mills are received at the FFB hoppers, and are transferred into the sterilization cages. These cages are rolled into the sterilization chambers. Live steam passes through these chambers for a duration of 90 min, and this process called sterilization helps to loosen the individual fruits from the stalk or bunch. The steam also deactivates the enzymes which cause the breakdown of the oil into free fatty acids (FFA). FFA are undesirable in palm oil. The industry tries to limit the development of FFA to less than 4% (Pathak, 2005). Next, the sterilized FFB are sent to a stripper where the fruitlets are separated from the stalks or bunches which are now called empty fruit bunches (EFB). EFB are normally sent back to the

The world is demanding for economic growth, yet this growth must be achieved through environmental conservation while enhancing the quality of human life. Sustainability is about preserving the health of the biosphere, and the efficient use of natural resources like air, water, land, flora and fauna (Chan, 2004). Sustainable development has been popularly defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (UNCED, 2002). This clarion call has resulted in the recognition of environmental issues increasing enormously from the last decade onwards as well as gaining momentum each year. The consumers or public have become more aware that the consumption of manufactured products and services offered may contribute to adverse effects on resources and the quality of the environment, and that these effects can occur at all stages of the life cycle of the product and service, and not just during its manufacture. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool to evaluate the environmental impacts of a product or process throughout its entire life cycle (SETAC, 1993). LCA has become a common environmental management tool, and is a good analytical method for assessing and optimizing the environmental quality of a system over its whole life cycle (Stalmans et al., 1995). Transportation equipment production

FFB at plantation

Electricity

Turbine

Water

Steam

FFB at mill

Transportation equipment (tractors, lorries)

Boiler

Steam

FFB sterilization

Sterilized FFB EFB for composting Empty fruit bunches (EFB)

FFB stripping

EFB as fuel in Boiler

Boiler Ash

Fruits

T Shells

Extraction of oil at press station

Discharge

Fibre cyclone Sludge + treatment

Sludge

Pressed fibres & nuts

Crude palm oil

Fibres Biogas capture

Flaring

Fuel for grid

Depericarping

CPO drying & purification

Nut

Nut polishing

Stored bulk CPO Kernel bulk

Kernel

Figure 1. Flow chart for palm oil milling. 896

Nut cracking

Polished & destoned

Land application

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM OIL (part 3)

plantations for use in mulching and as a fertilizer substitute. The fruitlets from the stripper are then sent to a digester where they are converted into a homogeneous oily mash by means of a mechanical stirring process. The digested mash is then pressed using a screw press to remove most of the crude palm oil (CPO). At this point, CPO comprises of a mixture of oil, water and fruit solids which is screened on a vibrating screen to remove as much solids as possible. Then, CPO is clarified in a continuous settling tank operation. The decanted CPO passes through a centrifugal purifier and desander to remove any remaining solids, and is then transferred to the vacuum dryer to remove the moisture. Finally, CPO is pumped into storage tanks before it is sent off for export or refining at the refineries. The nuts with the pressed mesocarp fibre are separated at the fibre cyclone. The nuts are then cracked to produce kernels and shells. The kernels are shipped to kernel-crushing plants to be processed into crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) while the shells and pressed mesocarp fibre are used as boiler fuel. The main solid wastes from the milling process are EFB, pressed mesocarp fibre, shells and boiler ash, while the liquid waste is palm oil mill effluent (POME). The gaseous emissions are from the boiler stack while biogas is emitted from the effluent treatment ponds. The concept of recycling the palm oil mill by-products is not new but has merely resurfaced in the light of recent economic and environmental concerns. Over the years, the oil palm industry has been very responsible and all the by-products have gradually been utilized. By the 1980s, the judicious utilization of the various by-products through nutrient recycling in the fields has reduced the environmental impact, paving the way towards achieving a zero waste policy. Currently, there is a further move to improve the use of these by-products through the development of valueadded products (Chan, 1999).

TABLE 1. LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY FOR 1 t CRUDE PALM OIL (with weight allocation)

Parameter Fresh fruit bunches (t) Power consumption from turbine (MJ) Power consumption from grid (MJ) Diesel consumption for mill (MJ) Transportation of diesel to mill (tkm) Fuel used in boiler: Mesocarp fibre (t) Shells (t) Boiler water consumption (t) Water for processing (t) Kernels (t) Mesocarp fibre (t) Shells (t) Empty fruit bunches (EFB) (t) Palm oil mill effluent (POME)(t) Methane gas (kg) CO2 from POME pond (kg) Boiler ash (t) Steam input to turbine (t) Steam input for sterilization (t) Flue gas from stack: Particulate matter (kg) CO (kg) CO2 (kg) SOx (kg) NOx (kg) Wastes EFB POME Excess mesocarp fibre and shells Boiler ash

OBJECTIVES

Capital goods Buildings, steel (kg) Buildings, concrete (kg) Oil mill machinery (kg) Tractors (kg)

The objectives or goals of this study are to: • identify the potential environmental impacts associated with the production of CPO; and • to use this assessment for evaluating opportunities to overcome the potential impacts.

Amount 3.10 224.08 1.76 100.33 0.54

0.36 0.09 1.57 2.17 0.41 0.00 0.23 0.71 1.86 22.21 36.04 0.01 1.62 1.56 0.12 0.04 41.28 0.0006 0.07 Mulching Treated as fertilizer Sold as fuel Land application 1.00 3.14 2.83 0.02

The starting point is at the oil palm FFB hoppers where the FFB are received, with the ending point at the production of CPO in the storage tanks. The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), on the other hand, is carried out for a cradle-to-gate system boundary

SCOPE/SYSTEM BOUNDARY The life cycle inventory (LCI) data presented in this article (Table 1) has a gate-to-gate system boundary. 897

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

METHODOLOGY

as shown in Figure 2 which includes LCI from the Part 1 and Part 2 articles. This article is linked to LCA of oil palm seedling production (Part 1) and LCA of FFB production (Part 2). The functional unit for this study is 1 t of CPO produced. In this study, all processes are considered relevant unless excluded based on the exclusion criteria shown in Table 2. In general, processes are excluded if they are judged to have an insignificant contribution (<3%) to the overall environmental load; if representative data for the processes are extremely difficult or impractical to gather; or if the processes are clearly part of a separate product system.

Inventory Data Inventory data were collected directly from the palm oil mills and millers through questionnaires which were developed specifically for data collection, and also through actual on-site measurements and quantification. Compliance with geographical coverage for data collection was adhered to by collecting data from different regions in Malaysia. For each data set, the period during which the data were collected and how the data were collected were documented. The data

Figure 2. Palm oil milling process (system boundary). TABLE 2. SYSTEM BOUNDARY DEFINITION CRITERIA

Excluded Processing category

Production, maintenance and replacement of capital equipment Transportation of capital goods Water treatment and supply Extraction of crude palm oil from FFB Transportation of diesel to mill Management of solid waste in mill Electricity generation Production of fuel for boilers Processing of co-products e.g. palm kernels, palm shells Capital goods Wastewater treatment

Included

Insignificant Difficult to obtain Part of a environmental representative different system impact data



 

 -

    -



 

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LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM OIL (part 3)

validation procedure was carried out by on-site visits, on-site measurements, communication and discussions via e-mail and telephone, and through interviews to obtain evidence and to verify the reliability of the collected data. For this study, 12 palm oil mills were chosen from the main clusters which contain a high density of palm oil mills within them. The palm oil mills were chosen from these clusters to ensure that they were representative of and cover the main areas that have palm oil mills in Malaysia. Within a cluster itself, the palm oil mills were chosen based on the age, type of mill (either plantation-based or private mills), FFB processing capacity, location and also other variables such as grid connection and oil extraction rate. The reason for using these selection criteria is to ensure that the chosen mills had all the different variations existing in the palm oil mills in Malaysia. Data on all capital goods were collected from the mills through actual visits or information supplied by the palm oil mills except where stated. The use of capital goods is obtained by estimating the total stocks of capital goods divided by the amount of CPO produced in the year 2007, followed by multiplying the estimates with a replacement factor expressing the fraction of the goods replaced each year. Based on the data collected from the 12 palm oil mills with CPO processing capacities ranging from small to large volumes, the average total FFB processed was estimated at 270 000 t yr -1.

is trapped for use as fuel. The pressed mesocarp fibre and shells would have been solid waste emissions from the milling process but they serve as alternative fuel sources to fire the boilers in the palm oil mills to produce steam used for electricity generation and sterilization of FFB. EFB is used as mulch or compost to substitute fertilizer. The treated POME is also used as a fertilizer substitute. The recycling of solid wastes such as mesocarp fibre and shells for use within the milling process establishes closed-loops for these outputs from the palm oil mill, while EFB and POME which are recycled for use in the plantation are considered to be open-loop processes. In this study, the method selected for partitioning co-products was allocation based on weight. Palm kernels and palm shells are considered as co-products. System boundary expansion was conducted for EFB and POME which are recycled in the plantation as part of fertilizer substitution. The savings from using both EFB and POME as fertilizer substitute are given in LCA of FFB production (Part 2). The pressed mesocarp fibre and shells are burnt as fuel in the palm oil mill boiler while the excess shells are sold to other biomass boilers. However, the credits from the use of shells elsewhere are not included in this study as it is out of the system boundary, and so allocation is carried out for the shells. The value for biogas emission was sourced from literature (Ma et al., 1999) and not calculated or quantified according to the COD in the respective palm oil mills. The typical chemical oxygen demand (COD) range in the palm oil mills is from 47 500 to 70 000 mg litre-1 (Tong, 2008). The statistics on just what percentage of the mills falls closer to a particular value are not available as most mills do not capture their biogas. The higher biogas value will be 41 m3 t-1 POME which is equivalent to COD of 70 000 mg litre-1. For this study, the lower value of 28 m3 t-1 POME was adopted.

Allocation of Co-products More often than not, a system will yield more than one product. In such cases, allocation must be made for input and output flows for each product. The main by-product from the milling process is palm kernel. Besides the main products comprising CPO and palm kernel, other outflows include the production of sludge or POME during the clarification step, EFB during the stripping of FFB, pressed mesocarp fibre from the mechanical pressing of palm fruits, nuts from the depericarping stage and, lastly, shells after nut cracking to release the palm kernels. The kernels are subsequently sent to kernelcrushing plants for extraction of CPKO which will be discussed in LCA of CPKO (Part 3a). This crushing process is not accounted for in this study because CPKO extraction is considered as part of a different system which is excluded from the boundary of the system under study. POME is an important semisolid stream. The biological treatment of POME to reduce biological oxygen demand (BOD) to 5000 ppm for land application, and below 50 ppm for discharge into waterways, results in the emission of biogas which can be captured. This can be done by diverting the POME to digester tanks where biogas

Life Cycle Impact Assessment LCIA was conducted using the SimaPro software version 7.1 and the Eco-indicator 99 methodology. LCIA was conducted for two scenarios. Scenario 1 was for a palm oil mill with biogas emissions while Scenario 2 was for a palm oil mill that captured the biogas. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) LCI data is inventory data that have been calculated to quantify the environmental inputs and outputs of the functional unit within the 899

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

system boundary. Table 1 shows the LCI data for 1 t CPO produced at the palm oil mill. The LCI data shown in Table 1 are data which had been allocated. As discussed earlier, CPO is not the only product produced in the palm oil mills. The by-products of the milling process are palm kernels and palm shells. In view of this, weight allocation has been conducted to allocate part of the inputs and outputs to palm kernels and palm shells. The allocation between CPO, palm kernels and palm shells was 61%, 25% and 14%, respectively.

results for both scenarios were for the system boundary which started from the nursery right up to the production of CPO at the palm oil mill. Land occupation by the mill was not included in LCIA for both scenarios. Scenario 1 LCIA was conducted for 1 t CPO produced at the palm oil mill. The system boundary included: • nursery; • plantation (continued land use); and • palm oil mill (allocation with palm kernels and shells and with biogas emissions).

Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) LCIA was also conducted using the SimaPro software version 7.1 and the Eco-indicator 99 methodology. The characterization and weighted

The characterization and weighted results are shown in Figures 3 and 4, respectively.

0120 0120

0100

080 080

060

040

020

00 Carcinogens Resp. organics Res[.Res[. inorganics Carcinogens Resp. organics inorganics Climate Climate change change

-020

Radiation Radiation

Ozone layer Ozone layer

Ecotoxicity Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ LandLand MineralsFossil fuels Fossil fuels Acidification/ use use Minerals eutrophication eutrophication

-020

Analyzing 1 t CPO (No LUC withwith biogas) Sept 2010, 99(H) (H)V2.03 V2.03 / Europe EI H/A/ 99 H/A/ Analyzing 1 t CPO (No LUC biogas) Sept 2010,Method: Method: Eco-indicator Eco-indicator 99 / Europe EI 99 characterization. characterization. CPO (No LUC with biogas) Sept 2010 FFB production (continued land use) September CPOLUC (No LUC biogas) Sept 2010 FFB (continued landland use)use) September 2010 2010 2010 CPO (No with with biogas) Sept 2010 FFBproduction production (continued September 3 3 Empty fruit bunch fruit bunch Palm oil effluent (no(no recycling savings) 28savings) m28 oil mill effluent (no recycling EmptyEmpty fruit bunch PalmPalm oilmill mill effluent recycling savings) m3 28 m Mesocarp fibre Boiler Ash2 Mesocarp fibre Boiler Ash2 Mesocarp fibre Boiler Ash2 Water for boiler & process at POM Reinforcing steel, atsteel, plant/RER U Water boiler process POM Reinforcing at plant/RER U Water for for boiler &&process atatPOM Reinforcing steel, at plant/RER U Fibre cement corrugated slab, at plant/CH U Steel low alloy ETH U Fibre corrugatedslab, slab,atatplant/CH plant/CH low alloy ETH U Fibre cement cement corrugated UU SteelSteel lowMalaysia alloy ETH U Tractor, production/CH/I U Electricity Tractor, production/CH/I UPOM Tractor, production/CH/I Electricity Malaysia Electricity Malaysia Electricity generated U at Traction Electricity Electricity generated atPOM POM Traction Traction Truckgenerated 28t B250 at Truck 28t B250 Truck B250

Figure 3. Characterization in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) for 1 t crude palm oil (CPO) – continued land use, biogas emission. 016 014 012 010 08

Pt 06 04 02 00 Carcinogens Resp. organicsResp. inorganics -02

Climate change

Radiation

Ozone layer

Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ eutrophication

Land use

Minerals

Fossil fuels

Analyzing 1 t CPO (No LUC with biogas) Sept 2010, Method: Eco-indicator 99 (H) V2.03 / Europe EI 99 H/A/weighting.

CPO LUC with biogas) Sept2010 2010 CPO (No(No LUC with biogas) Sept Empty bunch Empty fruitfruit bunch Mesocarp fibre Mesocarp fibre Water boiler & process POM Water for for boiler & process atatPOM Fibre cement corrugated slab, at plant/CH U Fibre cement corrugated slab, at plant/CH U Tractor, production/CH/I U Tractor, production/CH/I U Electricity generated at POM Electricity generated at POM Truck 28t B250 Truck 28t B250

FFB September 2010 FFB production production(continued (continuedland landuse) use) September 2010 3 Palm 28m Palm oil oil mill milleffluent effluent(no (norecycling recyclingsavings) savings) 28 m3 Boiler Ash2 Boiler Ash2 Reinforcing Reinforcingsteel, steel,atatplant/RER plant/RERU U Steel low alloy ETH U Steel low alloy ETH U Electricity Malaysia Electricity Malaysia Traction

Traction

Figure 4. Weighting in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) for 1 t crude palm oil (CPO) – continued land use, biogas emission. 900

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PALM OIL (part 3)

The weighted results show that the impact categories with significant impacts were from fossil fuels, respiratory inorganics and climate change. The impact from the fossil fuels category came from the production of the various fertilizers as well as diesel usage for transportation and harvesting which were used in the nursery and plantation phases. The parameters that contributed towards the impact categories of climate change and respiratory inorganics were from upstream activities and POME at the mill. Both these impact categories are related to air emissions. The main air emission from the POME ponds during anaerobic digestion was the biogas which consisted of methane, carbon dioxide and traces of hydrogen sulphide. The unharvested biogas is a greenhouse gas which harms the quality of the air. The impact

from the biogas falls under the climate change impact category. The impact under respiratory inorganics and climate change from upstream activities was caused by the application of nitrogen fertilizers in the plantation as well as the nursery. Scenario 2 LCIA was conducted for 1 t CPO produced at the palm oil mill. The system boundary included: • nursery; • plantation (continued land use); and • palm oil mill (allocation with palm kernels and shells, with biogas captured). The characterization and weighted results are shown in Figures 5 and 6.

0120 0100 080

060 040 020 00 Carcinogens -020

Resp. organics

Resp. inorganics

Climate change

Radiation

Ozone layer

Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ eutrophication

Land use

Minerals

Fossil fuels

Analyzing 1 t CPO (No LUC with biogas capture) Sept 2010, Method: Eco-indicator 99 (H) V2.03 / Europe EI 99 H/A/ characterization.

Truck 28t B250 Traction Electricity generated at POM Electricity Malaysia Tractor, production/CH/I U Steel low alloy ETH U Fibre cement corrugated slab, at plant/CH U Reinforcing steel, at plant/RER U

Water for boiler & process at POM Boiler Ash2 Mesocarp fibre Palm oil mill effluent (biogas harvested) 85(%) no recycling savings 28 m3 Empty fruit bunch FFB production (continued land use) September 2010 CPO (No LUC with biogas capture) Sept 2010

Figure 5. Characterization in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) for 1 t crude palm oil (CPO) – continued land use, biogas capture. 014 012 010 08

06 04 02 00

Carcinogens

-02

Resp. organics Resp. inorganics

Climate change

Radiation

Ozone layer

Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ eutrophication

Land use

Minerals

Fossil fuels

Analyzing 1 t CPO (No LUC with biogas capture) Sept 2010, Method: Eco-indicator 99 (H) V2.03 / Europe EI 99 H/A/ weighting.

Figure 6.

Water for boiler & process at POM Truck 28t B250 Truck 28t B250 Boiler Ash2 Traction Traction Mesocarp fibre Electricity generated at POM Electricity generated at POM Palm oil mill effluent (biogas harvested) 85(%) no recycling savings 28 m3 Electricity Malaysia Electricity Malaysia Tractor, production/CH/I UTractor, production/CH/I U Empty fruit bunch Steel low alloy ETH U FFB production (continued land use) September 2010 Steel low alloy ETH U Fibre cement corrugated slab, plant/CH U CPO Fibreatcement corrugated slab, at plant/CH U (No LUC with biogas capture) Sept 2010 Reinforcing steel, at plant/RER U Reinforcing steel, at plant/RER U Water for boiler & process at POM Weighting in life cycle impact Boiler Ash2 assessment (LCIA) for 1 t crude palm oil (CPO) – continued land use, Mesocarp fibre biogas capture. Palm oil mill effluent (biogas harvested) 85(%) no recycling savings 28m3 Empty fruit bunch FFB production (continued land use) September 2010 CPO (No LUC with biogas capture) Sept 2010 901

Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The weighted results show that when biogas was captured, the impact from the climate change impact category due to POME was reduced significantly. The only remaining impacts were from upstream (in green) under the fossil fuels impact category due to the production of fertilizers, and for the climate change and respiratory inorganics impact categories from the application of those fertilizers. Although biogas from POME has great potential to be used as a renewable energy source, the capture of biogas is not actively adopted by the industry due to several issues related to costs, benefits and risks, poor logistics associated with national grid connection, feed-in tariffs, stage of technology maturity, and a general lack of interest from mills which are operating in a ‘comfort zone’. However, the ’business as usual‘ attitude in the industry is beginning to change (Basri et al., 2008). Currently, the industry is moving towards either harnessing biogas from POME, or producing value-added products such as fertilizer from POME which will eliminate methane generation.

The authors would like to thank the palm oil millers for allowing them to conduct the study at the mills. REFERENCES BASRI, W (2010). Overview of Malaysian oil palm industry 2009. MPOB, Bangi. p. 1-3. http://econ. mpob.gov.my/economy/Overview_2009.pdf, accesses on 16 August 2010. BASRI, W; CHOO, Y M; LIM, W S; LOH, S K; CHOW, M C; MA, A N; RAVI, M; MOHAMAD, S; NASRIN, A B; VIJAYA, S; AZRI, S; ASYRAF, K; MUZZAMMIL, N and NOOR FAIZAH, M (2008). Biogas Utilization in Palm Oil Mills. MPOB, Bangi. p. 8-9. CHAN, K W (1999). Biomass production in the oil palm industry. Oil Palm and the Environment. Malaysian Oil Palm Growers’ Council. Kuala Lumpur. p. 45-50.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

CHAN, K W (2004). The role of environmental management systems standards for enhanced market share and increased competitiveness. Proc. of the 4th National Seminar on ISO 14000 Series of Environmental Management System Standards. 11 October 2004. MPOB, Bangi. Selangor. p. 2.

All this while, environmental management has been more for image purposes. However, in recent developments, with a shift towards wanting a ’greener‘ earth, environmental demands are becoming marketing tools. Consideration for the environment is becoming a determining factor for the use of products. In view of the current shift towards higher environmental demands from customers as well as the emergence of eco labels, the need for the oil palm industry to also shift in parallel with the current trend is unavoidable. The findings of this study are based on the Eco-indicator 99 methodology and on a system boundary from nursery to the palm oil mill. Based on the results from the two scenarios, the parameters causing impact were the biogas emission, fertilizer production and application. The emissions from the production and application of fertilizers are unavoidable as fertilizers have to be used to grow oil palm. A better alternative to achieve the best environmental performance in the production of CPO is to process FFB from plantations that have been replanted with oil palm practicing continued land use, to capture the biogas at the POME anaerobic ponds and to use it to generate renewable energy. It should be noted that the impact from capital goods is negligible in both scenarios. It is strongly recommended for palm oil mills either to capture their biogas and use it as renewable energy, or to move into measures that avoid methane generation.

MA, A N; TOH, T S and CHUA, N S (1999). Renewable energy from oil palm industry. Oil Palm and the Environment. Malaysian Oil Palm Growers’ Council, Kuala Lumpur. p. 253-259. PATHAK, M P (2005). Quality of CPO and refining operations. Proc. of the PIPOC 2009 International Palm Oil Congress – Chemistry and Technology Conference. MPOB, Bangi. p. 426. SETAC (1993). Guidelines for Life-Cycle Assessment: A Code of Practice. SETAC Publications, Brussels. 2 pp. STALMANS, M H; BERENBOLD, J; BERNA, L; CAVALI, A; DILLARSTONE, M; FRANKE, F; HIRSINGER, D; JANZEN, K; KOSSWIG, D; POSTLETHWAITE, T H; RAPPERT, C; RENTA, D; SCHARER, K P; SCHICK, W; SCHUL, H and VAN SLOTEN, T R (1995). European life-cycle inventory for detergent surfactants production. Tenside Surf. Det., 32: 84-85.

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TONG, S L (2008). Recent development in POME biogas recovery and utilization. Proc. of the 2008 National Seminar on Palm Oil Milling, Refining Technology, Quality and Environment. 15-16 December 2008, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

UNCED (2002). Sustainable Development. Johannesburg Summit 2002. 26 August – 4 September 2002, Johannesburg.

NEW COLUMNS Interested parties are invited to contribute ideas and comments related to the published articles or on how to improve the overall quality of the journal, so as to make it more presentable and useful to the readers. Contributors are encouraged to abide by the guidelines stated below: Guidelines for Letters to Editor A ‘Letter to Editor’ should be concise. Please include your full name (add a pseudonym, if you like), address, gender and phone number (for reference only). You can send by e-mail, regular mail or fax (603-8922 3564). Personal information of sender will be kept confidential. Send your letter to: Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P.O. 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur (Attn: Publication Section) or e-mail us at: pub@mpob.gov.my Some common guidelines are: • There will be a very short word limit, which is strictly enforced. A general guideline would be 200-250 words. • You must not submit the same letter to more than one publication at the same time. • The letter should refer to a specific article recently published by JOPR. • There is a strict deadline for responding to a given article. The sooner you respond to specific article, the more likely it is that your letter will be published. Guidelines for Short Communications • Short Communications are original short articles which are published with the objective of disseminating technical ideas of the originator without losing time. This will provide researchers with a venue where they can share their most current results and developments in the shortest possible time. The Short Communications, like regular papers will be reviewed by expert reviewers and evaluated by editor. Unlike regular papers, Short Communications will be published within six months of submission. • Short communications should be prepared in a camera-ready format and limited to 2000 words and not more than four illustrations (i.e. Figures and Tables). • Format: Abstract (~80 words), Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusion and References. • In order to help expedite the reviewing process, authors are advised to suggest a list of two unbiased potential reviewers to the Editor. Please include their names and e-mail addresses in the submission e-mail. These reviewers should not be related to the author, nor should they be associates or collaborators.

903

LIFE CYCLE FOR Vol. OIL PALM FRESH FRUIT BUNCH PRODUCTION FROM CONTINUED LAND USE FOR OIL PALM PLANTED ON MINERAL SOIL (part 2) Journal of Oil ASSESSMENT Palm Research 22 December 2010 p. 887-894

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR OIL PALM FRESH FRUIT BUNCH PRODUCTION FROM CONTINUED LAND USE FOR OIL PALM PLANTED ON MINERAL SOIL (part 2) ZULKIFLI, H*; HALIMAH, M*; CHAN, K W*; CHOO, Y M* and MOHD BASRI, W*

ABSTRACT Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an important tool for identifying potential environmental impacts associated with the production of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) from specific operations in Malaysian oil palm plantations. This LCA study is to make available the life cycle inventory for cradle-to-gate data so that the environmental impacts posed by FFB production in the plantation can be assessed. The results of the study provide the Malaysian palm oil industry with information, and identify ways and measures to reduce the environmental impacts. Most of the foreground data were collected directly from the oil palm plantations (site specific) from a detailed survey of the estates throughout Malaysia. The inventory data were collected from 102 plantations (based on feedback to a questionnaire) covering 1.1 million hectares of planted area, which is approximately 25% of the total area under oil palm. This survey area consisted of immature (1- to 2-year-old palms) and mature (3- to 25-year-old palms) areas, with both data sets included in the inventory for an amortized period of 25 years. Data gaps were filled by information obtained through literature and public databases, or calculated using published models. The inputs and outputs from upstream activities were quantified on the basis of a functional unit of production of 1 t FFB, while the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) was carried out using the Sima Pro version 7.1 software and the Eco-indicator 99 methodology. The weighted results of LCA for the production of 1 t FFB from continued land use (replanting) show significant environmental impacts in the fossil fuels, respiratory inorganics and climate change categories. The most significant process contributing to these environmental impacts comes from the production and usage of the various fertilizers (especially N fertilizers) from the use of field machinery (tractors) during operations in the plantation, and the use of transport vehicles bringing inputs to the plantations and transporting FFB to the mills. Producing FFB from continued land use (replanting) has no effect on land use. The results clearly show that nitrogenous fertilizer production and application in the plantation is the most polluting process in the agricultural stage of FFB production; this is followed by the energy used by the machinery in the plantations and for transportation of FFB to the mills. Ways of reducing the environmental impacts are by increasing the FFB yield through the use of high-yielding oil palm planting materials which will result in increased fruit production, by applying more organic sources of nitrogen fertilizer instead of chemical fertilizers, by returning the nutrient-rich slurry from palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment ponds to the field, or by applying compost (empty fruit bunches + POME) as fertilizer.

* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: zulhashim@mpob.gov.my

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Journal of Oil Palm Research 22 (december 2010) Keywords: Malaysia, oil palm plantation, fresh fruit bunches (FFB), life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Date received: 11 October 2010; Sent for revision: 13 October 2010; Received in final form: 19 October 2010; Accepted: 20 October 2010.

INTRODUCTION

production of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) and in assessing GHG emissions from specific operations in an oil palm plantation for the production of FFB. This study only considered continued land use by oil palm from a previous generation (replanting) and not from other land use resulting in a change from the primary or degraded forest, or from other tree crops.

The cultivation of oil palm in Malaysia began in 1917. Today, an approximate land area of 4.69 million hectares is planted with oil palm, producing about 17.56 million tonnes of palm oil (MPOB, 2009). The oil palm industry is continually expanding to meet the demand for oil for use as food and biodiesel. The key for increased production is mainly by intensifying production per unit area through yield advancement with improved planting materials and good agricultural practices. However, the continuous increase in oil palm area has generated negative perceptions by the NGOs concerning issues in biodiversity, erosion and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that lead to global warming. There is also greater public awareness in climate change, and a growing demand for green biofuel especially by the European Union (EU). Therefore, for sustainable production of oil palm, a long-term balance between inputs and outputs across the boundary system of oil palm production must be maintained during its life cycle. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the most holistic and comprehensive method used in assessing an environmental burden and impacts resulting from oil palm production. The results presented in this study quantify the environmental impacts associated with the processes, products or activities carried out in the plantation during the life cycle of oil palm, which is 25 years. However, it is recognized that the results of this study are specific to oil palm planted on mineral soil only as the detailed methodology on peat which includes a study on carbon (C) stock, peat oxidation and C emissions is on-going, and will be reported once all data are available. The impacts due to pesticides and heavy metal residues are small and regarded as having an insignificant effect on the environment. The effect of indirect land use change (ILUC), which is defined as the displacement of prior crop production and the possible land use induced by the movement of prior crop production to other areas, was not included in this study. It needs to be noted that this displacement may have a potentially large contribution to the overall GHG emissions. However, due to a lack of data and the complexity of the methodology, this ILUC effect was not estimated in this study. The main objective of the study is the use of the LCA approach in identifying potential environmental impacts associated with the

BACKGROUND OF FFB PRODUCTION Oil palm is a monoecious crop as it bears both male and female flowers in the same plant. The palm produces compact bunches of 10 to 25 kg each, bearing 1000 to 3000 fruits, and are almost spherical or elongated in shape. Generally, the fruit is dark purple, almost black when unripe, turning to orange red when ripe. The fruit comprises a hard kernel (seed) enclosed in a shell (endocarp) which is surrounded by a fleshy mesocarp. The oil palm may grow to a height of approximately 10 m before it is replanted after about 25-30 years. The harvested FFB contains around 25% oil, 25% seeds (5% kernels), 13% mesocarp fibre, 7% shell, and 23% empty fruit bunches (Corley and Tinker, 2003). In Malaysia, the oil palm planted is mainly the tenera variety, a hybrid between dura and pisifera. Tenera yields about 4 to 5 t of crude palm oil (CPO) per hectare in a year, and about 1 t of kernels. Oil palm is the most efficient oil-bearing crop in the world, requiring only 0.26 ha of land to produce 1 t of oil, whereas soyabean, sunflower and rapeseed require 2.22, 2.00 and 1.52 ha, respectively, to produce the same (Yusof and Chan, 2004). The oil palm nursery is the first link in the palm oil supply chain. From the economic point of view, the major significant aims of the nursery phase are to minimize the immature period in the field and to ensure the highest possible early yield, whilst at the same time to keep nursery costs as low as possible. The palms are grown in polybags in the nursery. In the pre-nursery, germinated seeds are sown in small polybags (15 cm × 23 cm, or 6” × 9”) until the seedlings are approximately three to four months, at which time they are transplanted into large polybags (38 cm × 45 cm, or 15” × 18”) and grown without protective cover until they are 12 to 15 months old. In the main nursery, the polybags are arranged at 0.9 m × 0.9 m × 0.9 m, or 0.75 m × 0.75 m × 0.75 m, measured centre to centre, for an equilateral triangular spacing. All seedlings are 888

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR OIL PALM FRESH FRUIT BUNCH PRODUCTION FROM CONTINUED LAND USE FOR OIL PALM PLANTED ON MINERAL SOIL (part 2)

irrigated with 0.5 litre water per day in the prenursery, and with 1.5-2.5 litres per day in the main nursery. Watering is normally done twice daily, before 11.00 am and after 4.00 pm. The seedlings are fertilized, and sprayed with pesticides for crop protection. Dithiocarbamate is the most commonly used fungicide. Fertilization is carried out manually. However, some nurseries use ‘fertigation’ for premature seedlings (<4 months), i.e. applying nutrients together with the irrigation water. The seedlings are field-planted when they are 12-15 months old at a density of 136-148 plants per hectare on mineral soils (assuming an average of 142 ha-1). Before planting, the soil is ploughed and a legume cover sown, typically Mucuna bracteata. The cover crop prevents soil erosion and fixes nitrogen (N) from the atmosphere, an important source of N especially when the palms are young. Clear weeding is done in a circle around each palm to prevent weed competition. The weeded circle is maintained in the mature palms to allow access for harvesting and to facilitate the picking up of scattered loose fruits. These weeded circles are kept weed-free by spraying with herbicides. The palm bears fruits within two to three years, and continues to do so for the next 20 to 25 years, producing one FFB every 10 to 21 days. Harvesting at every 10-15 days is done manually, using a sickle attached to an aluminium pole. Normally, the two fronds under the fruit bunch are pruned and stacked in neat piles between the palms as mulch. The harvested FFB are brought to the roadside where they are collected by 5- to 10-t lorries to be transported to the mill. Fertilizers are sourced from suppliers and transported to the plantation by road. The most common fertilizers applied to oil palm are muriate of potash, ammonium sulphate, kieserite and rock phosphate. The fertilizers, brought by tractors from the store to the field, are broadcast manually. Herbicides are usually sprayed only when the palms are immature and their canopy has not covered the soil surface fully to prevent light from reaching the weeds. Most of the herbicides used are water-based formulations, and are manually applied using knapsack sprayers. Insecticides are the major pesticides used in oil palm, but their use is minimal. The application of phosphorus-based or organophosphate insecticides for bagworm control is very specific, being done through manual trunk injection. Often, it is possible to reduce the use of insecticides and rodenticides by practicing integrated pest management with components of biological control, such as the use of barn owls, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), etc. Oil palm is replanted after 25 to 30 years when yield becomes increasingly poor and there is difficulty in harvesting the tall palms. The palms are felled and chipped, and the chips applied

in the plantation as a nutrient source for the replants. The felled palms contain about 95 t of dry weight per hectare (Khalid et al., 2000; 2009), and will decompose within two years. Due to the undesirable emissions from fires, open burning has been prohibited in Malaysia since 1989, and zero burning is currently being practiced for land preparation prior to replanting.

METHODOLOGY The LCA study was conducted according to the ISO standards on LCA described in ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 (ISO, 2006a, b). LCI and LCIA were performed using SimaPro 7 (Netherlands). This software contains US and European databases on a wide variety of materials, in addition to an assortment of European- and US-developed impact assessment methodologies. The methodology selected to conduct LCIA was the Eco-indicator 99 (Goedkoop and Spriensma, 1999). Scope and Boundaries The system was defined by a cradle-to-gate approach, starting from land conversion and transplanting of seedlings to the plantation until FFB are delivered to the mills during the 25 years’ lifetime of the oil palm (Figure 1). The agricultural operations considered under this study were divided into four stages during the palm’s life cycle. They are (i) the conversion stage from previous land use, (ii) the immature plantation (not yet bearing FFB), (iii) the mature plantation, and (iv) the replanting stage for the next generation. The data collected were applied as an average of the four stages over a lifetime of 25 years. Only carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions were considered for global warming potential (GWP) assessment. Functional Unit The reference flows (input and output) of this cradle-to-gate LCA study were based on a mass basis (functional unit of 1 t) of FFB produced. Items Excluded from the Study Disposal of polybags which are brought from the nursery to the plantation during transplanting was not taken into account due to the difficulty in getting a suitable model or representative data. It was assumed that the polybags are collected and sold back to the factory for recycling. Data on the inputs and outputs were gathered from plantations on mineral soils only. LCA for oil 889

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Figure 1.â&#x20AC;&#x201A; System boundary for fresh fruit bunches (FFB) production. palm on peat was not included in this study as the detailed methodology on peat, which includes a study on C stock, peat oxidation and C emissions, is currently being carried out by the Tropical Peat Institute (TROPI) of MPOB. The complete LCA study on peat will be reported once the data from peat are made available. With the available data, the input and output data as an indicator at the national level will then be computed. The impact of heavy metals is also small and regarded as insignificant to the environment. GHG emissions from the production of machinery, equipment and the construction of buildings were also excluded as they are minor compared to the overall emissions in the system. In this LCA study, starting from cradle-to-gate, all operations in the plantations, including intermittent transportation of inputs and products by road were considered relevant unless excluded based on the system boundary definition criteria listed in Table 1.

practices in Malaysia have been collected through surveys. The yield of FFB is the average yield from the survey. The foreground data which describe the specific production sub-systems included in the production of FFB were obtained through responses to questionnaires, observations, communication by telephone and interviews, and by on-site verification of the data. Data gaps were filled by information obtained from scientific literature and public databases, or calculated using published models. Emissions at the Plantation Emissions from the oil palm plantation are determined by the establishment of nutrient balances, and by the use of models for the emissions of N2O, NO, NH3, N2, NO3, P (Schdmit, 2007) and for CO2 from energy generated from the use of fossil fuels. The models are described by IPCC (2000; 2007), FAO and IFA (2001), and Vinther and Hansen (2004). GHG emissions from the production of fertilizers and pesticides used in the plantation are determined by the Ecoinvent methodology in the Simapro version 7.0 software, while total emissions from usage of pesticides are based on the EPA report (EPA report, 1994) where it is assumed that an applied pesticide evenly distributed emissions to air, water and soil (Schdmidt, 2007). The various

Sources of Data Input data required are on materials or energy that go into the cultivation stage, while outputs are emissions to air, water and soil, during the production of 1 t FFB. The cultivation stage for oil palm includes activities in the field for the immature/mature palms. Most data on cultivation 890

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR OIL PALM FRESH FRUIT BUNCH PRODUCTION FROM CONTINUED LAND USE FOR OIL PALM PLANTED ON MINERAL SOIL (part 2) TABLE 1. SYSTEM BOUNDARY DEFINITION CRITERIA

Excluded Category

Difficult to obtain representative data

Part of a different system

Not directly relevant to scope and goal of study



 



  

Included

Production, maintenance and replacement of capital equipment Production of kieserite fertilizer, borate fertilizer, NPK compound fertilizer Indirect land use change Disposal of polybags at the plantation Production of urea  Production of ammonium  sulphate Production of phosphate rock  Production of muriate of  potash Impact of heavy metals to the environment Usage of pesticides  Capital goods  but too small Production of plantation  pesticides Transportation of raw  materials from the port to plantation Transportation of FFB to mill  Plantation input e.g. fertilizers,  pesticides Seedling from the nursery  Land use change Only considerred on continued land use with oil palm Energy use in machinery in the plantation Output to air Output to water Output to soil

GHG emissions from the plantation are then summed up per hectare, and converted to per 1 t of FFB produced by dividing the emissions by the FFB yield. The three most important GHG determined in oil palm plantations are CO2, N2O and CH4. The concept of GWP is applied to compare these

GHG following the guidelines of IPCC. The GWP for CO2 is 1 kg CO2-eq, for CH4 is 23 kg CO2-eq and for N 2O is 296 kg CO 2-eq. The other main GHG (hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphurhexafluoride), although their GWP are high, were not taken into account as they are insignificant in FFB production chains. 891

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Method for LCIA

TABLE 3.â&#x20AC;&#x201A; THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLANTATIONS USED IN THE STUDY

The Eco-indicator 99 methodology was adopted. This methodology uses the damageoriented approach or end-point approach for impact assessment. Impact categories considered in this methodology include carcinogens, respiratory organics and inorganics, climate change, ionizing radiation, ozone layer depletion, ecotoxicity, acidification/eutrophication, land use, minerals and fossil fuels. It should be noted that the applied LCIA method for land use and biodiversity was not included due to the assumption of continued land use from previously old oil palm stands.

Plantation characteristics FFB yield (t ha-1 yr-1) Planting density (palm ha-1) Soil characteristics Plantation lifetime No of plantations Total area

20.7 142 Mineral soils 25 years 102 1.1 million ha (93.7 % mature and 6.3 % immature)

Uncertainty of Results production of FFB in the plantation. The system boundary includes the nursery and the plantation (practicing continued land use).

As the study considered continued land use from former oil palm plantations, no deforestation had taken place. The sensitivity analysis was estimated based on individual parameters for FFB production for which there were large ranges and deviations from the LCA results, such as FFB yield, N fertilizer use, and emission factor for the production of N fertilizers and diesel use as shown in Table 2. It was shown that N fertilizer use is the most sensitive parameter, especially in having a global warming effect.

Characterized Results Figure 2 shows the characterized results contributed by inputs used for the production of 1 t FFB in the plantation. The characterized results indicate the contribution by the inputs at the plantation in all eleven impact categories of impact assessment. Weighted Results

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The characterized results are weighted and are shown in Figure 3. Based on the weighted results for producing 1 t FFB from continued land use (replanting), the significant impact categories are fossil fuels, respiratory inorganics, climate change and acidification (eutrophication). The land use (nature occupation) impact category was not included because it was assumed that the land continued to be planted with oil palm.

Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Table 3 summarizes the material and energy inputs and outputs associated with the production of FFB that were used to carry out LCIA. The LCIA results presented in this article are based on 1 t of FFB produced in the plantation. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)

Environmental Hotspots

The characterization and weighted results for all the scenarios studied are for the system boundary which starts from the nursery right up to the

For the production of FFB in the plantation, the weighted results using Eco-indicator 99 show that

TABLE 2.â&#x20AC;&#x201A; INPUT DATA: PARAMETERS AND THEIR RANGES FOR SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

Parameters FFB production N fertilizer use EF for AS fertilizer production EF for urea fertilizer production EF N2O from managed soil Diesel consumption

Unit t FFB ha yr t N ha-1 yr-1 kg CO2 eq/kg N kg CO2 eq/kg N Kg N2O-N/t N Gj ha-1 yr-1 -1

-1

892

Low

Base

High

Source

17 50 0.9 0.9 3 2.1

20 73 2.7 1.3 10 3.2

31 120 7.6 4 30 5.1

FRIM, IPCC *Survey Syahrinuddin (2005) Syahrinuddin (2005) Syahrinuddin (2005)

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR OIL PALM FRESH FRUIT BUNCH PRODUCTION FROM CONTINUED LAND USE FOR OIL PALM PLANTED ON MINERAL SOIL (part 2) 120 110 100 90 80

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Carcinogens

Resp. organics Resp. inorganics

Climate change

Radiation

Ozone layer

FFB production (continued land use) September 2010 Input of N fertilizer Ammonium sulphate, as N, at regional storehouse/RER U Phosphate rock, as P2O5, beneficiated, dry, at plant/MA U Glyphosate, at regional storehouse/RER U Feb 2010 Bipyridylium-compounds, at regional storehouse/RER U Feb 2010 Organophosphorus-compounds, at regional storehouse/RER U 2,4-D, at regional storehouse/RER U Reinforcing steel, at plant/RER U Tractor, production/CH/I U

Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ eutrophication

Land use

Minerals

Fossil fuels

Nursery with pesticide emissions Ammonium nitrate, as N, at regional storehouse/RER U Urea, as N, at regional storehouse/RER U Potassium chloride, as K2O, at regional storehouse/RER U [sulfonyl]urea-compounds, at regional storehouse/RER U Feb 2010 Pyretroid-compounds, at regional storehouse/RER U Feb 2010 Carbofuran, at regional storehouse/RER U Feb 2010 Pesticide unspecified, at regional storehouse/RER U Fibre cement corrugated slab, at plant/CH U Agricultural machinery, general, production/CH/I U

Analyzing 1 kg FFB production (continued land use) September 2010, Method: Eco-indicator 99 (H) V2.03 / Europe EI 99 H/A/ characterization.

Figure 2. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) for the production of 1 t fresh fruit bunches (FFB) from continued land use – characterized results.

4 3.5 3

mPt

2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Carcinogens

Resp. organics Resp. inorganics

Climate change

Radiation

Ozone layer

Ecotoxicity

Acidification/ eutrophication

Land use

Minerals

Fossil fuels

Analyzing 1 kg FFB production (continued land use) September 2010, Method: Eco-indicator 99 (H) V2.03 / Europe EI 99 H/A/ weighting.

Figure 3. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) for the production of 1 t fresh fruit bunches (FFB) from continued land use – weighted results. plantations and transporting FFB to the mills. The impact on toxicity mainly comes from the use of pesticides, especially in the nursery. The fossil fuels, respiratory inorganics and climate change impact categories relate to air emissions while the acidification/eutrophication impact category relates mainly to water emission. Acidification potential is explained mainly by emissions of ammonia into air, nitrates leaching into ground water, and land provision for oil palm cultivation. In the case of FFB production, the acidification potential is mainly due to nitrogen oxide emissions. A significant contribution also comes from ammonia emissions to air in the plantation.

the most significant impacts are in the following order: • • • • •

fossil fuels; respiratory inorganics; climate change; ecotoxicity; and acidification.

The impacts on respiratory inorganics, fossil fuels, climate change and acidification/ eutophication come from the production and use of the various fertilizers, especially N fertilizers, and from the use of field machinery (tractors) during operations in the plantation and the use of transport vehicles bringing the materials to the 893

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CONCLUSION

GOEDKOOP, M and SPRIENSMA, R (1999). The Eco-Indicator 99 – A Damage Oriented Method for Life Cycle Impact Assessment – Methodology Report. Third edition. Pre Consultants. Amersfoort. 14 pp.

The results presented in this study reflect the current management practices used in oil palm plantations, and they are only valid under these circumstances. The major hotspots identified in the plantations are N fertilizer use, the production of N fertilizer, and energy use in transport. Improvement options exist to mitigate the environmental burden, which among others are: by applying more organic sources of N fertilizer and increasing the yield of FFB. Returning the nutrient-rich slurry from the palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment ponds to the field or applying compost (from empty fruit bunches and POME) as fertilizer, will help reduce N2O emission from inorganic fertilizer application. Increasing the yield of FFB can be achieved by growing the latest improved oil palm planting materials which have the potential for increased fruit production. More improvements can be obtained by disseminating to the growers information on the best management practices in relation to reducing environmental impacts during the production of FFB.

IPCC (2006). IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Hayama, Japan. IPCC (1996). IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Reference manual. Geneva, Switzerland. IPCC (2000). Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Geneva. ISO 14040 (2006). Environmental Management – Life Cycle Assessment – Principles and Framework. International Standard Organization (ISO), Geneva. KHALID, H; ZIN, Z Z and ANDERSON, J M (2000). Decomposition processes and nutrient release patterns of oil palm residues. J. Oil Palm Research Vol. 12 No. 1: 46-63.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We kindly acknowledge the oil palm plantations in Malaysia for provision of data. We are grateful to Director-General of MPOB, for permission to publish this article.

KHALID, H; CHAN, K W and AHMAD TARMIZI, M (2009). Nutrient cycling and residue management during oil palm replanting in Malaysia. Paper presented at PIPOC 2009, 9-12 November, 2009. 27 pp.

REFERENCES

SCHMIDT, J H (2007). Life Cycle Assessment of Rapeseed Oil and Palm Oil. Ph.D thesis. Aalborg University Denmark. 271 pp.

CORLEY, R H V and TINKER, P B (2003). The Oil Palm. Fourth edition. Blackwell publishing. ECOINVENT (2004). Ecoinvent data v1.3. Final Reports Ecoinvent 2000 No. 1-15. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, Dübendorf.

SYAHRINUDIN (2005). The potential of oil palm and forest plantations for carbon sequestration on degraded land in Indonesia. Ecology and Development Series No. 28 (Vlek PLG, Denich, M; Martius, C; Rodgers, C; van de Giesen, N eds.). Göttingen, Germany:Cuvillier Verlag. p. 107.

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FAO and IFA (2001). Global Estimates of Gaseous Emissions of NH3, NO and N2O from Agricultural Land. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and International Fertiliser Industry Association (IFA), Rome. FAO (2006b). Global planted forests thematic study: results and analysis by A Del Lungo; J Ball and J Carle. Planted Forests and Trees Working Paper 38. Rome.

YUSOF, B and CHAN, K W (2004). The oil palm and its sustainability. J. Oil Palm Research Vol. 16 No. 1: 1-10.

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