# Report on Biogas Capture at

Palm Oil Mills

Prepared by

MALAYSIAN PALM OIL BOARD

MINISTRY OF PLANTATION INDUSTRIES AND COMMODITIES, MALAYSIAP rivate and Confidential (For Internal Purposes Only) 1 Introduction

One of the biggest factors that has currently handicapped t he palm oil industry in meeting

stringent sustainability requirements is the emission of methane, a greenhouse gas (GHG)

from anaerobic digestion of palm oil mill effluent (POME). Biogas contains about 65%

methane which has 21 times the global warming pote ntial of carbon dioxide. The free

emission of biogas into the atmosphere without an effective biogas capture mechanism is not

only wasting the energy potential that biogas can generate, but also causes global warming.

Countries importing palm oil product s, particularly palm biofuels are concerned about the

sustainability of palm products. A few countries, e.g. the EU and USA are in the process of

imposing sustainability standards which includes minimum GHG emission savings

requirements for biofuels. Witho ut harnessing of biogas from POME, palm oil products

become unfavourable for the export market. Without meeting the GHG threshold, palm oil

products may not be eligible for the incentives provided. In this case, the marketability and

prosperity of palm oil will be adversely affected

. With the proper technical configuration,

biogas generated from POME can be utilized for thermal and electricity applications. The

excess electricity generated can also be supplied to the national grid. Under Entry Point

Project No. 5 of the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) , all palm oil mills are

encouraged to install biogas trapping facilities by 2020.

Status of MPOB Census on Biogas Captured and Utilization at Palm Oil Mills

The survey form on POME and biogas for renewable energy application in palm oil mills has

been sent out to all mills on 29 November 2010 with the enforcement circular for mandatory

response . The contents of the survey form include oil extraction rate (OER) of palm oil mills,

POME treatment and biogas tr apping facilitie s. In February 2011, 422 mills have responded

and submitted the survey forms. After the survey, the status of mills with biogas trapping

facilities is now updated from 28 to 3 8 mills. The number of mills with biogas plants under

constructio n is 34. On the other hand, 47 mills are planning to have biogas trapping facilities

at various stage from 2012 – 2020. The summaries of current status of the biogas

implementation at palm oil mills are given in Table 1. Currently, Felda has completed 10

b iogas plants and 15 more plants are still under construction. Felda is expected to have 59

biogas plants implemented throughout the country by 2020 and some of these biogas plants

will have connection to the national grid.P rivate and Confidential (For Internal Purposes Only) 2 Table 1: Status of Biogas Captur e Facility at Palm Oil Mills

State N umber of Palm Oil Mills

Completed Biogas Facility Under Construction Under Planning

Johor 9 1 9

Selangor 2 3 1

N. Sembilan 4 1 1

Sarawak 2 2 3

Sabah 5 16 15

Pahang 4 1 8

Perak 7 5 4

Kedah 2 1 1

Terengganu 2 1 3

Kelantan 1 1 1

Melaka 0 1 1

Penang 0 1 0

Total 38 34 47

Biogas Capture Technology

The present treatment of POME in open lagoon ponding systems includes the cooling pond,

anaerobic pond, facultative pond and aerobic pond

. Poor management of the po nds will result

in failure to comply with local discharge standards. Without complete anaerobic digestion

systems, the quantity of biogas emitted is not economical for capture. POME treatment in the

mills is either by the open ponding anaerobic digestion s ystem or the closed reactor type.

The types of technologies used to trap and utilize biogas in palm oil mills include covered

lagoon and digester tank. From MPOB survey (2011), 24 out of 38 biogas implementing

mills use digester tank technologies (Figure 1).P rivate and Confidential (For Internal Purposes Only) 3 Figure 1: Type of T echnology Used to Trap Biogas in Palm Oil M ills.

Biogas Utiliza tion in Palm Oil Mills

There are various approaches in utilizing biogas trapped in palm oil mills. With proper

technical configuration and system, biogas generated f rom POME can be directly converted

into useful energy either as thermal energy, electricity or both. Basically, setting up biogas

plants in palm oil mills would be beneficial to millers that require additional energy for the

downstream activities such as e mpty fruit bunches ( EFB ) fibre processing plant or kernel

crushing plant, as well as for grid connection purpose under the Small Renewable Energy

Power (SREP) Programme. The captured biogas can also be upgraded and stored like natural

gas for transportatio n or vehicles used in palm oil mills. Current types of biogas utilization in

palm oil mills are given in Figure 2.P rivate and Confidential (For Internal Purposes Only) 4 Figure 2: Bio gas Utilization in Palm Oil Mills

Policy on Biogas Capture

In line with the country ’ s commitment to intensify the develo pment of renewable energy

( RE ) , the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water has been actively looking into

and has initiated the drafting of the National Policy on RE. Some strategies to encourage RE

may be incorporated under this new policy, e.g. t he RE fund, Feed

- in Tariff (Fi T ) agreement,

incentives, R&D, institutions and legal framework. The policy will also incorporate the

much

- awaited FIT already in force in some developing countries. This allows anyone

wanting to produce power to supply such p ower to the grid, and get paid for it. Every mill

with a biogas capture system installed can generate biogas and become a power producer.

Other government policies and programme that promote and encourage the utilization of

biogas include the National Fi fth Fuel Policy which include Renewable Energy as one of the

country ’ s fuel mix, the SREP Programme for grid connected purpose and the National Green

Technology Policy

.

Currently, all government policies are not to mandate palm oil mills to capture bioga s

generates from POME. These criteria to make millers are eligible for Clean Development

Mechanism (CDM) application.P rivate and Confidential (For Internal Purposes Only) 5 Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for Biogas Capture

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a scheme under the Kyoto Protocol, United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which helps developing

countries achieve sustainable development through the sale of certified emission reductions

(CER), or carbon credits, to developed and industrialized countries. The palm oil ind ustry can

benefit from the scheme by capturing biogas to earn CERs. The scheme helps developed

countries meet their emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol and at the same time

helps the palm oil industry meet increasingly stringent sustainabil ity requirements.

Although biogas from POME has great potential as RE, the capture of biogas is not actively

adopted by the industry due to several issues related to costs, benefits, risk, poor logistics

associated with national grid

- connection, FiT, tech nology maturity and a 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.

The biogas projects in reducing GHG emissions can earn CERs that can then be traded to

cover the capital expenditure. Through the CDM, the viability of these projects can be

enhanced and investment costs can be recovered within a shorter period by trading of CERs.

At this moment, the biogas projects from oil palm sector have not yet generat ed CERs

. However, there are a few biogas project s from palm oil mill s elsewhere in the world that have

been issued with CERs. According a technology supplier, Biotec International , there are three

biogas projects in palm oil mills located in South America have been granted with CER with

total 282535 tonnes CO2 equivalent in 3 years. These palm oil mills are Eecopalsa POM

(Honduras) which is the first biogas plant granted with CER in 2006, El Espino POM (Peru)

and Agrotor POM in Honduras.

Incentives for Re newable Energy (RE)

Commercial and industrial business entities which are involved in energy business using

renewable energy resources ( e.g. biogas from palm oil mills ) for generation of electric power

or sell to local utilities provider distribution grid system are eligible to apply for fiscal

incentives.P rivate and Confidential (For Internal Purposes Only) 6P rivate and Confidential (For Internal Purposes Only) 7 Life Cycle Assessment of Palm Biodiesel

Figure 3 : Palm Biodiesel Production, Transport, Distribution and Combustion Pathway 

## Oil Palm Plantations

Crude Palm Oil Production

Crude Palm Oil Transportation

Refining of Crude Palm Oil

Refined Palm Oil Transportation

Biodiesel Production

Biodiesel Combustion Biodiesel Trans portation and D istribution Fresh Fruit Bunches TransportationP rivate and Confidential (For Internal Purposes Only) 8 Reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissio ns

Life cycle assessment on the production of biodiesel from palm oil has shown that GHG

emission savings exceeding 50% (no biogas trapping) and almost 80% (with biogas trapping)

can be obtained.

Palm Biodiesel Production Pathway

Table 1 : Total emissi on for the production of palm biodiesel

Emission (g CO 2 eq / MJ) Oil palm plantations 6.69 Processing
(1) Without methane capture 29.66 (2) With methane capture 7.95 Transport & Distribution 4.66

Total (1) Without methane capture 41.01
(2) Wit h methane capture 19.30

Table 2 : Breakdown emission for the production of palm biodiesel

Oil palm plantations E mission (g CO 2 eq / MJ)

N fertilizer 1.37

P 2 O 5 fertilizer 0.17

K 2 O fertilizer 0.23

Pesticides 0.78

Diesel 0.90

Emission from field 3.2 4 Processing Emission (g CO 2 eq / MJ) Production of crude palm oil (1) Without methane capture 21.71 (2) With methane capture 0.00 Refining of crude palm oil 0.63

Transesterification 7.32
Transportation Emission (g CO 2 eq / MJ)

Fresh fruit bunche s transportation 0.11 Crude palm oil transportation 0.38 Refined palm oil transportation 0.38 Biodiesel transportation 3.03

Biodiesel distribution 0.76P rivate and Confidential (For Internal Purposes Only) 9 Table 3 : GHG emission saving for the production of palm biodiesel

Production pathway GHG Emissi on Saving (%) * (1) Without methane capture 55.9 (2) With methane capture 79.2

* Note: The diesel fuel comparator used is 93g CO 2 e/MJ

Assumptions:

1) Two scenarios are taken into consideration for the production of palm biodiesel in Malaysia, viz ( 1 ) prod uction of biodiesel without methane capture at the palm oil mills and (2) production of biodiesel with methane capture at the palm oil mills.

2) Fertili z ers input used for the calculation of emission from oil palm plantations (Table

4 ) is based on average va lues (based on hectarage) obtained from 10 2 plantations in Malaysia.

Table 4 : Fertilizers, pesticides and diesel usage for 105 plantations

Input I/O Unit Amount

N fertilizer Input kg/t FFB 3.49

P 2 O 5 fertilizer Input kg/t FFB 2.8

K 2 O fertilizer Input k g/t FFB 11.5

Pesticides Input kg/t FFB 0.126

Diesel Input litre/t FFB 2.37

Yield Output t FFB /ha.a 20.5

3) Transportation of fresh fruit bunches, crude palm oil and refined palm oil are based on diesel consumption and trucks available in Malaysia.

4) Biodiese l produced is transported via ship over a distance of 5,500 nautical miles (10,189 km) for distribution (exports).

5) Allocation of co

- products such as palm kernel and glycerine are carried out based on energy allocation.