Judul: A Sustainable Supply Chain Model of Palm Kernel Shell as Renewable Energy Source for Industries in Cikarang Area
Abstrak: Depleting stockpile of fossil fuels and rising global temperature due to the greenhouse effect are probably the two most threatening factors to civilization sustainability. Converting biomass into a readily available energy source would help reduce dependency on fossil fuels, whilst at the same time moderating greenhouse gas emission due to its carbon neutrality. Among various wastes from palm oil processing, palm kernel shell (PKS) is an oil palm biomass with high potential to be applied as a source of renewable energy for industries, given its high caloric value and distinctive physical properties. This source of renewable energy can be utilized by industries with thermal conversion processes. The current poor performance of palm kernel shell supply chain may hamper the realization of this renewable energy potential, it is therefore necessary to build a more effective, efficient, and sustainable supply chain model. Biomass like PKS can be utilized for industrial purposes after it is proven to be technically, environmentally and economically feasible. In this study, a combination of literature study and field observation was conducted to determine the feasibility of palm kernel shell in the case study of ceramic powder spray drying. From technical aspects, relevant thermophysical properties, suitable heat conversion technologies, and applicable quality parameters were identified. The drying performance and thermal efficiency were selected as key indicators to prove the feasibility of palm kernel shell. In terms of the environmental feasibility, the life-cycle assessment method was deployed to determine greenhouse gas emissions from the usage of palm kernel shell in comparison with natural gas and coal under a similar industrial application. To determine the economic feasibility, discounted cash flow analyses were carried out across three alternative fuels. Palm kernel shell has some distinctive supply and demand characteristics that need to be well understood prior to build a robust, effective, efficient, and sustainable supply chain model for industrial applications. This study attempted to investigate those characteristics along with regulatory aspects that may influence supply, demand, and supply chain of palm kernel shells. Various factors, impacting supply quantity, cost, lead-time, and quality uncertainties, were identified through a series of in-depth interviews, questionnaires, and field observations, involving the chain actors. The potential demand of palm kernel shell for industries in Cikarang area was estimated based on questionnaires and industries scanning. Whilst demand criteria for the fuel selection among palm kernel shell, natural gas, and coal were determined by deploying the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method. As with other biomass, the supply chain of palm kernel shell involves collection processes, storage facilities, and a transportation network, which is dynamic and optimizable. Soft systems dynamics methodology (SSDM) was implemented in this study, by which its key feature of system dynamics has been recognized as one of the most ideal modeling techniques for studying complex and multivariate systems. The study demonstrated how to apply system dynamics in combination with discrete event simulations in analyzing and designing a sustainable supply system of palm kernel shell through mathematical modeling and simulations, which captured the long-term effect of and the interactions among supply chain design variables and parameters. This research proved
Keyword: palm kernel shell, push and pull supply chains, renewable energy, soft system dynamics, supply chain modeling