Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 21092118

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An alternative energy source from palm wastes industry for Malaysia and Indonesia
T.M.I. Mahlia a,*, M.Z. Abdulmuin a, T.M.I. Alamsyah b, D. Mukhlishien c
b a Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Syiah Kuala, 23111 Darussalam, Banda Aceh, Indonesia c Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Syiah Kuala, 23111 Darussalam, Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Received 12 July 2000; accepted 6 December 2000

Abstract Malaysia and Indonesia are the largest producers of palm oil product. The palm oil industry has contributed the biggest income to the countries for many years. Moreover, palm oils has emerged as one of the most important oils in the worlds oils and the market of fats. About 90% of palm oil is used as food related products worldwide, and the other 10% is used for basic raw material for soap. There are more than a hundred palm oil processing mills in the two countries. As such, a lot of savings can be done by using the ber and shell from the processing wastes as an alternative fuel for electricity generation for this industry. This paper deals with energy conversion from the ber and shell of the industry wastes as an alternative energy source for the palm oil mill industry in the two countries mentioned. The study concentrates on using the ber and shell obtained from the processing of palm oil as fuels for the boiler instead of fossil fuel. In addition, the possibility of excess air and fuel air ratio for the ber and shell combustion process is also discussed. Furthermore, it has been found that the shell and ber alone can supply more steam and electricity than is required. Some palm oil mills in Malaysia and Indonesia have applied this strategy successfully. The FELDA palm oil mill, with the capacity 3060 tons FFB/h, in Sungai Tengi, Selangor, Malaysia has been selected for this research. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Energy conversion; Alternative energy sources; Biomass fuel

Corresponding author. Tel.: +60-3-759-5283; fax: +60-3-759-5317. E-mail address: indra@fk.um.edu.my (T.M.I. Mahlia).

0196-8904/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 9 6 - 8 9 0 4 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 6 6 - 7

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Nomenclature As C Ee Ep Er EFB FFA FFB H Hu Huf Hus LHV LHVf LHVfs LHVs Mf Ms me mp mo O S wA wF gb ash carbon electricity required to process FFB (kW) potential energy conversion from ber and shell (kJ/kg) energy to produce steam (kJ/kg) empty fruit bunch free fatty acid fresh fruit bunch hydrogen caloric value (kJ/kg) caloric value of ber (kJ/kg) caloric value of shell (kJ/kg) lower heating value (kJ/kg) lower heating value of ber (kJ/kg) lower heating value of mixed ber and shell (kJ/kg) lower heating value of shell (kJ/kg) ber production per hour (kg/h) shell production per hour (kg/h) steam required to generate electricity (kg/h) Steam required to process FFB (kg/h) potential steam obtained (kg/h) oxygen sulfur theoretical air required per kg of fuel (kg/kgf ) fuel (ber and shell) consumption (kg/s) boiler eciency (%)

1. Introduction The worlds demand for energy grows rapidly, and therefore, the time has come to look for alternative sources of energy, such as renewable energy, to replace the rapidly depleting supply of fossil fuel. Producing energy from renewable oil palm wastes can contribute to avoiding the use of fossil fuel for this industry. Palm oil has been one of the success stories of the Malaysian and Indonesian agricultural sector. From the early 1920s the palm oil industry has developed rapidly, especially in the years 19602000. Although Malaysia is moving towards heavy industrialization, the agriculturally based industries, such as palm oil industries, would remain at present. In Indonesia, after the economic turmoil in July 1997, the country has changed government policy from industrial to agricultural in order to return the economy to the right track. For the last three years, many giant palm oil plantations and processing industries have been developed in the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

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The oil palm is grown for its oils. Palm oil is extracted from the mesocarp and kernel of the matured fruits on the FFB. An oil palm starts to produce three years after eld planting. The production increases to a maximum in the rst 10 years and usually tends to decline slowly thereafter. With the present plant, FFB yields are usually more than 25 tons/ha/year. Presently, there are more than 1.46 million hectares of land under palm oil cultivation, which produce 4.13 million tons of palm oil per year. In other words, a total of more than 19.7 million tons FFB were processed per year [1]. 2. Palm oil mill process Research shows that all the palm oil mills in Malaysia and Indonesia use small boilers for electricity generation and the palm oil extraction processes. The common type of power plant used is a small water tube boiler. The boiler is a standard open D-type boiler, which is accessible to use any type of fuel with a few modications. This type of boiler is able to process 3060 tons FFB/h. Some primary palm oil mill processes are explained in the following section. 2.1. Sterilization When the fruit bunches are cut from an oil palm and stored for several days, much of the fruit loosens naturally and may be shaken or knocked o the bunches. If the fruits were simply pounded in a mortar and pressed cold, an oil having a very high FFA content would be obtained. This would happen because the fat splitting enzymes present in the pericarp would remain active and would hydrolyze much of the oil when the fruit was pulped in the mortar. The oil yield obtained on pressing would be very small. It would be possible to avoid such a rise in FFA during the pulping process and obtain high oil yield from naturally stripped fruit. This fruit must be cooked before being digested and pressed. Both processes can be done using steam above atmospheric pressure. The pressure vessel used for cooking palm fruit with steam is known as a sterilizer and the process as sterilization. 2.2. Stripping The objective of stripping is to separate the sterilized fruits from the sterilized bunch stalks. 2.3. Digestion After the bunches have been stripped, the sterilized fruit, together with the accompanying calyx leaves, must be reheated and the pericarp loosened from the nuts and prepared for pressing. This is performed in steam heated vessels with stirring arms, known as digesters or kettles. 2.4. Oil extraction The most usual method of extracting oil from the digested palm fruit is by pressing. The type of press used in this palm oil is the screw type press.

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2.5. Clarication The crude oil extracted from the digested palm fruit by pressing contains varying amounts of water, together with impurities consisting of vegetable matter, some of which is in the form of insoluble solid and some of which is dissolved in the water. The water present in the crude palm oil can largely be removed by settling or centrifuging, since most of it is free or undissolved. A small proportion of it, however, is dissolved in the oil and this can only be removed by evaporation in the dehydrator with or without the assistance of vacuum. 2.6. Nut/ber separation When the digested fruit is pressed to extract the oil, a cake made up of nuts and ber is produced. The composition of this cake varies considerably, being dependent on the type of fruit. The cake is given a preliminary breaking treatment before being fed into the nut/ber separator that may bring about separation by mechanical means or by the use of an air stream. 2.7. Kernel extraction and drying When the ber has been separated from the nuts, the latter can then be prepared for cracking and cracked. Any uncracked nuts must be removed and recycled and the shell separated from the kernels. The kernels must then be dried and cleaned, if necessary, before being bagged. The complete operational process and product of the palm oil mill industry are shown in Fig. 1, and the complete ow diagrams of mass balance of 30 tons FFB/h of the palm oil mill process are shown in Fig. 2 [1].

3. Biomass fuel from fresh fruit bunch The FELDA palm oil mill in Sungai Tengi, Selangor, Malaysia, has been selected for the analysis. The capacity of a palm oil mill is dened as the rate of processing FFB in terms of tons per hour. The capacity of a large scale mill ranges from 10 to 60 tons FFB/h. The palm oil mill used for this study has a capacity of 3060 tons FFB/h in two boilers. Each boiler can produce about 4200 kg of ber and 1800 kg of shell per hour. This boiler has been designed with a maximum continuous rating of 18,780 kg/h, superheater outlet pressure at 22 bar and steam temperature at 250C. The biomass from FFB as fuels for the boiler can be classied as: 1. 2. 3. 4. ber, shell, empty fruit bunches (EFB), palm oil mill euent (POME).

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Fig. 1. Process operation and product of palm oil mill.

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Fig. 2. Mass balance of 30 tons FFB/h mill.

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From the processing of 1 ton of FFB/h the mill produces 140 kg of ber and 60 kg of shell [2] per hour. Therefore, for the 30 tons FFB/h mill, it produces 4200 kg of ber and 1800 kg of shell per hour. 3.1. Energy conversion from palm wastes The calculation is based on a mill with a capacity of 30 tons FFB/h. For potential energy conversion calculation, it is sucient to consider only the ber and shell, since the EFB has to be shredded and dehydrated in order to render it more easily combustible, and this will only increase the cost for pretreatment. Therefore, it will not be considered for fuel. The fuel is only comprised of 6% shell and 14% ber with an average density of 1.02 kg/m [1]. The chemical composition on the dry basis of palm oil wastes is shown in Table 1 [3]. Based on the chemical composition in Table 1, the gross caloric value of the ber and shell are calculated by the Dulong formula as: Hu 2:32114; 093C 61; 095H O=8 1 Based on Eq. (1), the gross caloric value of ber Huf is 17,422 kJ/kg, and the gross caloric value of 35% wet and 65% dry ber is 11,324 kJ/kg. However, the gross caloric value of shell Hus is 19,462 kJ/kg, and the gross caloric value of 10% wet and 90% dry shell is 17,516 kJ/kg. The actual fuel is comprised of 70% Fiber and 30% shell so that the lower heating value per kg of the fuels mixed can be calculated by the following formula: LHVfs 0:7LHVf 0:3LHVs 2 Based on Eq. (2), the lower heating value per kg of the fuels mixed is about 13,182 kJ/kg, so that the potential energy conversion from the ber and shell for that particular palm oil mill is calculated by the following formula: Ep Mf LHVf Ms LHVs 3 Based on Eq. (3), the potential energy conversion for the 30 tons FFB/h mill, which produces 4200 kg of ber and 1800 kg of shell per hour is about 72,083,200 kJ/kg. 3.2. Electricity requirement of a palm oil mill The electrical energy required to process 1 ton of FFB is about 20 kW h [2]. Therefore, the electrical power required to process 30 tons FFB/h is
Table 1 Chemical composition on dry basis of palm oil wastes Element H C S N O Ash EFB (%) 6.3 48.8 0.2 0.2 36.7 7.3 Fiber (%) 6.0 47.2 0.3 1.4 36.7 8.4 Shell (%) 6.3 52.4 0.2 0.6 37.3 3.2

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Ee 30 20 600 kW The steam required to generate 600 kW electrical power at 30 kg/kW at 20 bars is: me 600 30 18; 000 kg=h The steam required to process 30 tons FFB/h at 500 kg/ton is: mp 500 30 15; 000 kg=h The results from Eq. (3) show that for 30 tons FFB/h mill, the potential produced energy is about 72,083,200 kJ/kg. With a boiler eciency of 68%, therefore, the available energy to raise steam is [1]: Er gb Ep 0:68 72; 083; 200 49; 016; 576 kJ=kg: The energy required to generated 1 kg of steam is about 2590 kJ [2]. Therefore, the potential steam obtained is: mo Er =2590 49; 016; 576=2590 18; 925 kg=h According to the above calculation, there is more than sucient steam to generate electricity for the milling processes, and the exhaust steam from the boiler can also be used for the FFB sterilization.

4. Fiber and shell combustion processes Because of changing the fuel in the boiler, the excess air for the ber and shell fuel has to be identied in order to get a perfect combustion process. Excess air is necessary in the combustion process because it has many eects on the boiler performance. This section presents the suitable excess air for ber and shell as an alternative fuel for the boiler. The amount of oxygen required for complete combustion of a kg of a substance and the products of combustion are shown in Table 2 [4].

Table 2 Amount of oxygen required for complete combustion and products of combustion Element O2 required for combustion of 1 kg substance (kg) 8 2.67 0.57 1 4 Product of combustion

H2 O (kg) H2 C CO S CH4 9 2.25

CO2 (kg) 3.67 1.67 2.75

SO2 (kg) 2

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4.1. Fiber From the chemical composition on the dry basis of palm oil wastes in Table 1, it can be assumed that 1 kg of ber contains: 0.472 kg of C, 0.060 kg of H2 , 0.003 kg of S, 0.367 kg of O2 . Therefore, the amount of oxygen required to burn 0.472 kg of C is 0:472 2:67 1:26024 kg. The amount of oxygen required to burn 0.06 kg of H2 is 0:06 8 0:48 kg. The amount of oxygen required to burn 0.003 kg of S is 0:003 1 0:003 kg. Hence, the total amount of oxygen (O2 ) required to burn the C, H and S in the ber is 1:26024 0:48 0:003 kg 1:74324 kg. O2 already present in ber is 0.367 kg, O2 to be supplied is 1:74324 0:367 1:37624 kg. Therefore, the amount of air theoretically required is 1:37624 100=23 5:98 kg=kg fiber. 4.2. Shell From the chemical composition on the dry basis of palm oil wastes in Table 1, it can assumed that 1 kg of shell contains; 0.524 kg of C, 0.063 kg of H2 , 0.002 kg of S, 0.373 kg of O2 . The amount of O2 required to burn 0.524 kg of C is 0:524 2:67 1:39908 kg. The amount of O2 required to burn 0.063 kg of H2 is 0:063 8 0:504 kg. The amount of O2 required to burn 0.002 kg of S2 is 0:002 1 0:002 kg. Therefore, the total amount of O2 required to burn the C, H2 and S in the shell is 1:39908 0:504 0:002 kg 1:90508 kg. O2 already present in the shell is 0.373 kg. O2 to be supplied is 1:90508 0:373 kg 1:53208 kg. Therefore, the amount of air required per kg of shell is 1:53208 100=23 6:66 kg=kg of shell. 4.3. Airfuel ratio It is found that 1 kg of FFB contains 0.14 kg of ber and 0.06 kg of shell. Therefore, 1 kg of bulk fuel (ber and shell) contains: fiber 0:14=0:06 0:14 0:7 kg shell 1 0:7 0:3 kg: Hence, the theoretical air required per kg of fuel is wA 0:7 5:98 0:3 6:66 6:184 kg=kg of fuel The mill is operated at 30 tons FFB/h and from the previous calculations, it is found that 1000 kg of FFB contains 200 kg of fuel (140 kg of ber and 60 kg of shell). Hence, 30 tons of FFB contains: 30 200 6000 kg of fuel: The fuel consumption per second is wF 6000=3600 kg=s 1:67 kg of fuel=s. Therefore, the air quantity required for complete combustion is wA 6:184 kg=kg of fuel 1:67 kg of fuel=s 10:327 kg=s. The air quantity per kg of fuel with 30% excess air is wA 10:327 30=100 10:327 13:425 kg=s, therefore the air fuel ratio is wA =wF 13:425=1:67 8:039.

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5. Conclusions As tropical countries, Malaysia and Indonesia are considered to be very fortunate because of having palm oil plantations. Besides re-planting of burned rain forests, the plantation also oers many jobs for unskilled workers in the countries. In the energy point of view, the advantage of the palm oil industry is that the ber and shell can be conveniently used as fuel for the steam boiler which is the heart of a palm oil mill. This energy is considered as free for the palm oil milling process. The calculation has shown that the shell and ber alone can generate more than enough energy to meet the energy demand of the palm oil mill. Another advantage of using the ber and shell as a boiler fuel is that it helps to dispose of these bulky materials which otherwise would contribute to environmental pollution. The ash from the combustion process is also found suitable for fertilizer for the palm oil plantation.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment for nancial support under IRPA project no. 03-02-03-0353.

References
[1] Mahlia TMI. Dynamic modeling, simulation, and experimental validation of a palm oil mill boiler. M. Eng. Sc. Thesis, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1997. [2] Ngan MA, Ong ASH. PORIM Bulletin, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, vol. 14. 1987. p. 10. [3] Shai AF. PORIM Bulletin, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, vol. 1. 1991. p. 59. [4] Denzel PD. Fundamentals of boiler house techniques. Hutchinson Educational, 1973.