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Oil Palm

Re-engineering palm oil mills into centres of energy efficiency

Palm oil mills can unleash renewable energy at enormously high energy efficiency levels arising from the unique characteristics of their operating parameters.

Palm oil mills are in an enviable position to harness increased quantities of renewable energy at very high efficiencies, the potential of which remains largely unrealised.

At the moment, palm oil mills tend to focus on milling operations. They are predominantly concerned with the core business revolving around the processing of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) and oil extraction rates. However, a new premise envisions mills operating as centres of energy efficiency.

The bulk of the FFB mass from the field transported to the mill for processing is discharged as biomass residue. Of this residue, the energy content of the mesocarp fibre and palm kernel shells are being used in inefficient ways to provide the energy needs of the mill. In actual fact, palm oil mills can unleash renewable energy at enormously high energy efficiency levels arising from the unique characteristics of their operating parameters.

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Oil Palm

Re-ingeniería Molinos de Aceite de Palma en Centros de Eficiencia Energética

Molinos de aceite de palma pueden dar rienda suelta a las energías renovables en niveles altísimos de eficiencia energética derivados de las características únicas de sus parámetros de funcionamiento.

Molinos de aceite de palma están en una posición envidiable para aprovechar la energía renovable a muy altas eficiencias, el potencial de que sigue siendo en gran parte no realizada.

Molinos de aceite de palma en general, tienden a centrarse en las operaciones de fresado. Son predominantemente preocupado con la actividad principal gira en torno a la transformación de los Racimos de Fruta Fresca (RFF) y las tasas de extracción de aceite.  Sin embargo hay una nueva premisa de que prevé molinos para operar como centros de eficiencia energética.

Molinos de aceite de palma descargan grandes cantidades de biomasa, que es generalmente considerada como un producto de desecho. La mayor parte de la masa RFF desde el campo transportado al molino para el procesamiento se descarga como residuo de biomasa. Este residuo proporciona una rica fuente de abundante energía renovable si se las orienta a altas eficiencias. Sin embargo, en la actualidad la energía potencial inherente no es ni completamente apreciado ni explotada de una manera apropiada. Optimizar el aprovechamiento de la energía renovable reduce el dióxido de carbono (CO2) de la producción de aceite de palma, y de ahí su huella de carbono.

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Oil Palm

Merekayasa ulang Pabrik Kelapa Sawit Menjadi Pusat Efisiensi Energi

Pabrik Kelapa Sawit dapat menghasilkan energi terbarukan dengan tingkat efisiensi yang luar biasa besar timbul dari karakteristik unik dari parameter operasinya.

Pabrik kelapa sawit (PKS) berada pada posisi yang menguntungkan untuk memanfaatkan energi terbarukan dengan efisiensi yang sangat tinggi, potensi yang sebagian besar masih belum direalisasi.

PKS umumnya cenderung fokus pada operasi pengolahan. Pada umumnya perhatian mereka ada pada seputaran mengolah tandan buah segar (TBS) dan rendemen minyak. Namun ada kenyataan baru yang menyatakan bahwa pabrik kelapa sawit dapat beroperasi sebagai pusat efisiensi energi.

PKS menghasilkan sejumlah besar biomassa, yang umumnya dianggap sebagai limbah. Sebagian besar massa TBS yang diangkut dari lapangan diolah di PKS dihasilkan sebagai sisa produksi (biomassa).

Sisa ini mengandung sumber energi terbarukan yang melimpah jika dimanfaatkan dengan efisiensi tinggi. Namun, saat ini potensi energi yang ada pada biomass tersebut belum sepenuhnya dihargai atau dimanfaatkan dengan cara yang tepat. Pemanfaratan energi terbarukan secara optimal dapat mengurangi emisi karbon dioksida (CO2) produksi minyak kelapa sawit, dan juga jejak karbonnya.

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Renewable Energy

National Policies on Renewable Energy Utilisation and Abatement of Global Warming

Malaysia’s Policies on Renewable Energy and Global Warming that Went Awry

sustainable energy

The Fifth-Fuel Policy under the Eight Malaysia Plan (2001- 2005) identified renewable energy sources as the fifth-fuel to be included into the national energy mix and more specifically, biomass residue from the palm oil mills as a major renewable energy resource. The policy pushed for optimising the use of renewable energy resources as a way to achieve maximum reduction of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. The fifth-fuel policy delved further to encourage co-generation as a suitable method to extract electricity and usable heat from biomass resources, mainly for in-house consumption. In this respect, the implementation of the policy faulted on two accounts:

  1. Firstly, by narrowly interpreting the policy direction as renewable for electricity generation the other important aspect, i.e. the simultaneous production of usable heat for in-house use was disregarded; and
  2. As a result of (1) above, standalone biomass-based power plants incinerating empty fruit bunches (EFB) remains from palm oil mills were promoted. This led to the second neglect, namely, prime biomass resource in the palm oil mills, which comprises mesocarp fibre and palm kernel shell that has tremendous renewable energy potential. The neglect of this prime biomass resource continues till today resulting in leaving their inherent renewable energy potential largely underutilised.

A downside to the two neglects mentioned above is that the standalone-small-scale-low-efficiency-electricity-only power plants burning empty fruit bunches, as forecast, demonstrated to be financially not viable and this unattractive economics continues to hamper biomass renewable energy development in Malaysia till today.

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Energy Efficiency

Selection of Sterilizer Technology for Energy Efficient Operation of Palm Oil Mills

Sterilizer Technology Affects the Overall Energy Efficiency of Palm Oil Mills

The type of sterilizer technology utilised in the palm oil mill greatly affects steam and power demand, and performance of the sterilization process. With the growing demand for energy efficiency at palm oil mills, the selection of sterilizer is based mainly on its relevance to steam and power consumption because this will influence the overall energy efficiency of the palm oil extraction process.

palm-oil-mill-energy-efficiency

The efficient use of energy at a palm oil mill is a major factor that reduces the carbon footprint of palm oil and impact on global warming trends and thus helps prevent climate changes. Utilizing biomass residues generated from the palm oil production process for its energy yield efficiently and productively further determines carbon emissions levels and the sustainability of palm oil production.

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Climate Change

Carbon Footprint of Palm Oil and the Palm Biodiesel Dilemma

There is more to Malaysian B5 biodiesel than meets the eye!

Believe it or not. Read on…

carbon-footprint

Palm Biodiesel Is Not Clean or Green! The Malaysian B5 Biodiesel program is set to release even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than petroleum diesel intensifying global warming. But, it need not be. Tech savvy solutions are already available to confront the Carbon Footprint of Palm Oil, a base feedstock for the Biodiesel, and preserve the environment against global warming effects but the will to adopt appears to be entirely wanting.

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Energy Efficiency

Innovative Technologies and Sustainable Solutions to Overcome the World’s Biggest Challenges – Energy & Climate Change – at Your Palm Oil Mill

Your Local Solution to Curb Global Warming via Efficient Energy Use

pristine environment Energy is fundamental to the quality of our lives. We cannot conceive of development without supply of sustainable energy. But it is becoming increasingly clear that we need sources of energy that have no adverse impact on our environment. The prospect of irreversible climate change coupled with energy security issues necessitate an urgency to shift rapidly to low-carbon, efficient and environmentally-friendly energy systems, regardless of the industry involved.

In such energy systems, energy will come primarily from renewable resources, which are naturally replaced. Thus it is not surprising that the search for energy alternatives involving locally available and renewable resources is one of the main concerns of governments, scientists and business people worldwide. Usually, however, technological innovations are required to harness these renewable energy resources.

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Energy Efficiency

Picking the Low-Hanging Fruit of Energy Efficiency

Recovering Lost Energies in the Malaysian Utility Power Stations

Everyone in the know of renewable energy agrees that the best investment and what should be done first is energy efficiency. Energy efficiency is the low hanging fruit in the economy’s transition to less greenhouse gas emissions. Let’s look at it from the perspective of our Utility Power Stations.

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Renewable Energy

Renewable Energy Bill 2010 Misses the Mark by not setting Efficiency Standards for Harnessing Renewable Energy!

Datuk Peter ChinThe Renewable Energy Bill 2010 was introduced in Parliament by the Hon. Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water on 15 December 2010 for its first reading. This bill was drafted to become the stated regulatory framework to achieve the government’s Renewable Energy (RE) Policy vision, which is stated as “Enhancing the utilisation of indigenous renewable energy resources to contribute towards National electricity supply security and sustainable socio-economic development.”

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Renewable Energy

Optimising the Utilisation of Renewable Energy Resources in the Oil Palm Industry

Greenhouse Gas Emission Control is the Need of the Hour

greenhouse gas

Back in the 70’s there was a wave by countries to promote energy savings and energy efficiency driven by economic reasons following a hefty rise in oil prices. Today again there is another wave, and even more vigorous, but this time exerted by environmental considerations. The call is for sustainability, and more specifically to reduce harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emission urgently to protect the world against climate change. Reducing greenhouse gas emission also goes hand in hand with enhancing our energy security, i.e., reducing dependence on fossil fuel and diversifying energy resources.