Energy Generation from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME): The Environmental Impact Perspective

Palm oil is the most commonly used vegetable oil and is found in consumer products ranging from soap and chocolate to cooking oil. Approximately 90 % of global palm oil is supplied by Malaysia and Indonesia. In 2018, Malaysia and Indonesia set a target to increase their palm oil production to approximately 37.8 Mt and 20.5 Mt. It is anticipated that the palm oil residues generated from the production process will also increase. Palm oil mill residues such as oil palm fronds, oil palm trunks, palm oil mill effluent (POME), mesocarp fibres, palm kernel shells and empty fruit bunches have emerging potential to be converted into value-added products. This study focuses on POME because it has the potential to be used for the generation of renewable energy and Malaysia aims to utilise a greater amount of affordable, clean energy in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. To this end, this study analyses and compares the CO₂ equivalent (CO₂-eq) of two palm oil mills (POMs 1 and 2) that use different POME treatment technologies, namely the covered lagoon bio-digester (CLB; POM 1) and the continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR; POM 2) systems. The results of the analysis show that POM 1 produces 1,077.67 kg CO₂-eq, which is lower than that produced by POM 2 which emits 1,429.28 kg CO₂-eq.