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UNIT 2 CASE STUDY #1

ECONOMICS OF WASTE
MANAGEMENT OF PALM OIL
MILL EFFLUENT (POME)
Picture of POME here

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Outline

Title of case study

Objective
Overview
Background info
Palm oil industry
Palm oil processes
POME
Characteristics
Method of treatment

 Issues of POME
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Advantages
Disadvantages
Environmental impact (untreated)
COD, BOD
Methane (GHG, etc.)
Etc.

Environmental issues

Emissions
Methane, CO2, GWP, GHG
Water quality, biodiversity
E3

Economics of waste management (Cost benefit

analysis)
Unit assessment tasks
Required structure of report for case study

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Overview
The case study aims to collect methane gas generated in the POME treatment
process, and so utilize it as a boiler an additional fuel (the others being fiber
and shell) for the generation of steam and electricity.
Palm oil mill effluent (POME) discharged from the CPO production process
currently undergoes anaerobic and aerobic lagoon treatment to comply with
the effluent standard in Malaysia.
This treatment releases a large quantity of methane gas into the atmosphere,
which has 21 times of effects compared with CO2 as GHGs.
Another issue is the contamination (COD, BOD etc.)

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Background on the palm oil

industries

Palm oil is for food and non

food uses
Malaysias palm oil production
grew from 370,000 ton (1969)
to 14 million ton (2004)
accounting to 46% of the world
export
Total planted areas are 3875
million hectares from both the
small holders and big
plantations [2004 data;
Ministry of Plantation
Industries and Commodities].
Palm oil consumption: EU 25
(48.2 kg/per); China (18.9
kg/per); India (11.5 kg/per)

Source: ANUGA Food Tec, Koln, Germany 2004

Small
Holding
Plantation
9.5%

Big
Plantation
90.5%

Schematic of Current Process

POME
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A typical palm oil mill operation

outputs/inputs
Input item
FFB
Electricity
Diesel
Fibre (fuel)
Shell (fuel)
Water (steam)

Quantity
5.1
103
3.17
0.5
0.18
3.21

Unit
ton
kWh
litre
ton
ton
ton

Output Item
CPO
Emission
Shell
Mesocarp
EFB
POME
Boiler ash
Flue gas
particulate
CO
CO2
SO2
Nox
Wastewater
CH4

Quantity Unit
1
ton
Quantity
0.12
0.11
1.19
3.1
0.015

Unit
ton
ton
ton
m3
ton

0.05
0.16
86.4
0.0017
0.12
3.54
56.18

kg
kg
kg
kg
kg
m3
m3

S.S.Chen, Hasnah Mohd. Zin; Development of LCI for Biofuel Production from
Palm Oil, Proceedings of Meeting for LCA in ASEAN Biomass Project,
14th 16th Nov 2006, Tsukuba japan.

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WHAT IS POME?
It comprises of organic compounds originating
from vegetable materials, readily decomposed
by anaerobic and aerobic bacteria.
It is a waste product of the palm oil industries in
Malaysia. The other waste products are

Empty fruit bunches (EFB)

Mesocarp fibre
Palm kernel shells
Palm kernel cake

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POME is normally discharged at a

temperature of 80 90C to lagoon systems
for waste water treatment.

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Characteristics of POME
It is an acidic brownish colloidal
suspension with high contents of organics
and solids.
More information on characteristics of raw
POME may be obtained here.

POME Characteristics
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The POME Pollution Problem

Severe pollution was caused by the discharge of POME
into watercourses.
If it is discharged into water courses,
the biological reaction will deplete the dissolved
oxygen in the water.
affect aquatic life that provide a significant share of
the diet of villagers.
polluted rivers and streams becomes unsuitable for
human consumption.
Now, strict regulations [effluents quality shall not
exceed 5000 mgL-1] by the government have reduced
BOD load from 0% in 1978 to 99% in 1989.

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More explanation of problem

Explanation of BOD, COD, regulation,
untreated POME, methane
Environmental problem
Economic problem

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RELATED KEYWORDS

Biological oxidation demand (BOD)

Chemical oxidation demand (COD)
Crude palm oil (CPO)
Fresh fruit branches (FFB)

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KEYWORD: BOD
BOD - biochemical (biological) oxygen
demand is a test used to measure the
concentration of biodegradable organic matter
present in a sample of water. It can be used to
infer the general quality of the water and its
degree of pollution and it is used in water quality
management and assessment, Ecology and
environmental science. BOD is not an accurate
quantitative test and should be considered as
providing an indicator of the quality of a water
body. (source wikipedia)

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KEYWORD: COD
In environmental chemistry, the chemical
oxygen demand (COD) test is commonly used
to indirectly measure the amount of organic
compounds in water. Most applications of COD
determine the amount of organic pollutants
found in surface water (e.g. lakes and rivers),
making COD a useful measure of water quality.
It is expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/L),
which indicates the mass of oxygen consumed
per liter of solution. Older references may
express the units as parts per million (ppm).
(source wikipedia)

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Activity 1:
Activity:
A businessman has been supplying FFB to a mill from his 24.7 acres of an oil palm plantation for 5 years.
Assuming
Identify
anareindustry
oftrees
a country
with
environmental
that there
about 1500 palm
in his plantation,
calculate
the possible amount of methane
impacts
and
discuss
them
terms
of.
yield
(m3) from the
POME
that his company
has in
helped
to generate
emissions/discharge/etc before and after regulations have
been imposed. This could be the industry where the
economics of waste management may be studied further
along in this case study.

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Methods of treatment
Schematic diagram of process & where in
process steps can be taken to mitigate
problem

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The POME Solution

Among the current uses of POME are;
Production of methane [CH4] for electricity
Mixed with other materials to form animal feed
Chemical processing into bio-acids [acetic,
propionic, and butyric acids] and organic
acids for bioplastics (PHA).
Composting, mixing with other waste from the
palm oil mill.

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Methanation of POME
Studies showed that 375 x 106 m3 or 225 Gg of CH4 is
evolved from open pond systems from POME treatment,
accounting for 10% of CH4 inventory in Malaysia.
The CH4 amounts to 5,170 Gg in CO2 equivalent, or
3.6% of the estimated total emissions in
Malaysia.[activity suggested: leave this as an acitivity
calculating Co2 equivalent]
Amount of methane produced varies with temperature
and digestion process; thermophilic [organisms
preferring warmer temperatures] or mesophilic
[organisms that grows best in moderate temperatures;
25-40 C].
Studies have shown that methane yield of 0.47 0.92
m3kg-1 BOD added is produced[yr of data]

Methanation and capturing of methane from POME

Example : Anaerobic Digester
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Calculation of CH4 emissions arising from the secondary

treatment of POME from open lagoons according to IPCC
guidelines
(http://cdm.unfccc.int/UserManagement/FileStorage)

POME

Anaerobic Digester
Pressurized
storage vessel

Evaluate Reactor size

compressors
Biogas storage system

scrubbers

Piping & housing

Power generation
Evaluate present boiler size and heat
requirement (Modification)

Economic evaluation
Life-cycle cost
benefit
Simple payback

Anaerobic Digester

Sample
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Overall Schematic of Case Study

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Uncertainties of Methanation Process

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Technological proven ?
Economically feasible ?
Constant supply ? (quality and quantity)
Availability & distribution ? (nationwide)
The technologies and system to be in
the project shall be determined in
terms of:
Efficiency
Stability
Cost

Methodology
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Draw up a list of possible realistic

and credible alternatives for the
treatment of POME

Eliminate alternatives that are not

complying with applicable laws
and regulations

Compare economic
attractiveness of remaining
alternatives
- Life-cycle cost benefit
- Simple payback

- Incremental investment costs

- O&M costs and;
- All other costs of implementing the technology
of the each alternative option.
- All revenues generated by the implementation
of the technology

 Economic analysis

Cost benefit analysis

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 Reactor Sys
Storage system
Comp & scrubbers
Piping
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Activity 1:
Activity
2:
A businessman has been supplying FFB to a mill from his 24.7 acres of an oil palm plantation for 5 years.
A businessman
been
FFB to
a mill
fromamount
hisof24.7
Assuming that therehas
are about
1500supplying
palm trees in his plantation,
calculate
the possible
methane
acres of
palm
forhelped
5 years.
yieldan
(m3) oil
from the
POMEplantation
that his company has
to generate.Assuming that there are
about 1500 palm trees in his plantation..more data, calculate
the possible amount of methane yield (m3) from the POME
that his company has helped to generate.
Economic analysis and the mitigated amount of CH4

Click here for help [1 hectare = 2.471 acres].

Some oil palm mills have their operations in peak and trough periods which
run in four and eight months respectively.
Production of FFB is about 51% of the annual FFB output during the trough
period with 240 m3 per day of wastewater used. More wastewater is utilized
during the peak period, 450 m3/day.

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Mill Production Capacity

Big Plantation
Capacity
140 palm tree
s/hectare
Weight of FFB
25 kg
Monthly average production 1.21 FFB/palm/month
per palm
(0.03025 ton/palm/month)
Average FFB yield
20 ton/hectare/year

Small Holding Plantation

148 palm trees/hectare
15 kg
0.75 FFB/palm/month (0.0112
ton/palm/month)
14.8 ton/hectare/year

 A Table to show the result of the CBA on

the POME solution
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References
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Biomass Utilization in Malaysia: Current Status of Conversion of Biomass into

Bioproducts, M. A. HASSAN & S. YACOB, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), 2005

The World Bank Group, Malaysia: Experience in Effluent Control in the Palm Oil
Industry Specific approach: standards and charges, 2005

American Palm Oil Council, The Environmental Effect of Palm Oil Plantation, 2004

MPOB (2004a), MPOB 1st, 2nd Half and Monthly Palm Oil Prices: August 2004
(RM/Tonne). Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
http://161.142.157.2/home2/home/ei_tajukmon02.html (last updated 16th august 2004)

MPOB (2004b), Malaysian Oil Palm Statistics 2003. Economics and Industry
Development Division, Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
http://161.142.157.2/home2/home/ei_tajukmon02.html (last updated 16th august 2004),
Kelana Jaya.
S. Sinnappa International Conference on Water Pollution Control in Developing
Countries, Bangkok, February 1978 Treatment Studies of Palm Oil Mill waste effluent