Biogas Utilization for supporting the Sustainability of Palm Oil Mill

Abstract

Indonesia, as the largest palm oil production country, currently facing various criticisms from European countries related to environmental issues from Crude Palm Oil industries. One way to reduce the criticism impacts, is to obtain a certificate related to the sustainability of Crude Palm Oil industries, which issued by a national or even an international body. Based on the sustainability standards, POM (Palm Oil Mill) should prevent the gas emission/methane gas generated from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) which emitted to the atmosphere. By captured methane gas and utilize as fuel for the boiler (biogas co-firing) or fuel for the gas engine for captive power, the emission gas amount emitted to the atmosphere can be reduced. All selected technologies in this study utilize biogas/methane gas. The economic analysis of each selected technology is assessed by using an economic parameter of IRR (Internal Rate of Return) and NPV (Net Present Value). It is proved that the biogas power plant integrated with the pellet factory shows the highest IRR, however, the biogas co-firing is the easiest technology among the selected technology and also the implementation is feasible for supporting the sustainability of POM though the IRR is the lowest one.