Capturing Biogas: A Means to Reduce Green House Gas Emissions for the Production of Crude Palm Oil

Abstract

Problem statement: The Malaysian oil palm industry is an important industry to the nation. In 2009 alone the total export earnings reached RM 49.6 billion. The industry is under constant attack of its performance from the perspective of the environment, especially with regard to its Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions. Being an export orientated industry; this issue has to be tackled head on to quantify the GHG emissions of the oil palm industry. Approach: About 12 palm oil mills were selected for this gate to gate case study. Inventory data which consisted of raw material, energy usage and gaseous emissions were collected from the selected palm oil mills over a period of 3 years. A comparative study was conducted to compare the GHG emissions of the production of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) with and without allocation and biogas capture. GHG emissions from all sources are summed up and changed into units of CO 2 equivalent (CO 2 eq) which is used to standardize GHG emissions.