Alternative POME Treatment Technology in the Implementation of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO), and Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Standards Using LCA and AHP Methods

Abstract

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a major concern as open lagoon technology is not environment-friendly. Therefore, the palm oil industry refers to a roundtable on sustainable palm oil (RSPO), Indonesian sustainable palm oil (ISPO), and Malaysian sustainable palm oil (MSPO) standards for POME treatment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. An alternative POME treatment technology is the combination of open lagoon technology (COLT) with composting, biogas technology plus composting, biogas technology plus membrane, and biogas technology plus land application. The objective of this study is to analyze the life cycle assessment (LCA) result using a multi-criteria decision approach and to determine the implementation of POME treatment in the RSPO, ISPO, and MSPO standards. The LCA system boundary was considered from gate-to-gate and unit per ton of fresh fruit bunch as a functional unit. SimaPro® was used as the LCA analysis tool; Expert Choice® and Super Decision Software® were used to perform the analytic hierarchy process and analytic network process, respectively. In this study, COLT–Biogas plus composting technology had the maximum priority weight (0.470), according to the opinion of experts. The results could help palm oil mill decision-makers in choosing environment-friendly POME treatment technology.