Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 2109±2118

www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

An alternative energy source from palm wastes industry for

Malaysia and Indonesia
T.M.I. Mahlia a,*, M.Z. Abdulmuin a, T.M.I. Alamsyah b, D. Mukhlishien c
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Syiah Kuala, 23111 Darussalam, Banda Aceh, Indonesia
c
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Syiah Kuala, 23111 Darussalam, Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Received 12 July 2000; accepted 6 December 2000

Abstract
Malaysia and Indonesia are the largest producers of palm oil product. The palm oil industry has con-
tributed the biggest income to the countries for many years. Moreover, palm oils has emerged as one of the
most important oils in the worldÕs oils and the market of fats. About 90% of palm oil is used as food related
products worldwide, and the other 10% is used for basic raw material for soap. There are more than a
hundred palm oil processing mills in the two countries. As such, a lot of savings can be done by using the
®ber and shell from the processing wastes as an alternative fuel for electricity generation for this industry.
This paper deals with energy conversion from the ®ber and shell of the industry wastes as an alternative
energy source for the palm oil mill industry in the two countries mentioned. The study concentrates on
using the ®ber and shell obtained from the processing of palm oil as fuels for the boiler instead of fossil fuel.
In addition, the possibility of excess air and fuel air ratio for the ®ber and shell combustion process is also
discussed. Furthermore, it has been found that the shell and ®ber alone can supply more steam and
electricity than is required. Some palm oil mills in Malaysia and Indonesia have applied this strategy
successfully. The FELDA palm oil mill, with the capacity 30±60 tons FFB/h, in Sungai Tengi, Selangor,
Malaysia has been selected for this research. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Energy conversion; Alternative energy sources; Biomass fuel

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +60-3-759-5283; fax: +60-3-759-5317.
E-mail address: indra@fk.um.edu.my (T.M.I. Mahlia).

0196-8904/01/$ - see front matter Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 9 6 - 8 9 0 4 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 6 6 - 7
2110 T.M.I. Mahlia et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 2109±2118

Nomenclature

As ash
C carbon
Ee electricity required to process FFB (kW)
Ep potential energy conversion from ®ber and shell (kJ/kg)
Er energy to produce steam (kJ/kg)
EFB empty fruit bunch
FFA free fatty acid
FFB fresh fruit bunch
H hydrogen
Hu calori®c value (kJ/kg)
Huf calori®c value of ®ber (kJ/kg)
Hus calori®c value of shell (kJ/kg)
LHV lower heating value (kJ/kg)
LHVf lower heating value of ®ber (kJ/kg)
LHVfs lower heating value of mixed ®ber and shell (kJ/kg)
LHVs lower heating value of shell (kJ/kg)
Mf ®ber production per hour (kg/h)
Ms shell production per hour (kg/h)
me steam required to generate electricity (kg/h)
mp Steam required to process FFB (kg/h)
mo potential steam obtained (kg/h)
O oxygen
S sulfur
wA theoretical air required per kg of fuel (kg/kgf )
wF fuel (®ber and shell) consumption (kg/s)
gb boiler eciency (%)

1. Introduction

The worldÕs demand for energy grows rapidly, and therefore, the time has come to look for
alternative sources of energy, such as renewable energy, to replace the rapidly depleting supply of
fossil fuel. Producing energy from renewable oil palm wastes can contribute to avoiding the use of
fossil fuel for this industry. Palm oil has been one of the success stories of the Malaysian and
Indonesian agricultural sector. From the early 1920s the palm oil industry has developed rapidly,
especially in the years 1960±2000. Although Malaysia is moving towards heavy industrialization,
the agriculturally based industries, such as palm oil industries, would remain at present. In In-
donesia, after the economic turmoil in July 1997, the country has changed government policy
from industrial to agricultural in order to return the economy to the right track. For the last three
years, many giant palm oil plantations and processing industries have been developed in the
islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.
 T.M.I. Mahlia et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 2109±2118 2111

The oil palm is grown for its oils. Palm oil is extracted from the mesocarp and kernel of the
matured fruits on the FFB. An oil palm starts to produce three years after ®eld planting. The
production increases to a maximum in the ®rst 10 years and usually tends to decline slowly
thereafter. With the present plant, FFB yields are usually more than 25 tons/ha/year. Presently,
there are more than 1.46 million hectares of land under palm oil cultivation, which produce 4.13
million tons of palm oil per year. In other words, a total of more than 19.7 million tons FFB were
processed per year [1].

2. Palm oil mill process

Research shows that all the palm oil mills in Malaysia and Indonesia use small boilers for
electricity generation and the palm oil extraction processes. The common type of power plant used
is a small water tube boiler. The boiler is a standard open D-type boiler, which is accessible to use
any type of fuel with a few modi®cations. This type of boiler is able to process 30±60 tons FFB/h.
Some primary palm oil mill processes are explained in the following section.

2.1. Sterilization

When the fruit bunches are cut from an oil palm and stored for several days, much of the fruit
loosens naturally and may be shaken or knocked o€ the bunches. If the fruits were simply
pounded in a mortar and pressed cold, an oil having a very high FFA content would be obtained.
This would happen because the fat splitting enzymes present in the pericarp would remain active
and would hydrolyze much of the oil when the fruit was pulped in the mortar. The oil yield ob-
tained on pressing would be very small.
It would be possible to avoid such a rise in FFA during the pulping process and obtain high oil
yield from naturally stripped fruit. This fruit must be cooked before being digested and pressed.
Both processes can be done using steam above atmospheric pressure. The pressure vessel used for
cooking palm fruit with steam is known as a sterilizer and the process as sterilization.

2.2. Stripping

The objective of stripping is to separate the sterilized fruits from the sterilized bunch stalks.

2.3. Digestion

After the bunches have been stripped, the sterilized fruit, together with the accompanying calyx
leaves, must be reheated and the pericarp loosened from the nuts and prepared for pressing. This
is performed in steam heated vessels with stirring arms, known as digesters or kettles.

2.4. Oil extraction

The most usual method of extracting oil from the digested palm fruit is by pressing. The type of
press used in this palm oil is the screw type press.
2112 T.M.I. Mahlia et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 2109±2118

2.5. Clari®cation

The crude oil extracted from the digested palm fruit by pressing contains varying amounts of
water, together with impurities consisting of vegetable matter, some of which is in the form of
insoluble solid and some of which is dissolved in the water. The water present in the crude palm
oil can largely be removed by settling or centrifuging, since most of it is free or undissolved. A
small proportion of it, however, is dissolved in the oil and this can only be removed by evapo-
ration in the dehydrator with or without the assistance of vacuum.

2.6. Nut/®ber separation

When the digested fruit is pressed to extract the oil, a cake made up of nuts and ®ber is pro-
duced. The composition of this cake varies considerably, being dependent on the type of fruit. The
cake is given a preliminary breaking treatment before being fed into the nut/®ber separator that
may bring about separation by mechanical means or by the use of an air stream.

2.7. Kernel extraction and drying

When the ®ber has been separated from the nuts, the latter can then be prepared for crack-
ing and cracked. Any uncracked nuts must be removed and recycled and the shell sepa-
rated from the kernels. The kernels must then be dried and cleaned, if necessary, before being
bagged.
The complete operational process and product of the palm oil mill industry are shown in Fig. 1,
and the complete ¯ow diagrams of mass balance of 30 tons FFB/h of the palm oil mill process are
shown in Fig. 2 [1].

3. Biomass fuel from fresh fruit bunch

The FELDA palm oil mill in Sungai Tengi, Selangor, Malaysia, has been selected for the
analysis. The capacity of a palm oil mill is de®ned as the rate of processing FFB in terms of tons
per hour. The capacity of a large scale mill ranges from 10 to 60 tons FFB/h. The palm oil mill
used for this study has a capacity of 30±60 tons FFB/h in two boilers. Each boiler can produce
about 4200 kg of ®ber and 1800 kg of shell per hour. This boiler has been designed with a
maximum continuous rating of 18,780 kg/h, superheater outlet pressure at 22 bar and steam
temperature at 250°C.
The biomass from FFB as fuels for the boiler can be classi®ed as:

1. ®ber,
2. shell,
3. empty fruit bunches (EFB),
4. palm oil mill e‚uent (POME).
T.M.I. Mahlia et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 2109±2118 2113

Fig. 1. Process operation and product of palm oil mill.

2114 T.M.I. Mahlia et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 2109±2118

Fig. 2. Mass balance of 30 tons FFB/h mill.

 T.M.I. Mahlia et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 2109±2118 2115

From the processing of 1 ton of FFB/h the mill produces 140 kg of ®ber and 60 kg of shell [2]
per hour. Therefore, for the 30 tons FFB/h mill, it produces 4200 kg of ®ber and 1800 kg of shell
per hour.

3.1. Energy conversion from palm wastes

The calculation is based on a mill with a capacity of 30 tons FFB/h. For potential energy
conversion calculation, it is sucient to consider only the ®ber and shell, since the EFB has to be
shredded and dehydrated in order to render it more easily combustible, and this will only increase
the cost for pretreatment. Therefore, it will not be considered for fuel. The fuel is only comprised
of 6% shell and 14% ®ber with an average density of 1.02 kg/m [1]. The chemical composition on
the dry basis of palm oil wastes is shown in Table 1 [3].
Based on the chemical composition in Table 1, the gross calori®c value of the ®ber and shell are
calculated by the Dulong formula as:
Hu ˆ 2:321‰14; 093C ‡ 61; 095…H O=8†Š …1†
Based on Eq. (1), the gross calori®c value of ®ber …Huf † is 17,422 kJ/kg, and the gross calori®c
value of 35% wet and 65% dry ®ber is 11,324 kJ/kg. However, the gross calori®c value of shell
…Hus † is 19,462 kJ/kg, and the gross calori®c value of 10% wet and 90% dry shell is 17,516 kJ/kg.
The actual fuel is comprised of 70% Fiber and 30% shell so that the lower heating value per kg
of the fuels mixed can be calculated by the following formula:
LHVfs ˆ 0:7LHVf ‡ 0:3LHVs …2†
Based on Eq. (2), the lower heating value per kg of the fuels mixed is about 13,182 kJ/kg, so that
the potential energy conversion from the ®ber and shell for that particular palm oil mill is cal-
culated by the following formula:
Ep ˆ Mf LHVf ‡ Ms LHVs …3†
Based on Eq. (3), the potential energy conversion for the 30 tons FFB/h mill, which produces 4200
kg of ®ber and 1800 kg of shell per hour is about 72,083,200 kJ/kg.

3.2. Electricity requirement of a palm oil mill

The electrical energy required to process 1 ton of FFB is about 20 kW h [2]. Therefore, the
electrical power required to process 30 tons FFB/h is

Table 1
Chemical composition on dry basis of palm oil wastes
Element EFB (%) Fiber (%) Shell (%)
H 6.3 6.0 6.3
C 48.8 47.2 52.4
S 0.2 0.3 0.2
N 0.2 1.4 0.6
O 36.7 36.7 37.3
Ash 7.3 8.4 3.2
2116 T.M.I. Mahlia et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 2109±2118

Ee ˆ 30  20 ˆ 600 kW
The steam required to generate 600 kW electrical power at 30 kg/kW at 20 bars is:

me ˆ 600  30 ˆ 18; 000 kg=h

The steam required to process 30 tons FFB/h at 500 kg/ton is:

mp ˆ 500  30 ˆ 15; 000 kg=h
The results from Eq. (3) show that for 30 tons FFB/h mill, the potential produced energy is
about 72,083,200 kJ/kg. With a boiler eciency of 68%, therefore, the available energy to raise
steam is [1]:

Er ˆ gb  Ep ˆ 0:68  72; 083; 200 ˆ 49; 016; 576 kJ=kg:

The energy required to generated 1 kg of steam is about 2590 kJ [2]. Therefore, the potential steam
obtained is:
mo ˆ …Er †=2590 ˆ …49; 016; 576†=2590 ˆ 18; 925 kg=h
According to the above calculation, there is more than sucient steam to generate electricity
for the milling processes, and the exhaust steam from the boiler can also be used for the FFB
sterilization.

4. Fiber and shell combustion processes

Because of changing the fuel in the boiler, the excess air for the ®ber and shell fuel has to be
identi®ed in order to get a perfect combustion process. Excess air is necessary in the combustion
process because it has many e€ects on the boiler performance. This section presents the suitable
excess air for ®ber and shell as an alternative fuel for the boiler. The amount of oxygen required
for complete combustion of a kg of a substance and the products of combustion are shown in
Table 2 [4].

Table 2
Amount of oxygen required for complete combustion and products of combustion
Element O2 required for Product of combustion
combustion of 1 kg
substance (kg)
H2 O (kg) CO2 (kg) SO2 (kg)
H2 8 9 ± ±
C 2.67 ± 3.67 ±
CO 0.57 ± 1.67 ±
S 1 ± ± 2
CH4 4 2.25 2.75 ±
 T.M.I. Mahlia et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 2109±2118 2117

4.1. Fiber

From the chemical composition on the dry basis of palm oil wastes in Table 1, it can be as-
sumed that 1 kg of ®ber contains: 0.472 kg of C, 0.060 kg of H2 , 0.003 kg of S, 0.367 kg of O2 .
Therefore, the amount of oxygen required to burn 0.472 kg of C is 0:472  2:67 ˆ 1:26024 kg.
The amount of oxygen required to burn 0.06 kg of H2 is 0:06  8 ˆ 0:48 kg. The amount of
oxygen required to burn 0.003 kg of S is 0:003  1 ˆ 0:003 kg. Hence, the total amount of oxygen
(O2 ) required to burn the C, H and S in the ®ber is 1:26024 ‡ 0:48 ‡ 0:003 kg ˆ 1:74324 kg. O2
already present in ®ber is 0.367 kg, O2 to be supplied is 1:74324 0:367 ˆ 1:37624 kg. Therefore,
the amount of air theoretically required is 1:37624  …100=23† ˆ 5:98 kg=kg fiber.

4.2. Shell

From the chemical composition on the dry basis of palm oil wastes in Table 1, it can assumed
that 1 kg of shell contains; 0.524 kg of C, 0.063 kg of H2 , 0.002 kg of S, 0.373 kg of O2 . The
amount of O2 required to burn 0.524 kg of C is 0:524  2:67 ˆ 1:39908 kg. The amount of O2
required to burn 0.063 kg of H2 is 0:063  8 ˆ 0:504 kg. The amount of O2 required to burn 0.002
kg of S2 is 0:002  1 ˆ 0:002 kg. Therefore, the total amount of O2 required to burn the C, H2 and
S in the shell is 1:39908 ‡ 0:504 ‡ 0:002 kg ˆ 1:90508 kg. O2 already present in the shell is 0.373
kg. O2 to be supplied is 1:90508 0:373 kg ˆ 1:53208 kg. Therefore, the amount of air required
per kg of shell is 1:53208  …100=23† ˆ 6:66 kg=kg of shell.

4.3. Air±fuel ratio

It is found that 1 kg of FFB contains 0.14 kg of ®ber and 0.06 kg of shell. Therefore, 1 kg of
bulk fuel (®ber and shell) contains:
fiber ˆ …0:14=…0:06 ‡ 0:14†† ˆ 0:7 kg

shell ˆ 1 0:7 ˆ 0:3 kg:

Hence, the theoretical air required per kg of fuel is
wA ˆ …0:7  5:98† ‡ …0:3  6:66† ˆ 6:184 kg=kg of fuel

The mill is operated at 30 tons FFB/h and from the previous calculations, it is found that 1000
kg of FFB contains 200 kg of fuel (140 kg of ®ber and 60 kg of shell). Hence, 30 tons of FFB
contains:
ˆ 30  200 ˆ 6000 kg of fuel:

The fuel consumption per second is wF ˆ …6000=3600† kg=s ˆ 1:67 kg of fuel=s. Therefore, the air
quantity required for complete combustion is wA ˆ …6:184 kg=kg of fuel†  …1:67 kg of fuel=s† ˆ
10:327 kg=s. The air quantity per kg of fuel with 30% excess air is wA ˆ 10:327 ‡ ……30=100† 
10:327† ˆ 13:425 kg=s, therefore the air fuel ratio is wA =wF ˆ 13:425=1:67 ˆ 8:039.
2118 T.M.I. Mahlia et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 42 (2001) 2109±2118

5. Conclusions

As tropical countries, Malaysia and Indonesia are considered to be very fortunate because of
having palm oil plantations. Besides re-planting of burned rain forests, the plantation also o€ers
many jobs for unskilled workers in the countries. In the energy point of view, the advantage of the
palm oil industry is that the ®ber and shell can be conveniently used as fuel for the steam boiler
which is the heart of a palm oil mill. This energy is considered as free for the palm oil milling
process. The calculation has shown that the shell and ®ber alone can generate more than enough
energy to meet the energy demand of the palm oil mill. Another advantage of using the ®ber and
shell as a boiler fuel is that it helps to dispose of these bulky materials which otherwise would
contribute to environmental pollution. The ash from the combustion process is also found suit-
able for fertilizer for the palm oil plantation.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Envi-
ronment for ®nancial support under IRPA project no. 03-02-03-0353.

References

[1] Mahlia TMI. Dynamic modeling, simulation, and experimental validation of a palm oil mill boiler. M. Eng. Sc.
Thesis, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1997.
[2] Ngan MA, Ong ASH. PORIM Bulletin, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, vol. 14. 1987. p. 10.
[3] Sha®i AF. PORIM Bulletin, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, vol. 1. 1991. p. 59.
[4] Denzel PD. Fundamentals of boiler house techniques. Hutchinson Educational, 1973.