Look To Palm Oil For Electricity Says Mpob

---

PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has suggested tapping the potential of using “waste” from oil palm to generate electricity as a cleaner alternative to fuels like coal
MPOB director-general Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir said oil palm biomass, including empty fruit bunches, mesocarps fibres and kernel shells which are by-products from the oil extraction process, can in fact be re-used
“In Malaysia, the palm oil industry produces 80 million to 90 million tonnes of biomass every year
“This biomass can be turned into bio-pellets to be burnt in boilers at power plants to ultimately produce electricity,” he told FMT
At present, he said, bio-pellets produced in Malaysia are mostly exported to Japan and Korea where there is huge demand
Biomass can also be turned into bio-coal, which is similar to coal
Both products can serve as a cleaner alternative to coal, which contains sulphur that leads to acid rain, he said
“If we use more bio-pellets or bio-coal in electricity generation, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he said
He said studies have been done on the use of bio-pellets, and urged authorities in Malaysia to look into the implementation of such a practice
So far, he said, around five power plants use biomass to generate electricity to the grids
He said palm oil mill effluent can also produce methane, a bio-gas which can be used in the generation of electricity, while biomass can be treated through a chemical process to produce bio-ethanol as bio-fuel to be added to petrol fuel
“In Thailand and Brazil, they use ethanol from sugar cane for the transport sector, just like we use palm bio-diesel.”Parveez said MPOB’s vision for the palm oil sector is for palm oil to play a bigger role in generating electricity due to its large and relatively untapped potential. - FMT

---