Energy 34 (2009) 1225–1235

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Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Oil palm biomass as a sustainable energy source: A Malaysian case study
S.H. Shuit, K.T. Tan, K.T. Lee*, A.H. Kamaruddin
School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, Seri Ampangan, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 24 October 2008
Received in revised form
13 May 2009
Accepted 14 May 2009
Available online 13 June 2009

It has been widely accepted worldwide that global warming is by far the greatest threat and challenge in the new millennium. In order to stop global warming and to promote sustainable development, renewable energy is a perfect solution to achieve both targets. Presently million hectares of land in
Malaysia is occupied with oil palm plantation generating huge quantities of biomass. In this context, biomass from oil palm industries appears to be a very promising alternative as a source of raw materials including renewable energy in Malaysia. Thus, this paper aims to present current scenario of biomass in
Malaysia covering issues on availability and sustainability of feedstock as well as current and possible utilization of oil palm biomass. This paper will also discuss feasibility of some biomass conversion technologies and some ongoing projects in Malaysia related to utilization of oil palm biomass as a source of renewable energy. Based on the findings presented, it is definitely clear that Malaysia has position herself in the right path to utilize biomass as a source of renewable energy and this can act as an example to other countries in the world that has huge biomass feedstock.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Biomass conversion technology
Cellulose feedstock
Renewable energy
Sustainability

1. Introduction
Generally, it is accepted worldwide that climate change is currently the most pressing global environmental problem facing humanity. Scientific data showed that hundreds of millions of people could lose their lives if average global temperatures increase by more than 2  C. In addition, up to one million species of animals and plants are currently at the threat of extinction [1]. Many environmental problems, for instance flooding, hurricanes as well as droughts will and has occurred because of alleviation of earth’s temperature. Furthermore, warmer water and increased humidity may encourage formation of more tropical cyclones and changing wave patterns that could lead to more tidal waves and stronger beach erosion on the coasts. Other detrimental effects of global warming include increment in sea level and subsequently submerging of lowlands, deltas and island, changing of weather pattern, frequent rainstorms and drier soils as well as changing of water supplies because of unpredictable weather [2].
The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) which was released on 17
December 2007 of United Nation Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that observed warming over the last 50 years is likely due to increase of greenhouse gas emission such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide [3,4]. According

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ604 5996467; fax: þ604 5941013.
E-mail address: chktlee@eng.usm.my (K.T. Lee).
0360-5442/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2009.05.008 to AR4, global increment in carbon dioxide concentration is primarily due to the use of fossil fuel, while those of methane and nitrous oxide are because of agriculture activities [3]. Nevertheless, carbon dioxide has been identified as the main culprit due to its huge emission and therefore, utilization of fossil fuel as a source of energy for heat, electricity and transportation fuel has been identified as the primary cause of global warming. Thus, in order to reduce emission of greenhouse gases and to promote greater energy efficiency, substitution of fossil fuel with renewable energy should be part of the climate change solution as long as the renewable energy is truly developed in a sustainable way. There are currently many sources of renewable energy such as solar, wind, geothermal and biomass. However, in a country that has a significant amount of agricultural activities such as Malaysia, biomass can be a very promising alternative source of renewable energy. In fact, the government of Malaysia has embarked on this ideology by drafting the 5th fuel policy that states ‘‘To supplement the conventional energy supply, new sources such as renewable energy will be encouraged and biomass such as oil palm, wood waste as well as rice husk will be used on the wider basis’’ [5].
Fig.1 shows the energy demand in Malaysia that indicates a rapid increase in demand. For year 2030, energy demand is expected to reach almost 100 Mtoe (million tonne of oil equivalent) [6]. In order to meet the increasing demand of energy and to reduce emission of carbon dioxide while ensuring energy security, Malaysia needs to have an effective and sustainable source of energy. Although, the use of renewable energy as an alternative energy source is growing

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2. Availability of oil palm biomass in Malaysia

Fig. 1. Energy demand in Malaysia [6].

rapidly, but it provides only 3% of the world’s primary energy consumption [7]. It is rather surprising that even in a country like
Malaysia where biomass can be easily obtained, the use of renewable energy is still very low. Table 1 shows that based on 2005 data, about
93% of Malaysia energy consumption depended heavily on fossil fuels (natural gas, coal, diesel and oil) and only 0.5% of energy came from renewable sources such as biomass (excluding hydropower)
[8]. If this trend was to continue on, Malaysia would suffer from lack of energy security as Malaysia fossil fuel reserves is predicted to last only for another 30–40 years [2]. Beyond that, Malaysia will become a net importer of fossil fuel, mainly oil and gas. Therefore, it is inevitable that Malaysian government has to start looking for reliable source of renewable energy urgently. The need for an urgent source of renewable energy is further supported by the current increasing price of fossil fuel mainly petroleum. With price of crude oil at USD 121.91 per barrel in July 2008, Malaysian government needs to spend a lot on subsidy to keep the cost of energy, mainly transportation fuel low [9]. In 2007 alone, Malaysia’s fuel subsidies cost the country about RM40 billion [10].
As the world second largest producer and exporter of palm oil in
2006 [11], Malaysia’s palm oil industry leaves behind huge amount of biomass from its plantation and milling activity, way much larger as compared to other types of biomass. Therefore biomass from oil palm industry has potential to be converted to commercial products such as animal food, fertilizer and absorbent. It can also be converted to bio-fuel such as bio-ethanol or can be used to generate electricity. Thus, this paper aims to present the current scenario of biomass in Malaysia ranging from issues related to availability of feedstock, sustainability of using oil palm biomass, biomass conversion technologies as well as current and possible utilization of oil palm biomass in reducing CO2 emission. Besides, various palm oil utilization projects that have been launched by Malaysian government, mainly on generation of power and electricity from oil palm biomass will also be discussed. In short, this paper presents
Malaysia’s commitment and active role to utilize oil palm biomass including as a source of renewable energy to reduce Greenhouse gas emission and ultimately, global warming.

Oil palm, or also known as Elaeis guineensis is the most important species in Elaeis genus which belongs to the family of Palmae
[12]. It is indigenous to West Africa but is now planted in all tropical areas of the world. Moreover, it has become the most important industrial crops especially in certain South East Asia countries like
Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The African oil palm was initially introduced to Sumatera and Malaya area in early 1900s. The oil palm fruit is reddish in color and about the size of a large plum, but it grows in large bunches. One bunch usually weighs between 10 and 40 kg. Each fruit consists of a single seed (the palm kernel) and surrounded by a soft oily pulp. Oil is extracted from both pulp of the fruit, which can be made into edible oil, and kernel, which is used mainly for soap manufacturing [13].
Palm oil has now become world’s largest source of edible oil with 38.5 million tonnes or 25% of the world total edible oil and fat production as shown in Fig. 2 [14]. Thus, oil palm has now become a major economic crop which triggered expansion of plantation area in Malaysia and Indonesia. In year 2006, Malaysia is the second largest producer of palm oil with 15.88 million tonnes or 43% of the total world supply as shown in Fig. 3. [11]. Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil with 15.9 million tonnes of oil or 44% of the total world supply. In 2007, productive oil palm plantations in
Malaysia are 4.3 million hectares, a 3.4% increase from year 2006 which stood at 4.2 million hectares [15]. Fig. 4 shows evolution of oil palm plantation area from 1975 to 2006 [16]. The increase in oil palm plantation area in Malaysia is mainly because of growing global demand for edible oil especially palm oil.
With the growth of palm oil production in Malaysia, the amount of residues generated also shows a corresponding increase. One hectare of oil palm plantation can produce about 50–70 tonnes of biomass residues [17]. Therefore, oil palm industry is currently producing the largest amount of biomass in Malaysia with 85.5% out of more than 70 million tonnes as shown in Fig. 5 [18]. Other types of biomass generated in Malaysia are from the wood and sugarcane industry, municipal solid waste and others. In year 2005, about 55.73 million tonnes of oil palm biomass was recorded [19].
The type of biomass produced from oil palm industry includes empty fruit bunches (EFBs), fiber, shell, wet shell, palm kernel, fronds and trunks. The amount of each type of biomass component is shown in Table 2 [19–21]. Due to the huge amount of biomass generated yearly, Malaysia has the potential to utilize the biomass efficiently and effectively to other value added products. Currently, there are already various technologies available to convert oil palm biomass to various types of value added products, and this will be presented in the subsequent section.
On the other hand, oil palm biomass also has a very good potential to be converted into renewable energy sources,

Table 1
Malaysia’s energy mix in year 2005 [8].
Source

Percentage, %

Gas
Coal
Hydropower
Diesel
Oil
Biomass
Others

72.5
16.5
6.2
3.2
0.8
0.5
0.3

Fig. 2. World’s oil production in 2007 [14].

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Fig. 3. World producers of oil palm in 2006 [11].

considering the calorific value of each component shown in Table 2.
Based on simple calculation, oil palm biomass has a total energy potential of about 15.81 Mtoe (million tonne of oil equivalent).
Taking an efficiency of 50%, the energy generated from oil palm biomass may reach almost 8 Mtoe. In the year 2006, Malaysia’s energy demand is 40.4 Mtoe (million tonne of oil equivalent) [22].
This means that oil palm biomass can provide almost 20% of the total energy demand in Malaysia. If all the 8 Mtoe energy produced by oil palm biomass is converted into energy replacing petroleum crude oil, Malaysia can save up to about RM 7.5 billion per year.
Therefore, this clearly shows the potential of oil palm biomass as one of the major source of energy in Malaysia. Its renewable nature makes it even a more important energy source.
3. Sustainability of oil palm biomass
Since the world is currently facing increasing population coupled with limited land resources, it is important to ensure that oil palm biomass obtained is sustainable. Therefore, this issue will be initially discussed, before presenting possible utilization of oil palm biomass. Oil palm biomass is obtained from palm oil plantation/industry. Therefore, sustainable development in oil palm plantation will directly affect the sustainability of oil palm biomass.
In Malaysia, sustainability of palm oil plantation/industry is governed by the establishment of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
(RSPO). RSPO defines sustainable palm oil production as a legal, economically viable, environmentally appropriate and socially beneficial management and operations. This is realized through a policy known as RSPO Principles and Criteria which are applicable to the management of oil palm plantations and palm oil mills [23].
Another important measurement for sustainability of oil palm biomass is the carbon balance for oil palm biomass utilization such

Fig. 4. Plantation area of oil palm in Malaysia from 1975 to 2006 [16].

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as by direct burning to generate energy. When oil palm biomass is burned instead of fossil fuels as an energy source, it will displace a certain amount of carbon that otherwise would have been released to the environment by burning fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. Reduction in carbon emission to the environment is crucial to prevent further global warming. Note that combustion of oil palm biomass does not contribute to net amount of carbon in the atmosphere as carbon is assimilated during plant growth. However, when doing such carbon cycle calculation, amount of carbon released during the transport of oil palm biomass must also be accounted for, indicating that the distance in which the biomass has to be transported to power generating plant may be an important factor. However, in a recent study, it was reported that when biomass is used for co-firing with coal, net reduction in carbon emission can still be feasible, even if the biomass has to be transported from a distance far away [24]. Nevertheless, biomass are normally regarded as waste product and therefore utilizing biomass to generate energy (electricity or bio-fuel) can reduce the country dependence on fossil fuel and ensure sustainable source of fuel, since biomass are renewable. Apart from that, utilization of oil palm biomass could also ensure social sustainability by creating new employment opportunities in rural areas for a developing country like Malaysia. This is because labor requirement for biomass energy is relatively high, especially in the cultivation of energy crops, unlike for renewable energy sources like wind and solar energy which are relatively capital intensive [25].
Recent studies have also shown that comparing to rainforest, oil palm plantations are more effective ‘carbon sink’ (an area of dry mass that is capable to absorb harmful greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide). It was reported that oil palm plantation assimilates up to 64.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare per year while virgin rainforest only can assimilate 42.2 tonnes per hectare per year. Furthermore, the expansion of the oil palm plantation do not always lead to deforestation and loss in biodiversity as most of the new land areas for oil palm plantation are met by replacing other agricultural crop plantation areas such as cocoa, rubber and coconut which have lower market value. Above all this, Malaysia’s palm oil industries are really committed towards sustainable palm oil production and development since Malaysia has always been an active member of RSPO with government agencies and private companies taking vital roles and position in the organization.
Malaysia has definitely practiced the principles and criteria stated in RSPO that will make sure of sustainable development in oil palm plantation and production. Apart from that, operations of palm oil companies in Malaysia from harvesting to producing palm oil related products (including oil palm biomass) are carried out with best management practice (BMP). These practices are environment friendly approaches such as zero burning, conservation of wildlife

Fig. 5. Biomass produced from different industry in Malaysia [18].

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Table 2
Oil palm biomass collected in 2005 and their energy potential [19–21].
Biomass component

Quantity available (million tonnes)

Calorific value (kJ/kg) [20]

Potential energy generated (Mtoe)

Empty fruit brunches
Fiber
Shell
Fronds and trunks
Palm kernel

17.00 [18]
9.60
5.92
21.10 [19]
2.11 [20]

18,838
19,068
20,108
–
18,900

7.65
4.37
2.84
–
0.95

Total

55.73

–

15.81

habitat, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as well as waste minimization and utilization which will eventually contribute towards sustainable development of oil palm plantation and production in
Malaysia [23].
4. Potential utilization of oil palm biomass
Due to huge quantities of biomass generated from the oil palm industry, it will be a waste if biomass is not properly utilized. In the following section, possible utilization of oil palm biomass will be presented. Basically, oil palm biomass can be converted to a wide range of value added products that can be clustered into three main categories namely bio-based value added products, bio-fuel and as direct fuel for power generation.
4.1. Bio-based value added products
One possible utilization of empty fruit brunches (EFBs) is to produce bioplastic or also known as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) or polylactate (PLA). Currently there is a joint research and development in Malaysia by University Putra Malaysia, Felda Palm
Industries Sdn. Bhd. and Kyushu Institute of Technology for production of bioplastic using oil palm biomass [18]. Bioplastics have similar characteristic as petroleum-derived plastic and can be used for production of foil, moulds, tins, cups, bottles and other packaging materials [26]. However, the advantage of bioplastic is that it is 100% biodegradable and can be recycled, composted or burned without producing toxic by-products. During production of bioplastic, sugar is obtained from EFB and this sugar serves as carbon source for the bacteria during fermentation. At the beginning of the process, EFB is loaded together with bioplastic producer
Ralstonia eutropha into a bioreactor that contained water and nutrient. Under conditions of limiting nutrient such as nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorous and excess carbon (EFB), PHA is produced by R. eutropha [18]. In the fermentation process, EFB will be consumed directly as food by R. eutropha. Cellulose and starch are released from EFB and then enzymes in the bacteria are used to break cellulose and starch into organic acid (such as lactic acid) and then the organic acid can be polymerized and converted into bioplastic [27,28]. In bioplastic industry, cost for raw material (corn and potato) and natural producer (R. eutropha) usually constitutes
40–50% of total production cost. Therefore EFB can be a cheap carbon source for bioplastic industry, thus reducing total manufacturing cost [18].
Besides, EFB can also be incinerated for its ash which serves as a very good fertilizer or soil conditioner. This is because EFB itself contain certain macro and micronutrients that are required for plant growth. In fact, incinerating EFB to obtain its ash is currently the common practice in many oil palm mills as this can offset the increasing cost of inorganic fertilizers. In some oil palm mills, EFB is not incinerated, but mulch and directly thrown back to oil palm plantations [29]. Since EFB belongs to the category of fibrous crop residues or also known as lignocellulosic residues, therefore EFB can also be converted into pulp [30]. Pulp produced from EFB is

now being commercialized in Malaysia. In year 2003, the world’s first oil palm-based pulp and paper mill located in East Malaysian
(Sabah) was set up by Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) and
Borneo Advanced Sdn. Bhd. (a pulp and paper manufacturer in
Malaysia). EFB is converted into pulp using caustic soda technology developed by FRIM. This new development is expected to reduce
Malaysia’s reliance on imported pulp and paper products, considering the large availability of EFB throughout Malaysia as every 5 tonnes of EFB could produce one tonne of pulp [31].
Similar to EFB, frond from oil palm trees is also categorized as fibrous crop residues, allowing it to be converted to pulp. Oil palm frond basically consists of petiole and leaflets [32]. Production of pulp using oil palm frond is still at research stage. Research shows that morphologically, structure of the frond fibers is comparable to those of hardwood. These findings were made after examining the physical and chemical characteristics (including their response to chemical pulping such as sulfite, soda-sulfite and soda process) of fiber strands from the frond of oil palm trees. Therefore, the frond pulp can be used as reinforcement component in newsprint production using softwood thermo-mechanical fibers (a kind of pulp produced via mechanical process) [30]. In addition, oil palm fronds can also go through further processing and can be used as a roughage source for ruminants such as castles and goats. The main processing step is to chop the whole oil palm fronds into pieces and then it can be utilized as ruminants feed directly or conserved as silage by mixing with other ingredients in proper rations. Suitability of oil palm fronds as a roughage source is based on the chemical analysis and metabolizable energy value of oil palm fronds [32]. Recently, Malaysian Agricultural Research and
Development Institute (MARDI) has developed a new product known as oil palm frond based ruminant pellet. The cubed feeds based on oil palm fronds can be used as complete or balanced diet for fattening beef cattle as well as for intensive dairying in Malaysia and abroad [33].
Palm fibers on the other hand can be used as fillers in thermoplastics and thermoset composites. These composites have wide applications in furniture and automobile components. Progress in this area of research finally reached to commercialization stage when PROTON (Malaysian national carmaker) entered into agreement with PORIM (Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia) to develop thermoplastic and thermoset composites and used it in
PROTON car [34].
In addition, oil palm biomass or ash derived from it can be converted into adsorbents for toxic gas and heavy metal removal.
Some researchers have conducted study on utilizing oil palm ash
(OPA) as an absorbent for removing pollutant gasses such as sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides. OPA is produced after combustion of oil palm fiber and shell as boiler fuel to produce steam for palm oil mill consumption. The OPA was found to contain high amount of silica, calcium, potassium and alumina that can be utilized to synthesize active compounds that are responsible for sorption of pollutant gasses into the absorbent [35,36]. Apart from that, it was also reported that charcoal derived from oil palm shell can be coated with chitosan and can be used effectively to remove heavy

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metal especially chromium from industrial wastewater. This is due to the presence of some functional groups such as carboxylic, hydroxyl and lactone in oil palm shell that have a high affinity towards metal ions [37]. However, application of oil palm biomass as adsorbents is still in research stage and not being commercialized yet.

4.2. Energy related products
Although oil palm biomass can be converted to various value added products, nevertheless, its potential as a source of renewable energy seems to be more promising, considering current state of energy crisis with the price of crude petroleum hitting record high every other day. Apart from that, its utilization as a source of energy will bring other environmental benefit like reduction in CO2 emissions. In the following section, possible utilization of biomass into renewable energy will be presented. It can generally be categorized into two main sections, the oil palm biomass directly be used as a fuel or initially converted to bio-fuel (intermediate product). Converting oil palm biomass into bio-fuel not only can overcome the petrol crisis but also can help to protect the environment by reducing CO2 emission. Electrical power generation activity and emission from vehicles are the main contributors of greenhouse gas emission primarily carbon dioxide (CO2). Greenhouse gas emission in APEC (Asia–Pacific Economic Co-operation) economics within
Asia is expected to grow rapidly, with forecast showing 3–5% growth in annual CO2 emission [38]. Fig. 6 shows that CO2 emission increased significantly after the year 2000, in Malaysia alone [39].
For the year 2004 alone, total emission of CO2 already reached close to 50,000 thousand metric tonnes. Therefore, it is necessary to explore and find alternative energy resource in order to reduce and stabilize the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Research shows that if bio-fuels like bio-ethanol and biomethanol are blended with conventional diesel or bio-diesel, this can help reduce the emission of CO2 by almost 80% compared to using petroleum diesel [38]. In year 2005, CO2 emission from liquid fuels in Malaysia is 18,523 thousand metric tonnes [39], however, by using bio-fuels, Malaysia can reduce her CO2 emission by 14,818 thousand metric tonnes, which account for a significant 22.6% reduction. In addition, replacement of diesel with biogas such as methane for electricity generation would further reduce CO2 emission by up to another 1040 thousand metric tonnes [38].
4.2.1. Directly as fuel
Oil palm biomass such as EFB, mesocarp fiber (MF) and palm kernel shell (PKS) can be used to produce steam for processing

Fig. 6. CO2 emission in Malaysia from 1974 to 2004 [39].

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activities and for generating electricity [40]. However, due to their characteristics, some of these fuel resources have to be pretreated before they can be burned in the boiler. Basic pretreatment process that is required for effective use of biomass includes shedding machine to reduce the size of EFB and drying to reduce moisture content. In Malaysia, there are currently more than 300 palm oil mills operating with self-generated electricity from oil palm biomass. The electricity generated is not only for their internal consumption (crude palm oil extraction) but also sufficient for surrounding remote areas [41]. The system required for generating electricity from biomass consists of a combustion system (boiler and furnace), steam turbine and generator [42]. Many projects on using biomass to generate electricity have been or will be launched in Malaysia. Up to year 2004, under Small Renewable Energy Power
Program (SREP), 62 projects have been approved and out of these projects, 25 of them used oil palm biomass as fuel source [41]. This indicates that Malaysia is focusing on using oil palm biomass as energy source to generate electricity.
Besides, a cement company in Malaysia had seriously embarked on using alternative fuel to partially replace fossil fuels in cement manufacturing. The company used PKS as fuel in the boiler and they claimed that this can reduce emission of CO2 by 366.26 thousand metric tonnes in the year 2006 alone [43]. Therefore, if all industries in Malaysia can replace or partially replace fossil fuel with oil palm biomass to generate energy, then emission of CO2 in Malaysia will decrease significantly. Malaysia can then achieve her vision to be a developed country without degrading the environment.
4.2.2. Bio-fuel
Synthetic bio-fuels are synthetic hydrocarbons or mixture of synthetic hydrocarbons produced from renewable sources such as biomass. Oil palm biomass can be used to make bio-fuels as an alternative to partially replace fossil fuels. There are 5 types of biofuels that can be produced using oil palm biomass which include bio-ethanol, bio-methanol, bio-briquettes, hydrogen gas and pyrolysis oil.
Bio-ethanol is made by fermenting any biomass high in carbohydrate content (starches, sugar or celluloses) through a process similar to brewing. Oil palm biomass especially EFB is rich in sugar and lignocellulose content. Research shows that after the production of xylose from EFB through acid hydrolysis, the EFB residue can be further utilized for production of second generation bio-ethanol
[44]. Bio-ethanol is mostly used as fuel additive to cut down a vehicle’s carbon monoxide and other smog-causing emission.
Flexible-fuel vehicles which run on mixtures of gasoline and up to
85% of ethanol made from biomass are now available in Brazil, US and European market [45,46]. Apart from bio-ethanol, bio-methanol can also be produced from biomass. Bio-methanol is most suitable for application in spark ignition engines due to its high octane rating [47]. There are a number of methods to convert biomass to bio-methanol, but the most likely approach is gasification. Gasification involves vaporizing biomass at high temperatures and then removing impurities from the hot gas and passing it through a catalyst which converts it into bio-methanol [45].
Demand for bio-ethanol and bio-methanol as alternative fuel in
Malaysia is still low since most of the vehicles in Malaysia are still running on petrol. Because of the low demand, there is currently no large-scale production of bio-ethanol and bio-methanol in
Malaysia.
Converting palm biomass into a uniform and solid fuel through briquetting process appears to be another attractive solution in fully utilizing oil palm biomass. Oil palm biomass such as EFB and palm kernel expeller (PKE, a byproduct of crushing and expelling oil from palm kernel) can be densified into briquettes at high temperature and pressure using screw extrusion technology. Oil

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palm briquettes can be used for household and industrial heating unit operation such as boiler. It is not only a renewable source of energy which helps to reduce carbon content in the atmosphere
(through zero carbon emission) but its usage can also qualify for carbon credit under Kyoto Protocol mechanism that helps to mitigate global warming [48]. Research shows that briquettes made from 100% pulverized EFB exhibited good burning properties.
However, in order to produce better quality briquettes from EFB fiber and PKE, it is recommended to blend with sawdust. Generally, converting oil palm biomass into briquettes will increase its energy content while reducing moisture content by at least 5% and 38%, respectively, compared to its raw material [21]. Advantages of using palm briquettes include low cost, available all year around, high calorific value, longer burning duration and most importantly more environment friendly [49]. Therefore, palm biomass briquettes can become a potential renewable energy source in the future.
Hydrogen is a synthetic fuel, which can be produced from different kinds of energy sources, including fossil fuels, nuclear energy and renewable energy sources such as biomass. Hydrogen may be used as fuel in almost any application replacing fossil fuels especially as feedstock for synthesis of clean transportation fuels or as a gaseous fuel for power generation [50,51]. The benefits of using hydrogen instead of diesel or petrol as transportation fuel is higher engine efficiencies and zero emissions [52]. Nevertheless, full benefits of hydrogen as a clean, versatile and efficient fuel may only be realized if hydrogen is produced from renewable sources such as biomass [50]. Gasification of biomass is one of the new technology for producing hydrogen [51]. Components of oil palm biomass that can be used for gasification are EFB, oil palm fiber, oil palm shell, palm tree trunks and fronds [51,53]. The latest gasification technology to convert oil palm biomass into hydrogen gas is via supercritical water technology. Oil palm biomass is the perfect candidate as feedstock for the gasification process due to its high energy and moisture content which is an integral requirement for reactions in supercritical water reaction. The insignificant amount of trace minerals in biomass composition is an added advantage for the reaction [53]. However, production of hydrogen from biomass in Malaysia is still at the early stage of research.
Pyrolysis oil is a kind of tar that can be extracted from dried biomass and is currently under investigation as a substitute for petroleum [54]. EFB and oil palm shell can be converted into pyrolysis oil via rotating cone pyrolysis technology [55,56]. Pyrolysis oil derived from biomass (EFB) is rich in carbon and can be refined in ways similar to crude petroleum. Chemical compositions of pyrolysis oil vary according to pyrolysis methods and processing conditions [56]. This pyrolysis oil can serve as a potential feedstock for production of fuels and chemicals in petroleum refineries. It has the potential to replace up to 60% of transportation fuels [57]. With the co-operation between Malaysian based Genting Sanyen Bhd and BTG Biomass Technology Group BV, the first pyrolysis plant in
Malaysia has been completed [55]. This is a breakthrough step in
Malaysia for the utilization of oil palm biomass as a source of pyrolytic oil.
Fig. 7 [58–61] summarized the processes describe above. Basically all conversion technologies described above are currently being practiced in Malaysia either in the commercial sector or still in research stage such as biomass gasification using supercritical water for further improvement. This shows that Malaysia is well positioned to take advantage of her enormous output of biomass from the oil palm industry.
5. Economical feasibility of biomass conversion technologies
In the previous section, it can be seen that apart from being a source of energy, oil palm biomass can also be converted into

a wide range of commercial products. In this section, economical feasibility of oil palm biomass conversion technology will be presented. However, only selected conversion technology will be presented due to the lack of data as some of these technologies are still at research stage.
One possible commercial product from oil palm biomass is hydrogen. Currently, hydrogen can be produced via different kind of technologies such as steam reforming of natural gas, methane pyrolysis, biomass partial oxidation, photovoltaic electrolysis system and biomass gasification which include supercritical water technology and solar gasification. Among all available hydrogen production processes, supercritical water gasification of biomass is by far the most economical and cost efficient technology as shown in
Fig. 8 [53]. The estimated cost of hydrogen production by biomass supercritical water gasification technology ranges between RM 0.8 and 1.9 GJÀ1 meanwhile the current commercial hydrogen production method, steam reforming of natural gas cost between RM 1.4 and 2.2 GJÀ1. Supercritical water gasification of biomass allows hydrogen to be produced at lower cost since it can directly deal with biomass with high moisture content that have very low commercial value. In addition, minimum production of impurities such as organic compounds and solid residue can further reduce the production cost of hydrogen, since purification process and reactor maintenance (tar and chars can cause plugging in the reactor if they are not constantly removed) can be avoided/simplified [53].
Nevertheless, the main reason for the low cost of hydrogen produced from biomass is because of cheap feedstock, since feedstock normally contributes a significant percentage to total production cost as compared to delivery and dispensing cost [62]. It was reported that oil palm biomass currently can be obtained at a very low cost of RM
10 or USD $2.80 per tonnes for EFB [63].
Co-firing is a term used to describe a low cost option for efficient and clean conversion of biomass to electricity by adding biomass as a partial substitute to fossil fuel in high-efficiency coal boilers [64].
There are two types of biomass co-firing technology; direct and indirect co-firing. Indirect co-firing involves co-fired components that releases high amount of tars, polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) or furanes and dioxins, while direct co-firing uses better quality co-fired components [65]. In Malaysia, biomass is directly cofired in boiler to generate electricity. It has been proven that co-firing with various types and proportions of biomass is technically feasible in all boiler types [66]. However, only small quantity of oil palm biomass is normally used for co-firing with coal owing to high ash and potassium content in oil palm biomass. Therefore, the amount of oil palm biomass used in co-firing usually does not exceed 10% of the total fuel used. Fig. 9 shows that co-firing 5% of palm kernel shells with coal will result in lower price for electricity production.
However, co-firing of baled EFB and POFF (palm oil fruit fibers) is not economically feasible compared to using 100% coal [63].
Since pyrolysis oil and bio-ethanol can substitute fossil fuel in many applications, therefore their wider application would solely depend on the production cost. Pyrolysis oil can be produced from biomass through fast pyrolysis technology. With a plant capacity of
1000 tonne/day, the production cost of pyrolysis oil is estimated at
RM 18 GJÀ1 [67]. Meanwhile for bio-ethanol from biomass, the production cost is estimated at RM 23.8 GJÀ1 [68]. Fig. 10 indicates that the production cost of pyrolysis oil and bio-ethanol is actually comparable to other fuel prices in Malaysia [69]. Since production cost of bio-ethanol and pyrolysis oil depends heavily on feedstock cost especially in bio-ethanol production where 46% of the production cost constitutes the feedstock cost [67,70], utilizing oil palm biomass as feedstock, which is cheap and abundantly available throughout the year will further reduce the cost of pyrolysis oil and bio-ethanol. This may be the key feature to make the entire process economically feasible.

S.H. Shuit et al. / Energy 34 (2009) 1225–1235

1231

Fig. 7. Oil palm biomass conversion technologies [58–61].

6. Projects related to utilization of oil palm biomass in Malaysia
Due to the fact that Malaysia will exhaust its oil and gas reserves in the future, Malaysia has intensified its research on renewable energy sources especially on utilization of oil palm biomass. The use of renewable energy sources is a vital element in providing a long-term solution to Malaysia’s energy needs and for promoting sustainable development. Presently in Malaysia, many programs and projects on utilization of oil palm biomass have been launched or are already in the planning stage.
6.1. Small Renewable Energy Power (SREP) program
Malaysia government announced the launching of SREP on 11th
May 2001 [71]. The launch of the program is among the steps taken

by the government to encourage utilization of renewable energy in power generation. This is in line with the government’s decision to intensify development of renewable energy as the fifth fuel resource under the country’s Fuel Diversification Policy stipulated in the objectives of Third Outline Perspective plan for 2001–2010 and Eight Malaysia Plan (2001–2005).
SREP aims to establish small power producers that use clean, renewable fuel sources to generate electricity [72]. Besides, other objectives of SREP include reduction of Malaysia’s dependency of oil and to reduce emission of greenhouse gases [5]. The generated electricity can be sold and fed to national grid through the Distribution
Grid System. The renewable energy electricity producers will be given a license for a period of 21 years. Under SREP, utilization of all types of renewable energy including biomass, biogas, municipal waste, solar, mini-hydro and wind is allowed [71], however, maximum allowable electricity to be fed to the national grid is only 10 MW.

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S.H. Shuit et al. / Energy 34 (2009) 1225–1235

components. According to TNB, upon completion the plant will have a generation capacity of 10 MW and would be connected to its
11 kV grid network that supply electricity to local surrounding areas [74]. The power plant will be implemented under SREP launched by Malaysian government in order to promote utilization of renewable energy in power generation [75]. Involvement of a foreign company (J-Power, Japan) in generating electricity from oil palm biomass truly demonstrates the potential and viability of this project.

6.2. Biomass-based power generation and cogeneration in the Malaysian palm oil industry (Biogen)
Fig. 8. Comparison of average hydrogen production cost for various conversion technologies [53].

A special committee on renewable energy (SCORE) has been set up under Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications to coordinate SREP [71]. Table 3 represents the status of SREP projects approved by SCORE in year 2004. Based on the data, 62 SREP projects have been approved. Out of these projects, 32 projects use biomass as fuel source, of which 25 projects with grid connected capacity of 165.9 MW are generated using oil palm waste. The grid connected capacity generated via oil palm biomass is about 52.8% of the total capacity [41]. This indicates that oil palm biomass is really suitable and attractive to be used as alternative energy source.
Popularity of using oil palm biomass as fuel source among SREP projects is due to the enormous quantity of this biomass generated in Malaysia throughout the year.
SREP is still ongoing in Malaysia. According to a news dated 3rd
June 2008 reported by BERNAMA (Malaysian National News
Agency), Tenaga National Bhd (TNB), an electricity generation company announced that it has agreed to purchase electricity generated by a small renewable energy power project developed by
Bell Eco Power Sdn. Bhd. under SREP. Estimated value of the renewable energy power purchase agreement was about RM 3.1 million per year [73]. Signing of the agreement demonstrates that
SREP is receiving great support from the utilities sector in the country. On 18th March 2008, TNB signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Felda Palm Industries Sdn. Bhd. and Japan’s JPower to develop a biomass power plant at Jengka, Pahang. This project is expected to be completed by the end of 2010 and EFB is again used as fuel source to generate electricity. This biomass plant will be built using 4.6 ha of land housing an EFB processing plant,
EFB storage areas, a biomass boiler firing on EFB fuel, a steam turbine complete with generator unit and other related auxiliaries

Fig. 9. Electricity production cost per kWh via co-firing of different types and percentage of oil palm biomass [63].

To further catalyze development of SREP, a national project called biomass-based power generation and cogeneration in
Malaysia palm oil industry had been implemented by Malaysian government on October 2002. This project will facilitate maximum utilization of waste residue from oil palm industry for power generation and thus reducing emission of greenhouse gases in
Malaysia [41]. Besides, this project is also aimed to promote growth of power generation and cogeneration [76]. In year 2003, the first full scale model (FSM) project has been developed and renewable energy business facility (REBF) which served as the financial support mechanism for FSM’s development has been established
[41].
The strategy of Biogen project involves implementation of barrier-removal activities including implementation of biomassbased grid connected power generation and combined heat and power (CHP) in Malaysia. The Biogen project is carried out over a 5year period, representing collaborative efforts by global community through United Nation Development Program (UNDP) and private organizations. This 5-year project consists of 2 phases; the first phase in which a 2 years time frame beginning 2003 is given focused on technical assistance activities for removal of primary barriers that hindered widespread application of biomass-based power generation and cogeneration using biomass. Phase 2
(subsequent 3 years) involves implementation of an innovative loan or grant mechanism that would be worked through Malaysian banking sector [41].
MHES Asia Sdn. Bhd. was selected as the first FSM project under
Biogen with the biomass power plant located in Bahau, Negeri
Sembilan having a capacity of 13 MW and EFB is used as fuel. Based on the agreement, the plant will sell 10 MW electricity to TNB for 21 years at the price of RM 0.19/kWh [77]. The plant is expected to be completed in 2008 [78].

Fig. 10. Comparison of pyrolysis oil and bio-ethanol production cost to various other fuel prices in Malaysia [67–69].

S.H. Shuit et al. / Energy 34 (2009) 1225–1235

1233

Table 3
Status of SREP projects approved by SCORE in 2004 [41].
No.

Type

Energy source

Approved application

Grid connected capacity

1

Biomass

Oil palm biomass
Wood residues
Rice husks
Municipal solid waste
Mix fuel

2
3
4

Landfill gas
Mini-hydro
Wind and solar

25
1
2
1
3
5
25
0

165.9
6.6
12.0
5.0
19.2
10.0
95.4
0.0

Total

62

314.1

6.3. EC-ASEAN COGEN program

steam and electricity to PGSB palm oil refinery [82]. This project is a role model that contributes towards environmental, social and economical sustainability since it involves the usage of sustainable renewable energy source in an efficient manner.

EC-ASEAN COGEN programs are economic cogeneration programs that were initiated by European Commission (EC) and
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), but funded by EC.
Three phases of COGEN programs were successfully implemented in the period of 1991–2004. COGEN phase I which took place between
1991 and 1994 was essentially a technical framework focusing on identifying phase for what was to become of COGEN phase II. COGEN phase II took place in 1995–1998 and the purpose of this phase was both to demonstrate that proven European technologies are available to support biomass-based cogeneration in ASEAN countries as well as to enhance EU-ASEAN economic co-operation. The third phase of COGEN program (2002–2004) is also known as COGEN 3. It was an enlargement both in terms of new member countries within
ASEAN and in terms of expanding the range of fuel to be used. In addition to biomass, cogeneration for coal and gas was also promoted. The objective of COGEN 3 was to promote and create business opportunities for the use of cogeneration to generate power and heat using biomass, coal or gas as fuel [79].
Under COGEN 3, 13 full scale demonstration projects (FSDPs) had been established. Out of these, 4 projects were launched in
Malaysia which include Bumi Biopower Sdn. Bhd. with 6 MW cogeneration plant using EFB and shells as fuel, Kumpulan Guthrie
Berhad with 2 MW cogeneration plant using oil palm fibers and shells as fuels, TSH Bio-Energy Sdn. Bhd. with 14 MW cogeneration plant using EFB as fuel and Kelang Beras Co. Titi Serong Sdn. Bhd. with 1.5 MW rice-fired cogeneration plant [80].
6.4. Biomass energy plant in Lumut
PGEO Group Sdn. Bhd. (PGSB) is a major edible oil refiner and exporter in Malaysia. In year 2005, PGSB has completed construction of a biomass-fired steam generator plant in Lumut [81]. This project was registered by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
Executive Board on 24th February 2006 [82]. The objective of this project is to reduce the amount of steam produced from fuel oil and grid generated power and thus reducing greenhouse gas emission.
The project activity will be able to reduce emission in three ways: (1) displacing fuel oil with oil palm biomass which is used to generate 15 tonnes per hour of steam; (2) displacing electricity from the national grid by replacing the existing chiller system and (3) generating electric from biomass [82,83]. From February 2005 until April 2006, reduction of CO2 emission recorded is 22,000 CER (certified emission reduction) [84]. Reduction of CO2 emission is expected to increase to 36,494 tonnes by the year 2011 [83].
The plant obtained its biomass waste from neighboring 16 palm oil mills via fuel purchase agreement. In the plant, EFB, PKS and mesocarp fibers from oil palm are used as fuel source. This project involves installation of a modern and high efficient biomass-fired cogeneration system with 30 tonnes per hour capacity to supply

%
52.8
2.1
3.8
1.6
6.1
3.2
30.4
0.0
100

6.5. Chubu biomass electric power plant in Malaysia
Chubu Electric Power in Japan has announced on 2nd August
2006 that the company plans to build two biomass power plants in eastern province of Sabah, Malaysia. These two biomass power plants will use EFB as renewable energy source to generate 10 MW of electricity [85]. The objective of the company is to seek growth in both power generation businesses for long term and stable profits as well as environmental businesses designed to acquire CO2 emission credits while maintaining profitability. According to Chubu Electric
Power, Malaysia is chosen as the location to develop their biomass power plants because Malaysia is one of the top producers of palm oil in the world. Therefore, large quantity of oil palm biomass is available in Malaysia. The first power plant has already begun operations in March 2008 after ground breaking ceremony in August
2006. Apart from contributing to the area’s local environmental protection by effectively using palm EFB as fuel, the project has also been registered as a CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) project with UN, and is expected to generate CO2 emission credits. Based on the power plants, reductions of CO2 emissions are expected to reach nearly 2 million tons by the year 2012 [86].
6.6. Bio-ethanol plant in Malaysia
Japan’s Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd (MES) plans to introduce a plant in Malaysia producing bio-ethanol from oil palm biomass. In year 2006, Mitsui has sent an investment team to visit
Malaysia to conduct a feasibility study. If found viable, the company will collaborate with a local partner from the oil palm sector to invest RM 10.8 million in a pilot plant for commercial production of bio-ethanol. Mitsui plans to build a pilot plant in 2008 and commence testing and trial operation by year 2010. Oil palm trunks, oil palm fronds, EFB and PKS will be used as feedstocks.
According to a spokesman from Mitsui, the company is currently conducting fieldwork to optimize the productivity of bio-ethanol from oil palm biomass [87]. Successful implementation of this project will set a new milestone in the utilization of bio-ethanol as fuel substitute for petrol-powered vehicles in Malaysia.
7. Conclusion
In this paper, the economical feasibility and sustainability of converting oil palm biomass to bio-based commercial products, synthetic bio-fuels and also for power generation have been reported. The findings show that Malaysia has the potential to be one of the major contributors of renewable energy in the world via

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oil palm biomass. Subsequently, Malaysia can then become a role model to other countries in the world that has huge biomass feedstock. Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge Ministry of Science, Technology and
Innovation, Malaysia (National Science Fellowship) and Universiti
Sains Malaysia (Fundamental Research Grant Scheme and USM
Fellowship) for the financial support given.
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