Energy Independent With Pyrolysis

A community even in remote areas can be energy independent as long as there is an energy source in the area. Biomass energy sources from plants are energy sources that can be obtained almost anywhere. The plant can be planted as a source of raw materials for the production of energy needed. Heat and electricity energy is energy that mostly needed, in addition to energy or fuel for vehicles as a means of transportation. Heat energy is mainly needed for cooking while electrical energy for various purposes in life. Pyrolysis is a technology that can meet the energy needs as above. The diagram below explains the application of pyrolysis to meet these energy needs:

Charcoal is a solid fuel product from pyrolysis. Although solid fuels such as charcoal, are not as practical and easy as gas fuels, the use of charcoal for cooking fuel has many advantages including being safe because it will not explode, smokeless, odorless, has a high calorific value and is an environmentally friendly fuel. While firewood in addition to causing a lot of smoke, smell, low calorie value also interfere with health. Today there are also many countries in Africa that use charcoal for cooking fuel. To make it easier to use and store, the charcoal can be made into briquettes. While fuel for vehicles such as diesel oil and gasoline can be produced from biooil. Vehicles for transportation can operate in the presence of these fuels. The availability of petroleum in Indonesia, which is estimated to be 10 years away, needs to be anticipated and prepared from now on. The current low price of petroleum makes petroleum exports less attractive, especially for Indonesia, which is currently a net importer of petroleum.

Charcoal stoves are widely used in Africa

In the future era when electric vehicles are widely used, electricity production especially for battery charging is prioritized. The energy source for electric cars as environmentally friendly vehicles should also be from renewable energy sources, for more details, please read here. Biomass is a carbon neutral energy source so it does not increase the concentration of CO2 or greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Woody biomass from the energy plantation is the ideal raw material for the pyrolysis feed. Multipurpose energy plantations are the best energy plantation for this, so that in addition to sustainable production, it also provides other benefits, for more details about multipurpose energy plantations can be read here. Remote areas, especially those with large lands, will have the potential to develop these energy plantations, so that an energy independent community or region can truly be formed and sustainable. Areas in surrounding the palm oil plantations can also utilize biomass waste from palm oil mills and plantations such as palm oil empty fruit bunches (EFB), fronds, etc. for the pyrolysis feed. Indonesia is the owner of the largest palm oil plantation in the world with an area of ​​around 13 million hectares and 1,000 palm oil mills. 

Business Model Utilization of Palm Oil Empty Fruit Bunches to Maximize the Profit of the Palm Oil Industry

Palm oil empty fruit bunches  (EFB) are still a problem for the palm oil mills in general. The scenario of utilizing palm oil EFB as the goal should be able to cope well with the environment and provide economic benefits. Overcoming environmental problems is clearly a top priority and must be met, but the best use of EFB scenarios should also benefit the environment, both short term and even long term. Likewise for economic benefits, economic benefits should also be obtained in line with these environmental benefits, not counterproductive. That is the best scenario for the use of palm oil EFB, which is currently still a problem.

Palm oil plantations are the production base for palm oil mills, both CPO mills and PKO mills. Without the palm fruit produced from the palm oil plantation, the palm oil mill will not be able to produce. Operation of palm oil plantations is indeed not an easy and expensive thing. This is mainly a factor of the large usage fertilizer demand, so as to reach around 60% for the operation of the palm oil plantations themselves or with an area of ​​20,000 hectares of palm oil plantations, the cost needs reach more than 70 billion rupiahs ( (around US$ 4,766,667), for more details, please read here. The factor to reduce the cost of fertilizer and maintain the productivity of palm oil fruits or fresh fruit bunches and even increase them is the main target for the utilization or processing of palm oil  EFB. If the cost of palm oil plantation operations can be reduced, the greater the benefits. Biochar is a palm oil EFB processing product that can be used to reduce fertilizer requirements in the palm oil plantation. Biochar production using pyrolysis as shown below.

 

In the process of pyrolysis, besides producing the main product in the form of biochar, then biooil and syngas are also produced. The biooil and syngas are then used as fuel generator to produce electricity. In palm oil mills or CPO mills, fiber waste is also commonly found. The fiber waste is often just piled up and never utilized so it tends to pollute the environment. Though these fibers can be made pellets for export and become fuel for power plants. In addition, currently millions of hectares of old palm oil plantations in Indonesia need to be immediately replanting. Millions of tons of old oil palm trunks are also potential for pellet production. If old oil palm trunks are only left in the plantation so they rot and decay, then it will become lava media and subsequently become a beetle which actually disrupts productive palm oil plantations as well as other plantations, for more details read here. The production of pellets from fiber or palm trunks requires electricity and this can be supplied from the pyrolysis of palm oil EFB like the scheme above. Although palm oil mills also produce electricity, but generally only for the purpose of CPO production, so it is not enough for the production of fiber pellets and oil palm trunk pellets (OPT pellets).

Dessicated Coconut Factory and Continuous Pyrolysis

There are about 20 dessicated coconut factories operating in Indonesia or estimated to be more than 100 units worldwide. With an average capacity of 2 tons / hour, this dessicated coconut factory requires approximately 16,200 coconuts every hour. The byproducts produced are coconut shell and coconut water. Coconut shells produced are around 6 tons / hour and coconut water 4.2 tons / hour. The dessicated coconut plant needs electricity and heat to sterilize the coconut meat and drying the dessicated coconut. Energy in the form of electricity and heat can be met from the utilization of the coconut shell.

There are several technologies for utilizing these coconut shells so that products in the form of electricity and heat are obtained. The popular technology today is with a steam turbine boiler, with this technology the coconut shell is burned in a furnace and heats water in the boiler so that it produces steam to drive the turbine and then generate electricity through a generator. This technology is the same as in palm oil mills. In palm oil mill the fiber and part of the palm kernel shell (PKS) is used as fuel to produce electricity and steam is also used to sterilize fresh fruit bunches (FFB) before being processed into oil.

Another better technology is continuous pyrolysis. This in addition to producing electricity and heat also produces charcoal product. Coconut shell charcoal is high-quality charcoal and is much needed by a number of industries such as the briquette charcoal industry and activated carbon. In the pyrolysis technology the coconut shell is not burned directly, but is heated in a vacuum condition (absence of oxygen). Pyrolysis products such as syngas and biooil are used for electricity production and can also be heat, heat energy is also produced from the pyrolysis process itself which is exothermic, while charcoal is the main product of the pyrolysis process.