Biomass Oil Palm Utilization: Sustainable Waste to Renewable Energy Solution

All economic activity begins with physical materials and energy carriers (fuels and electric power). Without materials, there can be no food, shelter technology; without energy, there is no work—and no economic activity. In this transformation era, we need reliable sustainable resource to sufficient the need of energy. Biomass waste from oil palm is one become reliable resource because availability, continuity and capacity for renewable energy solution. Additional fact that in current situation the most biomass oil palm is environmental problem and not yet exploitated. Many consideration such economic, energy balance, technological and environmental must keep balance to meet best solution of utilization biomass oil palm.

Abundance raw material available because around 90% of palm tree consist of biomass and the rest that around 10% consist of oil become very attractive business, since the market of the product wide open, technology available and reliable resources from two biomass rich countries, Indonesia and Malaysia. Malaysia current oil palm plantation around 4.2 M ha, it means 20% from Malaysian land and Indonesia have approximately 7 M ha oil palm plantation.


JFE become the best choice on this field, since the technology can produce salable products with very attractive bottom line or convert all that waste into money. Integrated plant with combination CHP and biochemical plant is the next option to expand this business. While CHP for local used especially to develop economic growth in rural area or add efficiency in palm oil mill then biochar or torrified wood become attractive export commodity and the last biochemical industry can be build in this area using biooil as raw material. This program also inline with decentralization and deployment policy of renewable energy based on local resources. Industry efficiency of palm oil mill can be reach because the CHP will produce electrity and steam that reduce energy bill of the palm oil mill.



In this current situation (2010), Indonesia only have electricity ratio around 62% and 80% targeting in 2014. Of course this need much effort to reach the target. JFE will help you become electricity provider (Independent Power Producer) using the syngas as side product generate electricity to sufficient the need of electricity. Indonesian Ministerial Regulation No. 002/2006 concerning (Distributed Renewable Energy Medium Scale Power Plant): Mandate that PT. PLN should purchase renewable energy power plants in the range of 1 - 10 MW for a period 10 years with a purchase price of 0.8 local production cost if connected at high voltage and 0.6 of production cost if connected at low voltage.

Torrefaction is The Most Efficient Way of Harnessing Biomass Energy and especially the best solution for EFB problem in SE Asian POMs

Taiwan's Minister Stephen Shu-hung Shen has suggestion that Torrefaction is The Most Efficient Way of Harnessing Biomass Energy . He explain it as part of an effort to gain participation in the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change. Torrefaction is the roasting of wood or other biomass to create a product that (1) has increased energy density; (2) has characteristics that make it easy to handle and transport; and (3) is practical to co-fire in existing coal plants.

Then, Portland General Electric submitted a letter to the Oregon Public Utilities Commission laying out a plan to either shut down the Boardman coal-fired power plant or discontinue use of coal as the fuel source for that plant. Portland General Electric's letter follows a November 5, 2009 Integrated Resource Plan in which the utility recommended the installation of $520 million to $560 million of emissions control retrofits to comply with new rules from the state Environmental Quality Commission (EQC).

Portland General Electric then suggested that they are considering torrefied wood as a fuel source:
PGE spokesman Steve Corson said the company is keeping a close eye on research around a biomass technology called “torrefaction.”
The end product could be a direct substitute for coal, allowing the Boardman plant to continue operating but using a renewable and carbon-friendly feedstock. Torrefaction removes moisture and low energy volatiles from the roasted wood, producing a product that is more energy dense (more energy per unit of weight) than wood and almost as dense as coal. The significance of this increased energy density is shown in the following comparison.

The other benefit of torrified wood is more economical to transport than units of green wood or wood pellets with similar total energy content. Torrefied wood is also more durable than green wood or wood pellets because it (1) is moisture resistant and can be shipped in bulk open containers and stored uncovered and handled in a manner similar to coal, and (2) can withstand 1.5 to 2 times the crushing force of wood pellets. Thus, when compared to green wood or wood pellets, torrefied wood can be transported cheaper, farther and with less environmental impact from transportation operations.

Grinds Similar to Coal. Torrefied material grinds similar to coal. It can be ground in many existing facilities, easing its integration into existing coal facilities. By comparison, wood pellets are difficult to grind, effectively prohibiting their use in most existing coal plants. Burns Similar to Coal. While torrefied wood is a renewable, carbon neutral resource, it burns similar to coal. Certain volatiles and other compounds (hemi-cellulose material contained in wood) are largely eliminated in the torrefaction process, making torrefied materials easier to co-fire in power plants originally designed to use only coal.

This change in the chemical composition of the wood not only increases the energy density, but also improves the manner in which the wood is burned in a coal gasifier, thus permitting more of the energy to be converted into electricity. This makes the energy content of torrefied wood more valuable. By comparison, wood pellets contain volatile organic compounds that release smoke when burned. These volatiles can create slag or ash in existing coal power plants and restrict the use of wood pellets in such plants.

The integration of torrefied wood into existing coal power plants requires no upfront capital investment by the coal plant operator. Thus, torrefied wood provides existing coal burning utilities the ability to produce green energy with no upfront cost. Torrefied wood is a renewable resource under current EU law and the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (as passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year and currently pending in the Senate). As a result, coal plant operators can obtain renewable energy and/or carbon trading credits by incorporating torrefied wood into their production process.

JFE believe that torrefied wood presents current economically viable opportunities for large scale production of renewable energy. Indonesian has a renewable energy source with huge potential and abundant, but their utilization is still very limited.The first sequence is solar, then the second is biomass and geothermal in the third (please refer table below). Abundant biomass waste and will decompose (fermented to produce methane) causes environmental problems need to be addressed immediately.

Indonesia and Malaysia is the biggest CPO producer in the world with more than 500 Palm Oil Mills. There are number of solid and liquid waste streams from the Palm Oil Mill processes. Solid wastes include empty fruit bunch (EFB), fiber and shell with liquid wastes including oil sludge and Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME).
Based on a PALM OIL MILL capacity 30 T FFB / hour, the following solid waste
streams are produced:
EFB: 6.9 T/hour or 165.6 T/day
Fiber: 3.9 T/hour or 93.6 T/day
Shell: 1.95 T/hour or 46.8 T/day.

The key to the success of the JFBC systems is the simplicity of design and ease of operations. Once the plant is up to a specific temperature using fuel oil, simply load the feed bin, keep an eye on the temperature and charcoal, bio-oil and biogas comes out, each into its own holding tanks.

The heart of the JFBC patent pending system is the air absent retorts. In a continuous process, raw organic material of any kind is passed through the retorts and cooked into marketable products. While some of the biogas is used to fuel its own process, on site gas turbines or steam boilers can be fueled by the same gas. Variable speed drives give the operator total control on product quality by altering the residence time of the feed stock.

The operator can also vary the percentage split between the bio-oil and charcoal by changing the temperature. Higher temp will yield more oil while lower will get you more charcoal or torrified Wood.JFBS Pyrolysis technology can produce biochar (charcoal) or torrified wood. Priority to processing it depends on many consideration especially yielded added value and availability of raw material.

Biochar Carbon Sequestration – A Manipulation of the Carbon Cycle by Dr Christoph Steiner

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is removed from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and stored in organic matter. When plants grow they utilize sunlight, carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O)to synthesize organic matter and release oxygen (O2). This accumulated organic matter is returned to the atmosphere by decomposition of dead plant tissue or disturbances, such as fire, in which large amounts of organic matter are oxidized and rapidly transferred into CO2.

Reduced decomposition is an advantage of carbonized organic matter (charcoal, biochar). Thus, biochar formation has important implications for the global carbon cycle. In natural and agroecosystems residual charcoal is produced by incomplete burning. As the soil carbon pool declines due to cultivation, the more resistant biochar fraction increases as a portion of the total carbon pool and may constitute up to 35% of the total soil organic carbon (SOC). The half-life of biochar was estimated to be 1400 years, and thus a permanent form of carbon sequestration.
Biochar can be produced by thermo-chemical conversion of biomass.

Burning biomass in the absence of oxygen produces biochar and products of incomplete combustion (PIC). The PIC include burnable gases such as H2 and CH4. These gases can be used to fuel the conversion of biomass into biochar and/or renewable energy generation. Larger molecules can be condensed into bio-oil and also used as a renewable fuel. The resulting biochar consists of mainly carbon and is characterized by a very high recalcitrance against decomposition. Thus biochar decelerates
(manipulates) the second part of the carbon cycle (decay, mineralization) and its non-fuel use would establish a carbon sink. Lenton and Vaughan (2009) rated biochar as the best geo-engineering option to reduce CO2 levels.

It is predicted that 109 hectares of natural ecosystems would be converted to agriculture by 2050. This would cause a further massive loss of ecosystem function and species extinction. Reducing these impacts and at the same time doubling and sustaining food production, and mitigating climate change and adapting to a changing climate probably represents the greatest challenge facing humankind.


There is hope that biochar carbon sequestration could sequester significant amounts of carbon while simultaneously increasing the resilience of agricultural systems to environmental influences. Throughout the world intensive agricultural land use often has resulted in soil physical and chemical degradation, and higher losses than input rates of nutrients and organic materials. In contrast, the intentional and unintentional deposition of nutrient-rich materials within human habitation sites and field areas has in many cases produced conditions of heightened fertility status. An anthropogenically-enriched dark soil found throughout the lowland portion of the Amazon Basin and termed Terra Preta de Índio is one such example. Its fertility is the secondary result of the transport of natural and produced foods, building materials, and fuel to prehistoric dwelling places.

These materials and their byproducts were then transformed and differentially distributed within the zone of habitation and associated garden areas. This is in contrast to today’s urban wastes which are deposited as contaminated toxic material far away from settlements or agricultural fields.

Sustainable agricultural practices will need to reverse soil degradation without an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, despite the challenge to double food production until 2050. This will require a material flow management involving both nutrients and carbon. This presentation will summarize the present knowledge, historical use and global prospects of biochar carbon sequestration.

'Renewable Energy' new part of our life

Not only are fossil fuels the problem, but according to the IEA's World Energy Outlook 2008, we are likely to see an increase in world primary energy demand of 45 percent between 2006 and 2030. As set out in the Energy Equality chapter, developing countries and emerging economies are in the great need of energy. Both need to fuel their growth, and the latter are beginning to converge with formerly dominant world powers, who are now seeing their economies contract.

The only logical and safe option is to channel all possible resources into a new world energy system, based on renewable energies which can provide millions of jobs, new industries and exports, energy security, and protection of the climate and environment. Any policymaker still voting for fossil fuels, and against renewable energy, on the basis of such pros and cons must be asked to give way to someone wiser and more caring. New nuclear programme is not the answer because problem on technology detail. The more one researches the subject, the firmer these conclusion become:renewable energy is the only reasonable and logical choice, with huge variety of benefits; and the switch must be prioritized immediately.

But this is a highly complex matter-renewable energy and its applications are varied, and provide a unique energy endowment for each country. There is no one-size-fits-all approach on technology and policy which can be advocated/ Ultimately, it will be up to each nation to determine how best to harness and protect investment in its renewable resources, and to decide how to share them.By offering a preferential tariff for producers of renewable energy, as well as investment security, they have led to the most rapid deployment at the lowest costs of any policy.

Investment in renewable energy has been surging, and 2008 was another good year with $120 billion invested worldwide. Approximate figures suggest wind (42 percent), solar PV (32 percent) dan biofuels (13 percent) attracted most of these funds, with biomass and geothermal power and heat, solar hot water and small hydro taking up around 6, 6 and 5 percent respectively. Manufacturing capacity has also benefited strongly from capital investment. The US ($24 billion), Germany, China and Spain ($15-19 billion range) and Brazil ($5 billion) were the biggest investors. Energy security and meeting carbon reduction targets, it will be very interesting to see how deployment develops over the next few years. And around US$500 million in development assistance grants is targeted at developing countries annually for renewable energy projects and for training and market support.

This funds policy analysis work, economic assessment, market and business development, project feasibility studies, financing mechanisms, technology improvements and capacity building, and sometimes covers partial incremental costs of renewable energy projects.

Several foundations and NGOs such as the UN Foundation and the Energy Foundation provide funds and manage programmes promoting renewable energy. Bilateral development banks and agencies also contribute, such as the European Union and the European Investment Bank, and national development institutions such as the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammerarbeit GmbH, better known as GTZ.

As an example of where some of these agencies put their money, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) is one of the many funders of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) a global initiative concerned with reducing policy, regulatory and financial barriers to renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and projects. The partnership has funded more than eighty ‘high quality’ projects in forty developing countries. These projects are beginning to deliver new business models, policy recommendations, risk mitigation instruments and regulatory measures. REEEP also engages in international, national and regional policy dialogues.

Several United Nations organizations actively promote renewable energy. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has an ‘Energy and Environment Practice” which promote acess to sustainable energy services as an essential development strategy. UNER’s (United Nations Environment Programme) renewable energy activities focus on the needs of developing and transition economies in various areas of renewable energy technology research, development and commercialization.

UNEP’s Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative (SEFI) is a platform providing financiers with the tools, support and global network needed to conceive and manage investments in the “complex and rapidly changing marketplace” for clean energy technologies. UNIDO (the United Nations Industrial Development Organization) focuses on rural energy for productive use. Other UN bodies work to spread renewable energy technology information, and to engage stakeholders in accelerating RE development.

The GEF was established in 1991 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as a mechanism to help developing countries fund projects and programmes that protect the global environment while still supporting national sustainable development initiatives. Nearly a billion dollars has gone to around 150 renewable energy projects in developing countries.

Indonesia and Malaysia is the biggest CPO (crude palm oil) producers in the world. Indonesia has reported with an annual production approximately 22 million tones, a plantation area of approximately 7 million hectares and more than 400 palm oil mills (POM). An additional 18 million hectares has been identified for palm plantation expansion. The solid waste components from POM production are empty fruit bunch (EFB), fiber and shell. These have been identified as the potential raw materials for pyrolysis technology to yield charcoal / biochar or torrified wood, bio-oil and syngas.

JFE have mission to make industry of POMs solid waste processing to produce renewable energy and agricultural products in Indonesia and South-East Asia, by making joint venture company with investor and/or biomass owner. The wide of market access, proven technology (JF BioCarbon System Ltd, Canada as technological support), abundant raw material, good operating business system and research capability for development is the key success of this business.

For further contact please send email eko.sb.setyawan@gmail.com or call Eko +6281328841805, John Flottvik 250-315-2226

Biochar in Action

By 2009 global carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have already reached 387 parts per million (ppm), up by 40 percent from 275 ppm in 1900. Until recently a doubling to 550 ppm was widely regarded as an acceptable target, but this has been revised downward to some 450 ppm as new scientific evidence about a warming planet has emerged. Now a growing number of climatologist are questioning even this limited increase, and argue for an actual reduction of CO2 concentrations to 350 ppm or below. This goes way beyond scenarios currently being proposed by goverments in developed countries, whose policies are homing in on 80 percent reduction of carbon emission from 1990 figures by 2050.

The problem is that every year we are now discharging nearly 10 billion tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. Of this, four to five billion tonnes are not being reabsorbsed into the world's ecosystems, but are instead accumulating in the atmosphere above our heads. According to the Global Carbon Project, the land and ocean carbon sinks-such as forests, and plankton in the ocean-removed about 54 percent, or 4.8 billion tonnes a year, of the carbon that human discharged into the atmosphere between 2000 and 2007. That leaves a carbon surplus of about 4 billion tonnes or so per year, which we need to find ways to reduce or absorb. For global temperatures to stabilize, carbon emisssions must ultimately not exceed what can be absorbed by the biosphere, the Earth's vegetation, soils and oceans. So can we enhance the capacity of bioshere to absorb CO2?

The earth's natural sinks of CO2 are ocean, forests and, perhaps most importantly, soil. The global soil carbon pool is estimated to amount to 2,500 Gt, whereas the biotic (vegetation based) pool is 560 Gt. A key point to be considered is that whilst fossil-fuel burning massively increased in the last 300 years, the capacity of biosphere to absorb it has been significantly reduced at the same time. Dr. Rattan Lal, Professor of Soil Science at Ohio State University, has calculated that 476 billions of tonnes (Gt) of carbon has been emitted from farmland soils due to inapproriate farming and grazing practice, compared with 270 Gt emitted from over 150 years of burning fossil fuels.

Most agricultural soils have lost anything of their antecedent soil organic carbon pool, or a total of 30 to 40 tC/ha. Carbon loss from soils is mainly associated with soil degradation and has amounted to 78+/-12 Gt since 1850. Thus, the present organic carbon pool in agricultural soils is much lower than their potential capacity.Considering all greenhouse gases, the global technical mitigation potential from agriculture is between 1.5 and 1.64 gigatonnes of carbon equivalent per year by 2030.

In addition to measures for enriching farmland and pastures with 'conventional' organic matter, a very significant new option is becoming available under the heading of 'biochar'.
This application related to the FAO states that soil carbon sequestration can take effect very quickly and is a cost-effective win-win approach which combines mitigation, adaptation, increased resilience and the promise of more reliable and increased crops yield. The biochar particles can improve soil structure, and enhance the presesnce of micro-organisms and plant nutrient. Adding biochar to the soil not only enhances fertility and life in the soil, but also helps it to retain moisture-which is very important in an age of climate change.

The FAO is also working on tools to measure, monitor and verify soil carbon pools and fluxes of greenhouse gas emission from agricultural soils, including cropland, degraded land and pastures. With global population expected to grow to nine billion by 2050, and with increasingly uncertain oil and water supplies,well-thought-out new approaches to securing carbon-rich organic soil can help to secure the food supplies of future generations. Professor Johannes Lehman of Cornell University and others have calculated biochar applications to soil could remove several billion tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere per year.

What they say about biochar?

AL GORE - "One of the most exciting new strategies for restoring carbon to depleted soils, and sequestering significant amounts of CO2 for 1,000 years and more, is the use of biochar."

BILL MCKIBBEN - "If you could continually turn a lot of organic material into biochar, you could, over time, reverse the history of the last two hundred years…"

DR. TIM FLANNERY - "Biochar may represent the single most important initiative for humanity's environmental future...."

DR. JAMES LOVELOCK - "There is one way we could save ourselves and that is through the massive burial of charcoal."

From http://unfccc.int/ on the home page that opens, scroll down a bit to Decisions adopted by COP 15 and CMP 5

Look in the right column under CMP, download the PDF named "Further guidance relating to the clean development mechanism"

Paragraph 33 states:

33. Invites interested entities to submit methodologies, considering the current work of the Executive Board and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, on new technologies that have the potential to reduce in net terms the concentration of carbon or carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere.


Biochar sequestration can be considered not merely carbon neutral, but actually a carbon negative strategy, because it results in a net decrease in atmospheric CO2 and other GHGs over long periods. That is, rather than allowing biomass (which removes carbon from the atmosphere to grow) to decompose and re-emit the CO2 or even produce more potent methane under anaerobic conditions, or by being eaten by termites, etc., pyrolysis will sequester the carbon. This will remove circulating CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in virtually permanent soil carbon pools. In addition, the bio-oil produced can be used to displace fossil liquid fuels, further reducing the net emissions of CO2.

Because the agrichar (biochar) does not readily break down, it could sequester for thousands of years nearly all the carbon it contains, rather than releasing it into the atmosphere as GHG carbon dioxide. It is believed that this soil amendment
could boost agricultural productivity through its ability to retain nutrients and moisture. Terra Preta is a highly productive type of soil created in the Amazon jungle of Brazil by pre-Colombian native Indians, by incorporation of charcoal.

Mengubah Limbah Organik Menjadi Uang

Pabrik Anda menghasilkan limbah padat organik dalam jumlah besar dan bermasalah dengannya ? Seberapa dekat pabrik Anda dengan konsep produksi yang zero waste sehingga ramah lingkungan ? Tentu sudah bukan jamannnya lagi operasional pabrik yang mencemari lingkungan, boros dan tidak efisien dalam penggunaan energi, yang secara overall juga akan meningkatkan cost produksi.

Berbagai cara telah dicoba untuk mengatasi masalah limbah tersebut. Manajemen limbah pada tahap pertama adalah mengurangi dampak pencemaran lingkungan, kemudian tahap kedua bagaimana mengolahnya sehingga memberi nilai tambah. JFE memberi solusi yang memuaskan dengan mengolahnya menjadi produk bermanfaat dan bernilai ekonomi tinggi, dan teknologi modern dengan pilihan kapasitas 60 ton/hari bahan baku dan 200 ton/hari bahan baku.

Teknologi kami akan mengolah limbah organik tersebut menjadi produk utama biochar (arang) atau torrified wood, sedangkan produk sampingnya biooil dan biogas (syngas). Konversi bahan mentah ke biochar kurang lebih 30%, sedangkan ke torrified wood bisa mencapai 50%. Berarti semua produk dapat terambil baik padat (arang atau torrified wood), cair (biooil) dan gas (syngas atau biogas), tentu hal tersebut akan memaksimalkan keuntungan. Selain itu proses pengolahan limbah tersebut juga ramah lingkungan dengan emisi gas buang jauh dibawah standar emisi yang dipersyaratkan. Biooil dan syngas (biogas) potensial untuk dijadikan bahan bakar sehingga akan mengefisienkan kebutuhan energi atau bahan bakar pabrik utama. Biooil juga potensial untuk bahan baku berbagai bahan kimia dengan purifikasi lanjut. Bandingkan adakah teknologi serupa yang bisa memberi solusi memuaskan masalah limbah padat organik pabrik Anda?

Biochar memiliki kegunaan terutama untuk meningkatkan pertumbuhan dan produktivitas tanaman dan menyerap karbon di atmosfer. Isu perubahan iklim berupa pemanasan global akibat gas rumah kaca membuat biochar punya peran besar untuk mereduksi gas rumah kaca di atmosfer. Biochar akan ditanam didalam tanah yang digunakan tersendiri ataupun diperkaya dengan pupuk organik lainnya atau sebagai aditif kompos, bahkan dengan tambahan kotoran sapi dan disterilkan sampai 300 C atau membunuh bakteri patogen, akan menjadi media tanam berkualitas tinggi.

Torrified wood memiliki kegunaan terutama untuk bahan bakar yang stabil dengan nilai kalor mendekati batubara, sehingga aplikasinya untuk subtitusi batubara yang banyak digunakan di pembangkit listrik. Bahan baku berupa limbah, jumlah berlimpah, dan kandungan sulfur rendah atau nyaris nol, adalah keunggulan torrified wood. Teknologi pirolisis kontinyu kami bisa menghasilkan kedua macam produk tersebut, tinggal diset sesuai keinginan dan kebutuhan pasar.