AGRO-INDUSTRIAL WASTE SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT – A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF ECONOMIC BENEFITS TO PALM OIL MILLS IN MALAYSIA

Authors

  • Wai Loan Liew Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Skudai 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
  • Khalida Muda Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Skudai 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
  • Mohd. Azraai Kassim Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Skudai 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
  • Augustine Chioma Affam Civil Engineering Department, UniversityCollege of Technology Sarawak, Persiaran Brooke, Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia
  • Soh Kheang Loh Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P.O. Box 10620, 50720Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4090/juee.2017.v11n1.108-118

Keywords:

Palm oil, waste, bioenergy, sustainability, economic benefits

Abstract

Over the decades the palm oil industry has managed some challenging environmental concerns regarding land transformation and degradation, increase in eutrophication, changing habitats of wildlife, pesticides runoff into inland watercourses, and probable climate change. Countries producing palm oil desire to do so in a more sustainable way that will leave the environment evergreen. Therefore this paper aims to encourage sustainable management of agro-industrial waste and its potential in making financial returns from the same waste. Hence, the study was conducted with the participation of seven local palm oil mills having different capacities and operation age. Attention was given to milling waste as they could cause serious environmental menace if unattended to properly. Milling waste includes lignocellulosic palm biomass namely the empty fruit bunches (EFB), oil palm shell (OPS), mesocarp fibres, palm oil mill effluent (POME), and palm oil mill sludge (POMS), as well as solid waste generated from the further processing of these biomass into the palm oil fuel ashes (POFA) and palm oil clinkers (POC). The opportunities available to the Malaysian palm oil industry and the financial benefits which may accrue from waste generated during palm oil production process cannot be over emphasized.

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Published

2017-05-28

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Articles