Abstract
Over the last decades, the palm oil industry has been growing rapidly due to increasing demands for food, cosmetic, and hygienic products. Aside from producing palm oil, the industry generates a huge quantity of residues (dry and wet) which can be processed to produce biofuel. Driven by the necessity to find an alternative and renewable energy/fuel resources, numerous technologies have been developed and more are being developed to process oil-palm and palm-oil wastes into biofuel. To further develop these technologies, it is essential to understand the current stage of the industry and technology developments. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the palm oil industry, review technologies available to process oil palm and palm oil residues into biofuel, and to summarise the challenges that should be overcome for further development. The paper also discusses the research and development needs, technoeconomics, and life cycle analysis of biofuel production from oil-palm and palm-oil wastes.
Highlights
Oil palm is considered as the most efficient oilseed crop in the world due to its high productivity per hectare
The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the palm oil industry, review technologies available to process oil palm and palm oil residues into biofuel, and to summarise the challenges that should be overcome for further development
Indonesia and Malaysia dominate the global production of palm-oil, contributing to around 85% of the palm oil production world-wide (Sime Darby Plantation, 2014; Siregar et al, 2014)
Summary
Due to its affordable price, efficient production, and high oxidative stability, palm oil has been widely used in food, cosmetic, and hygienic products. During the 1950s to the early 60s, the average production of palm oil was roughly 1.26 million tonnes (Abdullah and Wahid, 2010). Malaysia was the leading palm oil producer for a long period until 2006 when Indonesia overtook Malaysia to become the world largest palm oil producer This is mainly attributed to the fast expansion of oil palm plantation areas in Indonesia and the stagnation of the oil palm plantation areas in Malaysia (Mahat, 2012). One way to address these issues is to increase the efficiency of the mills and plantations so that no or minimum further plantation expansion is required Another way is to maximize the utilization of biomass produced in the plantations and mills to meet energy demands. This will reduce the cost of waste treatment and increase the profitability through the energy generated
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
