Abstract
The African palm is the main source of vegetable oil worldwide, representing about 29.60% of the total oil and fat production around the world. The rapid expansion of this sector has faced several concerns related to environmental and social aspects that have driven the search for sustainable alternatives. In this work, the inherent safety analysis and sustainability evaluation for the crude palm oil production process was performed using the inherent safety index (ISI) method and the sustainable weighted return on investment metric (SWROIM), respectively. The process was designed for a processing capacity of 30 t/h of palm bunches and under North-Colombian conditions. Three technical indicators were considered to evaluate the process sustainability including exergy efficiency, potential environmental impacts output (PEI output), and the total inherent safety index (ITI). The economic factor is directly considered since the SWROIM is an extension of the conventional return on investment (ROI). The resulting ITI at 11 indicated an inherently safe process, and the highest risk was observed for the process equipment safety subindex. The SWROIM reached a higher value (53%) compared to the conventional ROI (49.39%), which suggests positive impacts on sustainability. The novelty of this work lies in detecting the inherent risks and providing a decision making criteria for this project through a complete evaluation that relates economic, energy, environmental, and safety criteria.
Highlights
The African palm is the main source of vegetable oil worldwide, representing about29.60% of the total oil and fat production around the world [1]
The highest risk was found in the drying stage; it is recommended to monitor the operation of the dryer
The risk associated with the chemicals involved in the process was determined as negligible
Summary
The African palm is the main source of vegetable oil worldwide, representing about29.60% of the total oil and fat production around the world [1]. Consumption of crude palm oil reached 60,095 million tons by 2015 [2] This consumption rate is related to its versatility, high productivity, and lower production cost. 78% of the global production area, while Colombia is the fifth-largest crude palm oil producer in the world and the first in Latin America with 2.30% of the global production area (465,000 ha) [3]. These plantations are located in four main regions of Colombia: north, center, east, and southwest [4]; the largest planted area occurs in the north of the country, accounting for 29% of total area [5]. The rapid expansion of this sector has led to several environmental and social concerns such as greenhouse gas emission, waste generation, deforestation, biodiversity, and soil quality loss and land-use change [9]
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.
