Production of Palm Oil with Methane Avoidance at Palm Oil Mill: A Case Study of Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

The study discusses a case study of cradle to gate life cycle assessment for the production of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) with methane avoidance at palm oil mill. The improved milling process enables total utilization of the oil palm fruit to produce alow oil palm based food source. The minimal modification in the mill includes cleaning of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) and obtaining the low oil food source from the aqueous stream. The oil palm fruit processing plant enables the significant reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) such as methane and carbon dioxide emissions by avoiding the formation of liquid biomass in the form of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME). The attributional Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) shows the improved milling process contributes to significant reduction of GHG emission from palm oil mills as compared to the process of capturing biogas from POME. The palm based food source contains phytonutrients, namely carotenoids, tocols (tocopherol and tocotrienols) and water soluble polyphenols.