Talking about oil palm plantations, Indonesia is top of that, coconut plantations, and so on, rubber plantations, too. But speaking of energy self-sufficiency, energy diversification, energy security and the role of bioenergy or biopower, it's still very far to be said as the champion. Energy is clearly an important sector, after food. The late innovation in this sector also has the potential of this country not developing even controlled by foreign parties. The vast amount of biomass has not been utilized efficiently and optimally. ESDM noted that less than 2% of biomass was used. The efficiency improvement alone has actually contributed greatly to energy sufficiency. Today's problems such as the scarcity of 3 kg LPG gas in some locations can also be overcome by increasing the efficiency. Global environmental problems such as climate change and global warming can also be mitigated by biomass because it is a carbon neutral fuel. Whereas when the energy needs are getting bigger, it is necessary to create new energy sources namely by multipurpose energy plantation.
Indonesia's oil palm plantations today cover 12 million hectares and number 1 in the world. Of course the biomass production is very large. There are two groups of biomass sources from the oil palm plantation, namely from the plantation side and the processing plant side. On the plantation side, waste in the form of fronds, trunks and palm leaves has not been utilized and only stacked in the plantatin until decayed. While from the side of the processing plant, namely the palm oil mill or CPO production, biomass waste in the form of palm kernel shells, empty fruit bunches, fibers (mesocarp fiber) and liquid waste. All of these wastes can be used for energy, only fibers from fruit bunch (mesocarp fiber) have been used up as fuel for the operations of the palm plant (electricity generation and steam production. Hard and difficult decomposed biomass can be processed into pellets and briquette, while biomass which is rich in organic matter is processed with biological routes (fermentation) for biogas production.
Pellet or briquette factories can be built adjacent to a plantation or CPO factory or based on raw material oriented. If the plant is built away from raw materials, transportation costs will be expensive because the raw material takes up a large volume (bulky). The capacity of the plant is also adjusted to the availability of raw materials, so that if the plant uses raw materials from oil palm plantation waste such as fronds and trunks. Plantation maintenance by cleaning palm fronds and replanting programs that leave palm oil trunks (read more about oil palm pellets here and here) which is carried out periodically is the source of raw material for the production of pellets. While the pellet plant that uses raw materials from the palm oil mill, the capacity is also automatically adjusted to the palm oil mill. Empty fruit bunches (EFB) are solid wastes produced in the daily operation of palm oil mills that can be used for the production of these pellets. Whereas palm kernel shell (PKS) is also produced as a solid waste of palm oil mills, but because the size and properties are similar to wood pellets, it does not need to be processed into pellets, the only do just cleaned from impurities and used for fuel. This palm kernel shell is also a wood pellet competitor, the majority of which can only be obtained from Indonesia and Malaysia. Europe and North American countries (US and Canada) cannot produce palm kernel shells because there are no oil palm plantations there.
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| Comparison between palm kernel shell and wood pellet |
Last about aspect of the market. Whatever the production, if there is no market or buyer, the same is a lie. The export market is also in dire need of biomass fuel because of the global consensus to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere which is widely described as the culprit (trouble maker) of climate change and global warming. Biomass fuels, especially pellets and palm shells, are categorized as carbon neutral but their management must be sustainable. Each pellet also has its own market, more details can be read here. Domestic markets also need to be built. When a pellet manufacturer can provide these pellets continuously along with cooking stoves and various energy conversion tools, which is also part of educating the market (for current conditions), then the use of pellets gradually increases. Insha Allah. Moreover, the condition of fuel scarcity, especially for households in a number of areas which is worrying, will also be a driving force or motivation for the production of these pellets. And it is not impossible, Indonesia is one of the main players in the world's biomass fuel. Wallahu 'Alam
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