Production of LOF and EFB Pellets at The Same Time

The leaching process for palm oil empty fruit bunches (EFB) so that it has potassium and chlorine content suitable for EFB pelletproduction on a commercial scale that can be used maximally on a pulverized combustion (PC) boiler at a power plant is not easy and inexpensive. That is because the leaching process requires a solvent to extract the potassium and chlorine content from the EFB material. Ideally the leaching process is carried out with acid solvents, agitation and heat and a long time so the extraction process can run optimally. In fact this is the bottle neck to carry out the leaching process, so that almost no one has done this process commercially today. It is different if the leaching process also has other objectives that also have commercial value, for example for the production of liquid organic fertilizer (LOF).

By simultaneously producing LOF, the costs for leaching can be compensated with the benefits of the LOF. In CPO business operations, especially in palm oil plantations the cost of fertilizer is one of the highest cost components, estimated at 35.75 billion rupiahs (around 2.5 million USD) per year for every 10,000 hectares. If the cost of the fertilizer can be saved from the use of self-produced LOF as well as pellet EFB production, then this is one of the optimization of biomass utilization in the palm oil industry. LOF will have the main content in the form of potassium because the potassium content is quite high at EFB about 30% of the ash produced is potassium. Potassium fertilizer is very beneficial for plants because it is an essential nutrient with benefits including transporting sugar, controlling stomata in leaves by maintaining electro-neutrality in plant cells, co-factor of more than 40 enzymes and reducing the occurrence of various diseases. Some plantations also need large amounts of potassium fertilizer, for example banana plantations. The process of making LOF by soaking EFB for several days is expected to significantly reduce the potassium and chlorine content in EFB and make it a material for pellets that are friendly to the PC boiler power plant.

The EFB pellets produced can then be sold for export as well as meeting domestic needs. With EFB pellet production as well as LOF, it is hoped that export bioenergy will not damage or reduce the fertility of the existing soil, something that is sometimes indeed dilemmatic. In addition, other materials in the plantation such as leaves and frond can still be composted if they are also intended as fertilizer. EFB pellet production also always requires energy in the form of electricity for its plant operations. And for that electricity can be produced from biogas by treating the palm oil mill effluent (POME), for more details, read here. The location of palm oil mills which are generally remote are required to be able to produce their own electricity, including if they are going to process EFB into LOF and EFB pellets, the electricity needs should also be fulfilled by themselves.

EFB pellets without leaching process actually can also be used for FBC (fluidized bed combustion) boiler technology and for a limited number percentage of PC boilers. With this leaching process EFB pellets can be used optimally on the PC boiler. Majority of power plants or coal power plants currently use PC boiler technology. So that if the EFB pellet produced can be friendly with a PC boiler the market is more open automatically. Production of EFB pellets which are agricultural waste pellets will usually be the second priority after the production of wood pellets is constrained mainly in terms of the availability and supply of raw materials.