Biochar For Date Palm Plantations

Biochar is increasingly being used as a soil amendment with the aim of improving the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil, and reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. In date palm plantations which are mostly planted in dry and sandy areas, the use of biochar will especially increase the ability of water and nutrients holding capacity, meaning that the evaporation of groundwater can also be reduced and nutrient loss for date palms can also be reduced. This of course is very beneficial for the date palm tree. Waste from date palm plantations such as midribs, seeds and leaves can be used as raw material for the biochar. The impact or positive results of the use of biochar have been reported from enormous of studies and experiments. These results are improvements in the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil which ultimately result in the quality and productivity of the fruit yield.

Every year, it is estimated that each date palm tree produces 33 kg of green waste or 20 kg of dry biomass waste. Currently, it is estimated that date palms around the world reach 120 million trees with a biomass waste potential of 4 billion tonnes of green waste or 2.4 billion dry and can be converted into biochar into 800 million tonnes of biochar. The 10 largest date producing countries are Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, South Sudan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The use of modern pyrolysis equipment for processing biomass waste into biochar, also produces excess energy for heat or electricity production which can be used for various purposes. Location of date palm plantations in rural areas can use electricity or store this energy for other purposes such as cooking. The energy storage can be done with large or small tanks for the needs of residents in that location. By utilizing the excess energy from the pyrolysis process, environmental damage such as illegal logging can be minimized. Dry and arid are areas with high evaporation and low rainfall, and such areas as these occupy 41% of the land surface area on earth. Currently nearly 900 million people inhabit this area.

Improved soil quality will result in higher crop productivity. The better the quality of the soil that can be cultivated, the better the productivity will be. Biochar will enrich soil organic carbon which has important roles, including reducing plant nutrient loss, increasing soil aggregation, reducing soil erosion, and increasing water holding capacity. Each plant has its own characteristics regarding the growing medium and environmental condition. Improving the quality of the soil will certainly increase the productivity of dates and even increase the quality of the fruit.

Utilization of Excess Energy from Biochar Production with Pyrolysis

Most of the production equipments for biochar are currently obsolete, so that the productivity and quality of the products produced are low, also causing environmental problems, namely air pollution. In equipment with this technology, the production process is also not running efficiently, indicated by the large amount of energy or heat loss so that it is less profitable. Slow pyrolysis technology is the best technology for biochar production because it maximizes the production of a solid fraction (biochar). Meanwhile, other thermal technology group are not so suitable for biochar production, for example fast pyrolysis, the main objective of which is to maximize its liquid product or biooil, gasification is the main objective of maximizing gas or syngas product as well as hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) or wet pyrolysis requiring high pressure operating conditions so that it is difficult to be applied. Modern slow pyrolysis technology will operate autothermal / self sustain fuel, safe, good process control and energy management, so that in this way in addition to energy being used for the pyrolysis process itself, excess energy can also be used for other needs such as electricity or heat production.

There are three main variables for this pyrolysis process, namely heating rate, duration / residence time and temperature. The quality and quantity of biochar are determined by these process variables. For example, biochar production with a temperature of less than 400 C will produce acidic biochar, while biochar production above this temperature will produce alkaline biochar. Currently, the pH of biochar produced ranges from 4 to 12. There are also those who make a category about the pyrolysis temperature for biochar production, namely, low with less than 250 C, medium (250 - 500 C), high with more than 500 C. According to some researches fixed carbon also increased from 56% to 93% at 300 and 800 C pyrolysis temperatures. The surface area also increased from 120 m2 / gram at 400 C to 460 m2 / gram at 900 C. 

And indeed, basically the quality and quantity of biochar is determined by the raw materials used and the conditions of the production process, especially the pyrolysis. In fact, to ensure the quality of biochar, all aspects need to be considered such as raw materials and production processes such as the pyrolysis operating temperature should not be more than 20%, interruptions when production are allowed as long as the conditions of subsequent production parameters are maintained the same as before the restart. The composition of the raw material should not fluctuate more than 15%. And for modern pyrolysis equipment, the excess energy must be utilized with an estimated 35-60% of the energy from the biomass raw material found in pyrolysis gas. A number of agricultural waste processings can use the pyrolysis optimally, including:

1. Palm Oil Industry
The use of pyrolysis technology for palm oil companies, especially in Indonesia, is currently ideal. This is because palm oil mills or CPO mills produce a lot of solid waste biomass namely, empty fruit bunches/EFB, fiber and palm kernel shell. And because palm kernel shell / PKS has a lot of demand both from within and outside the country for industrial fuel and power plants, this PKS should not be used as raw material for pyrolysis or biochar production, but can be directly used as a trading commodity.  The EFB and fiber are used as raw material for biochar and then the biochar is used to improve the soil quality of palm oil plantation so that fresh fruit bunch or FFB productivity increases. Excess energy from pyrolysis is then used as boiler fuel so that it can reduce or even replace all PKS as the the boiler fuel. And because the boiler fuel is replaced with the excess energy pyrolysis, so can be  all of the PKS can be sold. 

2. Integrated Coconut Industry

Products from coconut processing such as copra, dessicated coconut, and nata de coco require heat in the production process. Coconut shell charcoal is also a favorite charcoal with a large market demand. The charcoal will usually be further processed into briquettes for energy and activated carbon for various industries. For biochar production, coconut industrial wastes such as coir/fiber, bunch and midrib can be used. Excess energy of pyrolysis can be used for the production of the above products and other advanced products. The low productivity of Indonesian coconut production needs to be improved, one of which is by improving soil quality with biochar. In addition, there are so many coconut plantations in Indonesia that need to be replanted so that improving soil quality to achieve the desired production is increasingly important. 

3. Corn Plantation

Efforts to increase food products need to be taken seriously, this can be done in two ways, first by expanding the land or making new rice paddy fields for production and the second by improving the quality of existing land so that productivity will increase. Biochar is very effective and efficient for the second method above. Besides being used as a human food source, corn is also used for animal feed. With the projection of the human population continuing to increase, the need for food either directly by consuming corn or indirectly from livestock such as meat and eggs. Poultry or chicken feed production ranks first of other animal feed production, or in the world almost half of the animal feed produced is chicken feed. Corn cobs and husks are agricultural waste that can be used for biochar production. Excess energy from the pyrolysis process can be used for drying corn and other advanced processes.

4. Rice Paddy Farming 

Rice or paddy is the staple food of most of the Indonesian population. The area of irrigated rice fields is decreasing throughout the year. This encourages the use of non-irrigated rice fields or dry land for the production of this rice. Biochar is able to improve the quality of dry land soils, such as in corn farming. Rice husks are rice paddy agricultural waste that can be used for biochar production. Excess energy from rice husk pyrolysis can be used for drying the rice paddy itself so that it becomes dry grain ready to be milled, or for other purposes. With the improvement of soil quality, rice productivity can be increased and it is not impossible that food self-sufficiency, especially rice, can be achieved, as has been achieved by Indonesia some time ago.

Carbonization Furnace Innovations To Improve Coconut Processing Efficiency

Inefficient production processes will encourage waste, resulting in high production costs. Energy is an important factor for a lot of industries, especially in the integrated coconut processing industry. Carbonization or the coconut shell charcoal process is generally inefficient besides it also produces a lot of smoke pollution in the charring process, for more details, please read here. This much wasted energy should be used for various coconut processing, such as making white copra, dessicated coconut (DC), nata de coco, and drying cocofiber or cocopeat. Furthermore, the smoke that comes out of the carbonization process can also be condensed so as to produce liquid smoke product. With the above configuration, the carbonization furnace can be used optimally as well as waste or smoke pollution can also be minimized as little as possible. A simple carbonization furnace scheme is as follows:

The input of the carbonization furnace is mainly coconut shell, but coir/fiber, bunch, and frond can also be used. A heat exchanger is installed to extract or utilize heat from the carbonization process. The air from the environment after passing through the heat exchanger will become hot. The hot air produced can then be used as needed as above. In the production of white copra where only clean hot air is needed, not from smoke or flue gas can take advantage of this hot air, as well as in the production of dessicated coconut (DC). Coconut water, which is still disposed of so much that it pollutes the environment, should also be processed into nata de coco or vinegar. The process of boiling coconut water for the two products above can also take advantage of the heat from the carbonization furnace. With energy costs that can be cut or minimized in this way, coconut processed products become more competitive and provide additional benefits for the producers.

Production of Electricity and Biochar from Pineapple Plantation Waste

Besides being able to be processed into briquettes or in more detail, read here, pineapple plantation waste can also be used for electricity and biochar production. The use of biochar on pineapple plantation land will increase fertility and improve soil quality so that it will also increase the productivity of the pineapple fruit. The use of biochar on dry land such as pineapple plantations will be more effective so that the benefits will be even more real. Biochar that can last up to hundreds of years in the soil will provide long-term benefits for pineapple plantation owners. The era in the future that tends towards efficient agriculture or precision agriculture will also produce less waste or even zero waste. Agricultural wastes that have been a lot of environmental problems will be reduced and processed into added value, environmentally friendly and sustainable materials such as biochar production.

In large pineapple plantations, the amount of pineapple waste produced is also large. Besides producing biochar, pyrolysis of pineapple waste will also generate electricity. Electricity as a form of energy that is easily converted to various other forms of energy is certainly very useful, especially the pineapple industry. Pineapple processing can use the electricity generated, thereby reducing or even eliminating the need for external electricity. But it is possible that if the pineapple industry needs heat more than electricity, the excess energy from pyrolysis does not need to be converted into electricity but only heat is enough and this is easier and simpler. Of course, these things also further reduce the production costs of these pineapple-based products, thus providing even greater profit.

There are many products from the pineapple industry, including candied pineapple, pineapple jam, pineapple paste, pineapple chips, pineapple juice, pineapple juice probiotics, pineapple jelly, canned pineapple, and dried fruit. As one fruit that is quite popular throughout the world, the demand for pineapple is also increasing. With the prediction of the world's population reaching nearly 10 billion by 2050, the need for food, especially fruit, will also increase. Pineapple peels are also commonly used as animal feed, especially cattle, and cow dung is used for biogas production. The addition of biochar to cow dung for biogas will increase biogas production, more details can be read here and the sideproduct in the form of digestate which is then composted will be of better quality in the presence of biochar. Biochar makes the nutrients in compost not easy washed but is released slowly (slow release fertilizer).

7 Largest Animal Feed Factories in the World

Since animal feed became a trade commodity or commercial product starting in the early 1800s when the means of transportation and propulsion of agricultural equipment mainly used horses and donkeys, a number of animal feed providers began to emerge such as Cargill, ADM, Purina and Ridley. In that era, the science of animal feed nutrition became a scientific discipline, starting in 1810 a German scientist named Albrecht Daniel Thaer developed the first animal feed standard by comparing the nutrients of various types of hay. Around 1900 the hammer mill was first used followed by the horizontal batch mixer in 1909. The early 20th century saw many advances in the use of technology for animal feed but the most noticeable and dramatic progress was when Purina introduced feed pellets in the 1920s. With this pelletization, the powder is less favorable to livestock (unpalatable), the different densities become easier to use and increases uniformity. This pelletization technique was quickly in demand by many feed producers so that in 1930 there were a number of feed factories that specialized in the production of these feed pellets. In 1944 L.A. Maynard published a table of nutritional requirements for livestock and laboratory animal husbandry. The table of nutritional requirements then becomes the world standard for feed formulation to date including ruminants such as sheep, goats and cows. In the late 1950s progress and specialization continued in the feed industry. In addition, the production capacity is also getting bigger, even in the 1970s the range of animal feed factory capacity was between 200 - 500 thousand tons per year. Currently there are about 30 thousand feed factories around the world with a production of more than 1 billion tons every year, and the 7 giant animal feed factories are as follows: 

1.Charoen Pokphand (27 million tons / year)   

Charoen Pokphand's business started in 1921 when two Chinese brothers Chia Ek Chor and Chia Siew Whooy set up a Chia Tai Chueng shop and did business in plant seeds and vegetables from China and exported pork and eggs to Hong Kong. Currently, Charoen Pokphand, based in Bangkok, is the largest Thai conglomerate and also one of the largest conglomerates in the world. The company has 8 business lines covering 13 business groups including the largest retail business in Southeast Asia (Seven Eleven), telecommunications (True), hypermarkets (Siam Makro) and automotive (Dayang Motor). By 2020 this business group has invested in 21 countries. Charoen Pokphand's animal feed production began in 1978 and is currently the world's largest producer of animal feed and shrimp products, as well as the world's top three for poultry, pork and a number of agricultural products. 

2. New Hope (20 million tons / year)

New Hope was founded by Liu Yonghao in 1982 and is also the current managing director. Before founding New Hope Liu Yonghao was a teacher at a technical school and with his three siblings started farming quails and chickens. Today New Hope is China's largest animal feed producer. Apart from New Hope, Liu Yonghao also does business in banking and is the founder of a shareholder in China Minsheng Bank. Currently, New Hope is mainly engaged in the agricultural, livestock and food processing sectors, with a production of 20 million tons of animal feed, processing 1.3 billion chickens and 8 million pigs annually. The company operates in 30 countries including Vietnam, Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Egypt. 

3.Cargill (19.2 million tonnes / year)

Cargill was founded in 1865 or about 156 years ago in the United States by William W. Cargill with headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota. A year after his birth, his brother Sam joined to form W.W. Cargill and Brother. In 1875 another of James's brothers joined the company. In 1898, John H. MacMillan, Sr., and his brother, Daniel, began working at W. W. Cargill. MacMillan later married William Cargill's eldest daughter, Edna. Today Cargill is still a family company, with the descendants of the founders (from the Cargill and MacMillan Families) owning 90% of the company and is Cargill's largest private company by revenue in the United States.

Some of Cargill's main businesses are trading, purchasing and distributing grains such as wheat and other agricultural commodities, such as coconut oil; trade in energy, steel and transportation; livestock breeding and feed production; as well as producing food ingredients such as starch and glucose syrup, vegetable oils and fats for use in instant food and industry. Cargill also has a financial services business, which manages Cargill's financial risk in commodity markets. Cargill operates in 66 countries and is the largest poultry producer in Thailand. 

4.Purina Animal Nutrition (12 million tonnes / year)

Purina Animal Nutrition was founded in the United States by William H. Danforth in 1894 with the production of a variety of animal feeds under the name Purina Mills. The animal feed produced at that time included horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, pigs and monkeys. In 1902, William H. Danforth with Webster Edgerly, a university professor who founded Ralstonism, who at that time produced breakfast cereal, founded the Ralston Purina company. In 1986 Ralston Purina sold the Purina Mill, the animal feed business for the American market, to British Petroleum and retained its international pet feed and animal feed businesses. In 1993 Sterling Group purchased Purina Mill and in 1998 it was purchased by Koch Industries, but the U.S. the bankruptcy court canceled all of Koch's rights to manage the survival of the company. Lastly Purina Mills was purchased by Land O'Lakes in 2001. 

5.BRF (11 million tons / year) 

BRF S.A. is a Brazilian company which is a merger between Sadia and Perdigao, the two main feed companies in Brazil. Currently BRF is one of the largest feed companies in the world with more than 30 brands in its portfolio, including Sadia, Perdigao, Qualy, Paty, Danica and Bocatti. BRF products are marketed in more than 150 countries in the world. BRF has more than 50 factories in 8 countries namely Argentina, Brazil, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Netherlands, Malaysia, UK, Thailand and Turkey. In Brazil, BRF has more than 30 factories and 20 distribution centers, while overseas operates 9 factories in Argentina, one unit in the UK, one unit in the Netherlands, five in Thailand, one in Malaysia, one in the UAE, and five in Turkey. with the support of 27 distribution centers. The animal feed products produced by BRF are for chickens and pigs. 

6.Tyson Foods (10.3 million tonnes / year)

Tyson Foods is a public trade company from the United States whose main business is in the animal feed industry with headquarters at 2200 Don Tyson Pkwy., Springdale, Arkansas. Tyson Foods is also the world's largest company and marketer after JBS S.A based on chicken, beef and pork. The company was founded by John W. Tyson in 1935 and from its founding until his death in 1967 he served as its managing director. Tyson started out in the chicken market when he heard that chicken in northern America was more expensive than where he lived in Arkansas. In 1936 Tyson brought 500 chickens from his home to Chichago, Illinois and made quite a fortune. Since that success he started raising chickens and making feed for them. Currently Tyson Foods operates in 10 countries with products spread across five continents in the world. 

7.COFCO (8.3 million tons / year)

COFCO (China Oil and Foodstuffs Corporation) is a Chinese state-owned company which was founded in 1949 and is the largest food processor and marketer in China today. COFCO is also one of the leaders of the Asian agribusiness group alongside Wilmar International. Between 1952 and 1987 (35 years), COFCO was the sole importer and exporter of agricultural products under the direct control of the central government. COFCO has a number of production sites in China, as well as in countries such as Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.

Soon it is estimated that the era of bioeconomy will become a trend and lifestyle in the world so that the issue of sustainability becomes very important. Bioeconomy itself can be defined as knowledge-based production and using biological resources or living things to produce products, processes and services in the economic sector within the framework of a sustainable economic system. With a Muslim majority population, Indonesia should have developed many bioeconomic models that are in line with Islamic values. This is because bioeconomy will also be related to food and clothing issues which in Islam are very clearly related to the issue of halal and haram. Not only that, of course, the model is also optimized so that it can bring prosperity to the people as much as possible and provide solutions to a number of major problems faced. Islamic economics that have not become mainstream in Muslim-majority countries is one of these big problems. Practically feed and animal husbandry products must be in line with the halal industry so as to provide blessings in the life of the world and the hereafter, not only seeking profit but justifying any means.

Indonesia National Standard (SNI) of Biomass Pellet and Energy Plantation

Indonesia National Standard (SNI) for Indonesian biomass pellet products has been out and officially used since the end of 2020 or last year. The main objective of implementing SNI for biomass pellets is to respond to the cofiring program at PLN's (state owned electricity company) coal power plants. With this cofiring program, renewable fuels, especially biomass pellets, are used as the main fuel mixture, namely coal. The ratio of the use of renewable fuels in the form of biomass is still small, namely around 1-5% or the equivalent of 9-12 million tons / year of biomass fuel. The total coal power plants as a cofiring target is 114 units spread across 52 locations with a total capacity of 18,154 MW with the target to be completed in 2024. Almost all of the biomass pellets in Indonesia today are wood pellets, all of which also use wastes. sawmills or wood processing industries. In other terms, if you refer to wood pellets, then it must be biomass pellets, whereas if you refer to the term biomass pellets, this is not necessarily wood pellets, but it could be pellets from agricultural wastes (agro-waste pellets). Agricultural wastes which are abundant in Indonesia are also potential as raw material for biomass pellets such as rice husks, empty fruit bunches of palm oil, coconut husk and so on. Below is the table for the SNI biomass pellets:

 

Energy plantations can be a source of woody biomass specifically designed for energy production or specifically for raw materials for the production of biomass pellets or wood pellets. With energy plantations, large production capacities and guaranteed good supply can be achieved. The production of wood pellets from energy plantations takes longer because it needs to prepare and make the energy plantations and wait several years for the wood to be ready to harvest and be processed further into wood pellets. Calliandra and gliricidia are two species of fast rotation and coppice which have been chosen because of their superiority. Another thing that is very important to note is the high heating value and high productivity of wood per hectare. But there is a slight drawback of this type of wood is the content of potassium in ash which is quite high. This makes its use more limited, especially power plants with pulverized combustion (PC) technology.

 

Based on an experiment conducted with calliandra wood from the slopes of Merapi mountain, Central Java; Bangkalan, Madura and Aceh, Sumatera have an average potassium content of above 1000 ppm (0.1%). Indeed, the characteristics of fast-rotating crops tend to produce wood with higher levels of potassium. Meanwhile, from fruit plants, banana trees also have a high potassium content. This potassium has a low melting point and causes fouling in the heat exchanger pipes, thereby reducing the efficiency of the power plant. While chlorine compounds are other compounds that also need attention because they are corrosive at high temperatures, for more details, please read here. And in general, there are significant differences in ash chemistry between biomass and coal. But with a cofiring ratio of 1-5%, power plants generally do not modify their equipment or more specifically on PCs that are most sensitive to ash chemistry problems, because the cofiring percentage is still low.

 

With an average level above 1,000 ppm (0.1%) and still far from 50,000 ppm (5%), there is no problem for wood from energy plantations to be produced into wood pellets and supply to the coal power plants in Indonesia according to SNI the. But if it is exported to foreign countries, especially Japan and Korea, the circulating fluidized bed (CFB) and stoker type power plants are the best market share and the PC type is more limited. With the vast land available and Indonesia's tropical climate, it must further promote energy plantations both to meet domestic needs and to export markets. The energy plantation program also indirectly encourages the ruminant livestock sector, because the leaves can be used as animal feed.