Is Palm Oil Land Expansion Still Needed?

The area of Indonesian palm oil plantations is currently around 15 million hectares, with CPO or crude palm oil production reaching 46.73 million tonnes in 2022. Indonesian palm oil producers are located in 26 provinces with the province producing the most palm oil namely Riau, followed by Central Kalimantan followed in second place, then North Sumatra. While the province that produces the least palm oil is the Riau Archipelago and above it are North Maluku and Maluku. The CPO product is processed into derivative or downstream products and part of it is exported. In general, the classification of CPO derivative products (downstream products) is grouped into, such as: oleochemicals, oleofood, and bioenergy.

The high demand for vegetable oil, especially crude palm oil or CPO, is driving efforts to expand oil palm plantations or extensification in Indonesia. But is this extensification really needed and the only way to increase CPO production? Meanwhile, permits issued for palm oil plantations have reached more than 25 million hectares as shown in the table below.

Biochar should be encouraged to use it rather than extensification of the land. The use of biochar will improve soil fertility and also make fertilization more efficient so that NUE (Nutrient Use Efficiency) increases, for more details read here. FFB production increase of 30% or more is possible with biochar. CPO production is estimated to increase by 30% to around 60 million tonnes annually. This is also equivalent to saving land reaching 5 million hectares. The problem of land disputes that reach hundreds of cases throughout Indonesia, land conversion, deforestation and so on can be overcome by using this biochar. Of course this should be a serious consideration for the intensification of palm oil plantations compared to the extensification of the land. Apart from that, a climate solution in the form of carbon sequestration / carbon sink can also be carried out simultaneously with the application of the biochar. Every 1 ton of biochar will store or reduce CO2 (carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere by approximately 3 tons. And the price of carbon credits from carbon removal is also increasing.

The Importance of SRF (Slow Release Fertilizer) With Biochar in Palm Oil Plantations

Biochar is not a fertilizer so even the nutrient content in biochar can be ignored. Even though there are a number of biochars that contain certain nutrients, this is a special matter and really depends on the raw materials used. Biochar is a soil amendment that functions to improve soil properties such as soil structure including increasing soil porosity/soil friability so that roots can penetrate deeper, soil aeration, water availability, shortening the age of harvest, inhibiting the development of plant pests and retaining nutrients and reducing soil acidity. Compared to other soil amendments which have weaknesses, including the need for large and continuous amounts because they decompose quickly, have the potential to negatively affect the climate, and introduce disease-causing microbes/pests, biochar has many advantages, including the volume required is not large enough, not continuous and able to survive in the soil (helps conserve carbon in the soil) is not decomposed for hundreds or even thousands of years. The above makes biochar can function to improve soil fertility and climate solutions (carbon sequestration / carbon sink) or an action to increase organic matter on agricultural land or plantations and mitigate the effects of climate change. 

Even so, biochar can be used to make fertilizer, namely slow release fertilizer (SRF). SRF is a fertilizer whose release is regulated to provide maximum growth effect or SRF is designed or modified fertilizer for controlled fertilization according to plant needs so as to provide increased use efficiency and at the same time increase yield or harvest. This is motivated by the low efficiency of fertilization so that even more is wasted than is utilized or low NUE (nutrient use efficiency). The function of biochar in SRF is as a slow release agent in the fertilizer because it has a porous structure. In making SRF, several methods can be used, including increasing the size (granulation, pellets, etc.), smoothing the surface of the fertilizer, mixing it with other materials that are difficult to dissolve (slow-release agent) and covering the fertilizer with certain materials so that the release of the fertilizer becomes slow (coating). The use of SRF is becoming popular to save fertilizer consumption, increase yields and minimize environmental pollution. 

Soil fertility is a complex trait or condition that must be kept optimal, especially regarding this fertilization. The component of soil fertility itself includes a number of things, namely the depth of the soil solum, soil structure, nutrient content, storage capacity, humus content, number and activity of soil microorganisms, and the content of toxic elements. Productive soils with high soil fertility, both naturally and/or due to human actions, are mainly due to the following characteristics: nutrients in the soil are mobile and easy to obtain, the ability of the soil to convert fertilizer into easily available forms, the ability of the soil to store nutrients dissolved in groundwater from the leaching process, the ability of the soil to provide a natural balance of nutrient supplies for plants, the ability of the soil to store and provide water for plants, the ability to maintain good soil aeration to ensure the availability of oxygen for roots, and the ability of the soil to bind (fix) nutrients and convert them into forms available to plants. Soil fertility must guarantee high, consistent and sustainable production.  

An understanding of the nutrient composition of fertilizer and its release mechanism will help make strategic plans to slow down the release of the fertilizer at a certain level. Compared to conventional fertilizers slow release fertilizer (SRF) has a very slow release speed which can be tens of times slower so that fertilization efficiency increases significantly. It is estimated that more than 50% of fertilizer is wasted due to various reasons including evaporation, immobilization in the soil and leaching due to water, for example due to rain or irrigation. This inefficiency of fertilization is not only detrimental from an economic aspect as well as the environment, namely making the soil acidic, killing soil microbes, and water-soluble fertilizers that can poison water that may be consumed by humans and animals.

Currently, developing countries use more than 60 million tons of fertilizer per year, while according to the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) world fertilizer consumption reached 190.4 million tons in 2015. With this low level of efficiency, can be imagined how much fertilizer is wasted useless and only pollute the environment. Regarding SRF, the dose of biochar use must also be measured properly because the use of biochar that exceeds the dose will be useless. This is due to the hydrophobic nature of biochar, so that the excess dose does not or only a little can release the fertilizer slowly.

A number of parameters to be observed for administering biochar as SRF are the amount of FFB (fresh fruit bunch) production and its quality (yield of CPO, and its FFA content), continuity of fruiting throughout the year, and the level of uniformity of fruit maturity in one bunch. And it turns out that the use of biochar gave significant positive results, namely FFB production increased by more than 20%, fruit maturity uniformity was almost 100%, CPO yield was more than 25%, and FFA was only 2-5%. With the high production of FFB and the yield of CPO, the intensification of palm oil plantations should have been carried out rather than the extensification that was suspected of being an attempt to convert forest functions or deforestation which tends to receive negative attention from various parties. For more details, read here. There are still many things that can be optimized so that the palm oil industry is efficient, environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Tens of millions of tons of empty fruit bunches (EFB) at the palm oil mills are potential raw material for biochar production as well as tens of millions of hectares of oil palm plantations that can be used for biochar applications. In addition to overcoming the problem of biomass waste, biochar production also produces energy that can be used for the palm oil mill itself, in more detail, please read here. Compared to the production of fuel pellets from empty fruit bunches (EFB pellets) and the production of electricity from empty fruit bunches, the production of biochar has many advantages and advantages both economically and environmentally. In the end, modifying the fertilizer according to the use of the biochar will significantly increase the nutrient use efficiency (NUE) in the fertilizer, ensuring the effective circulation of nutrients and mitigating climate change with carbon sequestration.
 

Palm Oil Mill Redesign for IVO Production: Using Pyrolysis, Gasification or Biogas?

The production of biodiesel / green diesel using raw material of RBD PO is too good (overspec) and too expensive, so it needs to be replaced with a cheaper raw material, namely IVO (industrial vegetable oil). For this purpose, it is necessary to redesign the palm oil mill so that a number of FFB extraction production into CPO carried out at the palm oil mill need to modify the process flow. The sterilization process can be eliminated so that there is no need for water for steam production as well as boilers and steam turbines for electricity production. Water treatment units may also be no longer needed or may still be needed but for different processes.

Another important thing is the supply of energy, especially electricity, for this new type of palm oil mill. This is because most of the equipments used in the palm oil mill are mechanical equipments that work by consuming electricity. As the mill that has a lot of biomass waste, it's certainly not a difficult thing to do, even so far, palm oil mills produce their own electricity by burning palm mesocarp fiber and palm kernel shell in the boiler. But in a new type of palm oil mill with a different configuration, the boiler may not be needed or it is still needed but there are differences from before. Basically, of course, how to achieve the highest level of efficiency with the new process.

Another factor is how the new production process also provides greater benefits for the palm oil industry, for example biochar products are also produced. The biochar product will later be used in palm oil plantations to improve soil fertility and also as a carbon sink and absorb N2O gas, which is a greenhouse gas. Carbon credits from the application of biochar as a carbon sink will also provide additional income for the palm oil industry, which is also not a small amount. Currently, many palm oil plantations are located on acid soils or with low pH, which results in low productivity of palm oil yield, so it needs to be increased. Also, in the operation of palm oil plantations, the cost of fertilizer is the highest cost component, and for this reason, biochar is the solution to this problem. With the high productivity of FFB with this treatment, the clearing of palm oil land is no longer needed, so that the focus on palm oil plantations which causes deforestation is also reduced, more info read here.

For electricity production, apart from burning palm nesocarp fiber and palm kernel shell in the boiler, then the resulting steam drives a steam turbine, another way is pyrolysis and gasification of biomass. With pyrolysis (slow pyrolysis) more biochar production or as the main product. Whereas with gasification the product of biochar is less with more main gas product. Biogas from liquid waste (POME) is another energy source that can be used. Basically it depends on the goals and needs, how much electricity is needed, how much biochar is needed and so on. But with the area of palm oil plantations reaching tens of thousands of hectares, the need for biochar will be very large, so pyrolysis will be more suitable to be applied. And if the demand for electricity is large enough, then electricity from biogas can also be used as an addition to electricity from pyrolysis. 

Even with this pyrolysis, other useful products for palm oil plantations will also be produced, such as liquid smoke. This liquid smoke can be used as a biopesticide whose application can use agricultural drones at speeds of 16 hectares/hour or more. Biooil products from pyrolysis can also be used for direct fuel using a burner or further refined to become vehicle fuel. Burning gas or liquid fuels will give cleaner emissions to palm oil mills compared to burning solid fuel that has been done so far.

Digestate from biogas can be used together with biochar so that it can provide maximum results in palm oil plantations. With a porous biochar structure, digestate plus biochar will become a slow release organic fertilizer so that fertilizer use will be more efficient. Apart from that, with the large amount of potential for biomass waste in the palm oil industry, it also allows for a number of business developments, especially if there is an adequate supply of energy. An example is the production of activated carbon from palm kernel shells (PKS) or the processing of kernels into kernel oil (crude palm kernel oil). By optimizing all the potential, especially biomass waste so that it can provide economic and environmental benefits, the palm oil industry will be even more attractive.