Replanting Palm Oil and Coconut Destroying Beetles

Rhinoceros Beetle (Oryctes Rhinoceros)

At present it is estimated that millions of hectares of palm oil plantations need to be replanted immediately (replanting). Potential tens of millions of tons of palm oil trunk can be obtained as biomass waste from these plantations. Processing palm oil trunks to become biomass fuels such as pellets (OPT pellets) and OPT charcoal pellets is a positive idea that should be done. Palm oil mill effluent or POME (palm oil mill effluent) can be used as an energy source or electricity source through biogas powerplant for the processing of these palm oil trunk. But if the palm trunk are not cleaned from the plantation so they decay and rot, then the palm trunk will become larval media. The larvae then become beetles which damage not only the palm oil plantations themselves but also the coconut plantations or palmae botanical group in general. There are a number of areas that have palm oil plantations that are side by side or close to coconut plantations, for example in Riau, so that the beetle is destroying coconut plantations. The urgency of processing old palm oil trunk at these locations is higher than other locations.

Palm trunks left behind in the plantation become breeding grounds for horn beetles

Coconut plantations damaged by horn beetles

The productive age of palm oil trees is around 25 years, while coconut trees can reach 80 years. That means it can be said that the age of a coconut tree is more than 3 times that of a palm oil tree, so that it is unfortunate if the replanting activity actually damages the coconut plantation which has a longer productive age. It also means that when planting coconut trees the benefits should be felt in the next 2-3 generations, while palm oil is only one generation. The factor of preserving ecosystem sustainability should also be considered in replanting palm oil plantations especially those close to coconut plantations. Replanting palm oil plantations should also be interpreted as harvesting biomass as a potential raw material to produce value-added products such as oil palm pellets (OPT pellets) and charcoal pellets (OPT charcoal pellets/carbonised pellet).

OPT Charcoal Pellet Production for Waste of Oil Palm Trunk Solution

Oil palm trunk waste as well as biomass in general can be used for sources of energy, materials and chemicals. So much oil palm waste is because currently most of the oil palm plantations in Indonesia are old and enter a period of massive replanting. In addition, replanting is also a periodic program conducted by oil palm plantations to continue to maintain the sustainability of its production, so that palm oil waste is always available. Indonesia and Malaysia with a total oil palm plantation area of ​​around 17 million hectares of course have a lot of palm oil waste. If 1 hectare is planted with 130 palm trees, the palm tree population in both countries has reached 2.21 billion palm trees. The current era of bioeconomy encourages massive and sustainable use of biomass, so that initially considered waste is now a potential raw material. Charcoal production from palm oil waste also does not damage the environment because it is a tree that must be replaced with new plants.

The use of palm oil trunks for energy sources is one of them by making pellets (OPT pellets) which currently also have producers. Another option is to be made into charcoal pellets (OPT Charcoal Pellet). Before being pelleted first, the oil palm trunk is carbonised through the process of pyrolysis or carbonization. The charcoal produced is then compacted into pellets (OPT Charcoal Pellet) with a little added adhesive. There are many advantages that can be obtained by the pyrolysis process, especially continuous pyrolysis. In addition to the main products in the form of charcoal, biooil by-products, biomass vinegar (liquid smoke) and syngas are also of high economic value. Biooil can be used directly as liquid fuel for example for burners or ship fuels. Biooil can also be upgraded for a variety of general vehicle fuels such as gasoline or diesel oil. Biooil as well as crude oil can also be upgraded for the production of various chemicals (bio-based chemical).

Biomass vinegar (liquid smoke) can be used as a biopesticide or liquid organic fertilizer. Fertilization will restore nutrients or organic matter to the tree or plantation. This is important to be done to maintain the sustainability of the oil palm plantation itself, which is currently one of the main concerns. Syngas can be used as direct fuel such as biooil, or used for electricity generation using a gas engine. While the main product, charcoal after being pelleted, can be used as fuel or agricultural charcoal (biochar). The charcoal market is usually for the food industry, namely for heat sources, in contrast to wood pellets which are widely used in power plants.