Empty Fruit Bunch of Palm Oil Processing: for Pellets, Briquettes or Biochar ?

Empty fruit bunches (EFB) are solid waste from palm oil mills or CPO production which is the largest in number. This is what makes many machine manufacturers make these EFB processing machines. Most of the machines made are equipments for cutting and pressing the EFB so that the water content decreases and the size becomes smaller. However, both the water content and the size of the EFB as the output of the machine or equipment still do not meet the requirements to be further processed into pellets, briquettes or even biochar. The typical output is more than 4 inches and the water content is more than 45%. EFB must have a low water content of 10% and a size of 5-6 mm to be able to make pellets or briquettes, and less than 1 inch for biochar production.

To obtain suitable raw materials for pellet, briquette and biochar production, the EFB that has been cut and pressed still needs to be reduced in size (size reduction) and its water content reduced to about 1/3 so that it is dry enough. Equipments such as a hammer mill or crusher is needed to reduce the size and a drying tool such as a rotary dryer is needed to reduce the water content. The smaller the size of the material (particle size) and the lower the water content or the drier it is, the more energy is needed. Equipment such as hammer mills and rotary dryers have not become an integral part of EFB processing at this time. However, usually EFB palm oil processing producers also produce press equipments for kernels for the production of kernel oil or PKO in kernel processing plants or KCP (kernel crushing plants) with by-products in the form of palm kernel meal or PKE (palm kernel expeller). 

Considerations for selecting pellet, briquette or biochar production from EFB palm oil depend heavily on the readiness of the business. It is estimated that there are 30 million tons per year of dry EFB palm oil in Indonesia and 10 million tons per year of dry EFB palm oil in Malaysia for raw materials for these products. The use of EFB palm oil waste, in addition to being a solution to waste problems in palm oil mills, will also provide additional benefits for the palm oil mill or company. How much profit is usually also proportional to the investment and production capacity made. With the abundance of potential raw materials and the driving force of sustainability and zero waste, EFB palm oil waste will become an attractive new business. 

Wood Pellet Production: With a Rotary Dryer or Belt Dryer?

Air quality is an important factor in environmental health. The better the air quality, the better the environmental quality. Maintaining clean air quality is sometimes not something that is easy and cheap, especially for industry players. The higher the air quality standard used, the greater the effort and cost incurred.

In the wood pellet industry as an example, especially in the use of dryer. Almost all wood pellet industries in Asia use rotary dryer and almost none use belt dryer. Meanwhile, in Europe belt dryers are widely used because of lower emission than rotary dryers. In addition, belt dryers also have higher efficiency and can work at lower temperatures than rotary dryers. With a number of these advantages, however, belt dryer are also more expensive compared with rotary dryer.

Basically, rotary dryer can also have good performance, especially in terms of emissions if they are designed and operated properly. The use of high-efficiency dust collectors such as cyclones and bag filters can achieve high emission quality standards. However, the higher the efficiency of the dust collector, the higher the power required.

So the choice used actually depends on the expected air emission target. Europe and US/Canada generally have higher air quality standards than countries in Asia. This makes the emission aspect an important concern for them. Meanwhile, in terms of wood pellet production, the priority aspect is efficiency, so that with good performance the dryer can produce dry wood powder product that are suitable for feeding into pelletiser. The quality of the wood pellets as the final result is also very dependent on the quality of the dry powder product from the dryer. Meanwhile, in terms of safety, the high concentration of dust particles so that they can accumulate in a number of places in the wood pellet factory also has a greater potential for fires to occur.

Wood Pellet Export Opportunities
The lack of supply of wood pellets in Europe due to the Russia-Ukraine war caused wood pellet producers from Southeast Asia and North America to try to seize this opportunity. Production of wood pellets from Russia is estimated at around 3 million tonnes/year which previously filled the European market is now banned, so as a result of this ban the stocks of wood pellets in Europe have decreased drastically. The large demand and lack of supply will naturally push up prices, especially when coupled with increases in other energy commodities, so that the price of wood pellets continues to increase. In fact, because of the high price of wood pellets in Europe, wood pellets from Vietnam, which previously planned to be exported to Japan, were diverted to Europe.

It is also predicted that this uncertain condition will not recover in a short time. In 2021 Europe leads the production of wood pellets with production reaching nearly 20 million tons or around 48% of global production, while consumption of wood pellets reaches 24.5 million tons. Meanwhile, according to Hawkin Wright's data for 2020-2021, the growth in global demand for wood pellets has reached 18.4%, while supply or production growth is only 8.4%. Indonesia should have a great opportunity to become a major wood pellet player with its potential. The wood pellet production can be exported to Europe to cover the shortage of supply and in general to meet global demand.

Reviving the Integrated Coconut Industry Part 6: Integration of Dessicated Coconut Production, Packaged Coconut Water, and Shell Charcoal

Basically the campaign to save the coconut plantation (tree of life) is to revive the integrated coconut industry. Damaged and not maintained of coconut plantations due to lack of funding to maintain and develop it in a sustainable manner.

Bioeconomy is defined as knowledge-based production and uses biological resources or living things to produce products, processes, and services in the economic sector within the framework of a sustainable economic system.

Dessicated coconut is not very popular in Indonesia. This product is used in the food industry for a mixture of cakes and chocolate so that it gives the flavor of coconut and much later became a favorite food in Europe. This product was originally discovered in Sri Lanka from Henry Vavasseur's drying experiment of grated coconut in 1888. There are 3 countries that are currently producing dessicated coconut, namely the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The need for this dessicated coconut product also continues to increase, namely recorded export of dessicated coconut in 1990 amounting to 151 thousand tons and in 2008 it increased to 248 thousand tons. In Indonesia alone, it is estimated that there are around 20 dessicated coconut (DC) factories.

DC is produced by drying grated coconut until the water content reaches a maximum of 3%. A dryer commonly used for DC production is a fluidized bed dryer. This dryer has advantages including high sensitivity for its operations, so it is commonly used for food and pharmaceutical products. Rotary dryer is a type of dryer that is also popular in the industry, especially in biomass processing such as wood pellets and briquettes, for more details, please read here. Rotary dryer types are more suitable for materials that are not too sensitive to heat, are not easily broken when dropped and heavier materials. That is why rotary dryers are more suitable for materials such as minerals, fertilizers and so on. Rotary dryer can be said to be heavy duty processing load and requires a wider space, while fluidized bed dryer for lighter-duty materials and requires less space.

For drying the grated coconut, heat energy is needed and for the operation of the plant's equipment such as shredding, conveyors, etc. electricity is needed. Both of these energies can be fulfilled by using a continuous pyrolysis unit. Coconut shell is used as a raw material for continuous pyrolysis, so that the output is in the form of charcoal, syngas and biooil. The charcoal can be sold for immediate use, made briquettes or activated carbon. For electricity production, syngas is used for fuel the gas engine (internal combustion engines) which convert heat energy into mechanical energy then into electrical energy. And biooil can be a source of heat both for boiling or sterilizing coconut meat as well as for a heat source for drying grated coconut with the heating media not in direct contact (indirect heating) with the grated coconut.

With the above pattern, the integrated coconut industry is energy independent or does not require energy supply from outside. This condition is very attractive especially for operations in remote locations. This energy independent industry practice is common in the palm oil industry. Palm oil mills usually burn shells and fiber for the production of electricity and steam. Why besides electricity, does the palm oil mill also produce steam? For more details, you can read here.

At present a number of palm oil mills have even used efficient boilers so that it is sufficient with fiber only and the shell can be sold or exported abroad. Though there is a better or more efficient way to produce electricity and steam, which is also by continuous pyrolysis, for more details read here. The shell, which is a biomass fuel, has properties almost similar to wood pellets at a cheaper price and is still abundantly available. Japan and Korea are the two countries in Asia that are most striking in the use of biomass energy related to climate change mitigation and global warming.

Coconut shell charcoal is a sought-after product, so the price is also increasing every year in accordance with market laws, namely supply-demand. The production of coconut shell charcoal will provide an attractive additional income compared to just being burned to ash and making a zero waste integrated coconut industry.

The DC industry is usually large enough in scale or production capacity to produce quite a lot of coconut water. Coconut water can be processed into bottled coconut water, which also requires electricity and heat in the production process. Electricity and heat production can use coconut fiber as fuel. Burning coconut fiber to heat the boiler and produce electricity, similar to the palm oil mill. Steam is produced to heat or sterilize the coconut water. The demand for bottled coconut water increased rapidly, from 484 thousand liters in 2009 to 71.7 million liters in 2015, or 141 times.

Rotary Dryer for Biomass Drying

When using biomass as a raw material for wood pellet and wood briquette production, the level of dryness of the biomass must be dry enough so that it can be compacted in the form of the pellet or briquette. Biomass raw materials in the form of wood or agricultural wastes are often still wet, so the drying process needs to be done first. As a tropical country the sun's rays will continue to shine throughout the year, but relying on drying in the sun under the hot sun will take a long time, large space and inefficient handling. Based on these conditions, the drying carried out with certain equipment needs to be done. The characteristic of the dryer in the industry is that it can dry out large capacities in a short time and economical.

Rotary dryer or drum dryer is a type of dryer that is most widely used in the pellet and briquette industry. That is because the rotary dryer has a simple construction, easy to operate and also maintenance. The use of a rotary dryer is not only for drying biomass but also in other fields such as minerals, fertilizers and a number of aggregates. The use of rotary dryers in a number of fields with various types of material also has consequences for a number of supporting devices, for example the use of cyclones, scrubbers, bag houses to induced drafts (ID) fans. Meanwhile, from the operational side it also varies according to the characteristics of the dried raw material such as counter current or co-current drying flow, and the use of indirect drying or direct drying.

Each dryer also has its own characteristics and is suitable for certain types of material. Selection of the type of dryer that is not suitable results in the drying goal not being achieved, for example a rotary dryer is suitable for drying materials that are not broken or damaged when dropped from above, while the type of dryer fluidized dryer is suitable for materials that are lightweight and break easily or are damaged when dropped. Biomass especially in small particle size is material that is not damaged or broken when dropped, so the use of a rotary dryer is more appropriate. In addition to more expensive investment costs, operational and maintenance fluidized dryers are also more expensive compared to rotary dryers. The choice of material for manufacturing rotary dryers is also important. Metal material that is not suitable is feared that it will make the quality of the drying product not meet the target besides the shorter service life.

In biomass materials with small particle sizes, a rotary dryer is the most commonly used dryer. For drying flow using cocurrent, not counter current based on a number of considerations. In large capacity wood pellet and briquette plants, the rotary dryer usually operates 24 hours a day, so the performance of the rotary dryer becomes very important. Inadequate installation makes the performance of the rotary dryer is not optimal and the service life. The occurrence of many vibrations and unbalanced rotation indicates that the rotary dryer installation is inadequate and makes the performance not optimal and the service life of the rotary dryer shorter.