Vibrating Screen for Cleaning the PKS for Export Oriented

One of the quality parameters for PKS or palm kernel shells for the export market is the cleanliness factor. This cleanliness factor is very much associated with a lot or  little impurities in it. PKS in palm oil mills are usually only piled in a back yard the palm oil mill. This is very possible to mix with a number of impurities that are in the vicinity of the location or because of a number of waste or garbage that might also be disposed of at the location of the PKS pile. PKS impurities commonly found are metal, plastic and stone. For export purposes, the amount of impurity allowed or tolerance level is very small, which is around 1%. Why does the PKS need to be cleaned in such a way? This is because the impurities will interfere with the combustion process or utilization of the PKS and the power plant is the largest user. And for more details can be read here.

Manual Screener

Screener is the equipment used to clean the PKS from the impurities. The impurities or foreign materials will be separated from the PKS due to differences in size. And specifically for metal impurities, the separation is done by magnet (magnetic separator). The cleaning process with this sieve is basically very easy, even with a manual sieve it can be done. But for a large enough volume, for example up to thousands of tons, the manual sieve is inefficient and takes a long time, so it takes a sieve that works mechanically. There are two mechanical sieves that are commonly used, namely vibrating screen and rotary screen.

In practice the type of vibrating screen is more popular than the rotary screen. This is because the construction and operation of vibrating screens are easier, besides the price of vibrating screens is also cheaper than the rotary screen. Vibrating screen is a sieve that operates due to vibrations from eccentric movements. The higher the rpm the vibrating screen movement will be smoother. Both the vibrating screen can also be equipped with multiple sieves or multi-level sieves so that a number of product fractions can be obtained based on their size. It's just that it's also easier to do with a vibrating screen. In PKS sieving it is usually only one to three levels of sifting.

PKS needs for the Asian and European markets are predicted to continue to increase every year to reach millions of tons. This is because electricity production using PKS is increasing. PKS supply or supply mainly originates from Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as several countries in West Africa, the origin of palm oil trees. Indonesia and Malaysia mainly supply the needs of Japan and Korea in Asia while West Africa supplies countries in Europe. PKS as a biomass fuel also has competitors, especially wood pellets. PKS prices on the world market are much cheaper than wood pellets so that many biomass power plants prefer PKS. PKS production for export is also easier than pellet wood. Exports of PKS from Indonesia and Malaysia are quite large, because the number of PKS produced is also large, while the needs are also large. Besides that, the use of PKS in the country that is still small makes the PKS export more dominant

To order a vibrating screen machine, you can email it at cakbentra@gmail.com or call +62 813-288-41805

Looking for PKS Supply from Indonesia

Palm Oil Mill

With the number of palm oil mills estimated to reach more than 1,000 units with 12 million hectares of palm oil plantations and more than 40 million tons / year of CPO, the potential of the PKS (palm kernel shell) produced reaches 15 million tons / year. With properties almost similar to wood pellets and prices are much cheaper, PKS is a prime of biomass fuel. But with the location of palm oil mills located mostly very remote and PKS still considered a waste for palm oil mills, often getting PKS supply is not easy. Infrastructure factors and the distance from export ports are often obstacles. This makes some palm oil mills only dispose of or stockpile PKS in locations around their mills. For palm oil mills that have the main business of palm oil or CPO, there are still many palm oil mills lacking attention to PKS as an additional source of income.

PKS Stockpile

Japan in particular is the largest PKS consumer, followed by Korea and several European countries. Their needs are estimated to be up to millions of tons every year. PKS exports to Japan and Korea are easier and often done because the distance is relatively close compared to Europe. PKS exports to Japan and Korea are usually quite economical with a volume of 10,000 tons per shipment while for Europe with a longer distance so in order to remain economical the shipping volume must be quite large, for example more than 25,000 tons per shipment. It is predicted that in 2021 or 2022 the needs of Japanese PKS will increase rapidly and then be relatively stable for the next 20 years. This is because biomass power plants can be said to be fully operational that year. The original plan for 2019 is that the biomass power plants can operate, but because of a number of obstacles, it will be delayed until 2021 or 2022. For more details about the delay in the construction of power plants in Japan, please read here.

The PKS comes from a palm oil mill and is collected somewhere to reach a certain volume so it is ready to be shipped. In order to be accepted by the power plant, PKS is cleaned from a number of impurities and dried until the water content is below 20%. Cleaning of the impurity is done by means of a sieve and drying is carried out only with the sun light or aerated. In addition to being able to maintain the cleanliness and dryness of PKS, especially in the rainy season, buildings such as large warehouses and concrete floors are needed. Even not a few PKS buyers from Japan require large warehouse buildings with concrete floors so that the quality of PKS can be maintained.

Typical Biomass CFB Powerplant in Japan

Fluidized bed combustion technology for electricity generation is widely used in Japan. With the circulating fluidized bed combustion technology, PKS can be used as fuel, even biomass pellets from agricultural waste can also be used for this technology. Fluidized bed combustion technology with lower operating temperatures than pulverized combustion makes it more tolerant of various types of fuel. It also means EFB pellets (empty fruit bunch pellets), and wood pellets from energy plantations can be used for fluidized bed combustion fuels.

Biomass power plants that rely on PKS for a period of 20 years certainly pay close attention to the continuity of PKS supply in that range. Anything that can interfere with the supply of PKS both in the short and long term will seriously concern them. As an example of the use of domestic PKS there is also an increasing tendency which could be an increase in the use of biomass as fuel or other sectors such as the production of activated carbon from PKS. In these conditions, of course they will make calculations regarding PKS supply and PKS exporter. The palm oil plantation extensification program will also increasingly supply PKS on the other hand because the palm oil mill will process FFB  (fresh fruit bunch) from the plantation and produce PKS as waste or by-products.

PKS Loading into Mother Vessel for Export Market

PKS players or exporters now generally have contracts with Japanese buyers both for spot trading and even for longer contracts. And not a few of the exporters have run out of PKS quota / supply for new buyers. In such conditions a new buyer must be able to find another PKS supplier / exporter. New suppliers may not have export experience and do not even have a number of facilities to process PKS, but only have a network with a number of palm oil mills as PKS sources or producers. This condition makes the PKS export unable to be carried out directly, but requires a number of preparations from both parties. Considering there are still more than 1-3 years from now on, both parties can prepare the business from now on, so that the long-term business can be carried out and as expected.

Food Energy Water: A Perspective

The high environmental damage is mainly due to industrial activities that produce wastes that pollute the environment both solid, liquid and gas waste. In addition to damaging the environment, these wastes also pollute water, a substance that is needed by humans. While environmental damage leads to reduce the supply of clean water, industrial wastes cause a decrease in water quality. At the global level environmental damage, the high concentration of CO2 or greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has caused climate change and global warming that could threaten human life itself. The high concentration of CO2 is mainly due to the activities of the coal power plant industries. In addition to the exhaust emissions of coal power plants also contain mercury, heavy metals that are very dangerous for health. At least the impact due to low water and air quality has reduced the quality of human life. And now these conditions are common in various major cities in the world.

Here again biomass is the solution. When improving water and air quality is an important concern, activated carbon is the choice. Although currently most or about 80% activated carbon still comes from coal, but with increasing environmental awareness, renewable raw materials are increasingly increasing. Coconut shell is a very popular raw material for the production of activated carbon and Indonesia is also the owner of the largest coconut plantation in the world. Palm kernel shells and various other biomass are also potential for activated carbon. To reduce mercury emissions and polluted air from coal power plants, for example the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has made regulations for mercury and polluted air thresholds for these plants. In vehicles, canister (catalytic converter) it will also increase the quality of exhaust emissions. As for the quality of drinking water for example Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts in America have also regulated the concentration of a number of chemicals that are allowed in drinking water. The things above encourage the use of activated carbon as a solution.

Meanwhile, to reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere and to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere back to biomass as a solution. Biomass is a carbon neutral fuel so it will not increase the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere because of the production of biomass through photosynthesis. Wood pellet and PKS are biomass fuels which are very popular nowadays because they can reduce and even replace the use of coal in power plants and boilers in the industry. CO2 absorption from the atmosphere is carried out by plants which are also a source of biomass. Biochar or charcoal from plants used for agriculture can also absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Production of wood pellets from energy plantations will also improve soil quality. Even arid and barren lands will flourish and can store water and avoid erosion due to the management of the energy plantation. Integration with sheep, goat and cattle farms with the energy plantation will optimize the results of the energy plantation. Large plantations for large farms should be integrated, for more details to read here. With this integration the food sector and land conservation are also an integral part.

World wood pellet needs are predicted to reach 50 million tons in 2024 while PKS also reaches 10 million tons in 2022. The largest market for biomass fuels, especially Europe, refers to the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) program with a composition of 30 percent renewable energy use by 2030 and biomass gets the majority portion of 80% of renewable energy. Two countries namely Japan and Korea are the largest users of biomass fuels in Asia. PKS which has many similarities to wood pellets and is only produced in palm oil producing regions, especially Indonesia and Malaysia are the main competitors of wood pellets and are widely used in Japan and Korea. Some time ago a number of countries in Europe have also used PKS from Indonesia and the potential is also very large for Indonesia in the tropics for the production of wood pellets from energy plantations. As for the market activated carbon or the largest user is the Asia Pacific region with China as its biggest exporter. The projection of activated carbon production reaches almost 3 million tons in 2020 with a value of 4.46 million US dollars. Japan and Korea are also the biggest users of activated carbon. The second order of the market or the use of activated carbon is the North American region, mainly driven by regulations to reduce mercury and increase the quality of drinking water. The growth of industrialization in Indonesia and the abundance of biomass raw materials should also increase the production of activated carbon even with the target of meeting the export market, especially in the Asia Pacific region.

POME Sludge Pellet

Processing palm oil mill effluent (POME) is one of the mandatory requirements for palm oil mills. This requirement becomes a criterion whether the palm oil mill in question has a good environmental concern, especially its waste processing sector. The liquid waste of oil palm mills is one of the large quantities of palm oil mill waste. Almost all palm oil mills always have wastewater treatment ponds. Every ton of FFB (Fresh Fruit Bunch) produces 700 liters (0.7 m3) of liquid waste so that if the plant has a capacity of 60 tons / hour FFB and operates 20 hours per day, the volume of liquid waste produced reaches 42,000 liters / hour (42 m3 / hour) or 800,000 liters / day (800 m3 / day). The method of processing wastewater can be like the diagram below.

Biosolid in the form of accumulated sludge can be processed further for biogas production, with by-products in the form of treated sludge, which is usually an organic fertilizer, can also be directly used as fuel. Instead of just being thrown away, the biosolid can be biomass densified into pellets. By becoming a pellet besides facilitating handling, storage, transportation and utilization. The pellet production process from POME sludge is also almost the same as the production of wood pellets. The production of POME sludge pellets is also a solution to overcome organic waste effectively and cheaper than processed further into biogas. Biogas production from POME with both the covered lagoon and CSTR (stirred tank continuous reactor) still requires expensive investment, so there are still very few oil mills in Indonesia that do it. And if the POME sludge is left alone in the waste pond so that there is aerobic fermentation it will produce methane gas which damages the ozone layer in the atmosphere.

If every month from a palm oil mill is produced 2,000 tons of POME sludge and an area such as Riau which has around 300 palm oil mills, then the potential of POME sludge reaches 600,000 tons and this is equivalent to 300,000 tons of POME sludge pellet. Whereas if calculated nationally with the number of oil mills reaching 1,000 units, the potential of POME sludge will reach 2,000,000 tons or equivalent to 1,000,000 tons of POME sludge pellet. Interestingly, POME sludge pellets also have a fairly high calorific value, which is about 4000 kcal / kg. This can happen because POME sludge still contains palm oil. With such a high calorie content, the POME sludge pellets are attractive. Besides being able to be used by various industries as fuel, the selling price of POME sludge should also be quite attractive because of its high energy content. The hope is POME sludge pellet will become a new and renewable energy amount that is very abundant in Indonesia. And if it is used as industrial fuel which means substituting fossil fuels, then it also reduces the use of fossil fuels, is environmentally friendly and carbon neutral.

Biomass : The Sexy Savior

In terms of environmental aspects biomass is a carbon neutral energy source, this is different from fossil fuels, especially coal, which is a carbon positive energy source. The more coal is consumed (burned) for energy sources, the higher the concentration of greenhouse gases, namely CO2 in the atmosphere. The higher concentration of CO2 gas in the atmosphere means increasing the temperature of the earth which causes the phenomenon of climate change and global warming. According to data from the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has reached more than 400 ppm and it is in a state of danger to the environment. As a global problem, of course, the global approach taken to solve the problem is like the annual climate conference, which in 2018 yesterday or the 25th was held in Katowice, Poland.

Indonesia as a tropical country is more suitable to develop biomass as its energy source than solar energy. Why is that? For more details, please read here. In addition, the position on the equator also has great potential as the largest producer of biomass, more details can be read here. Agricultural, livestock and forestry wastes are one of the sources of the biomass. Agricultural wastes such as rice husks, palm oil empty bunches, coconut fiber, corn cobs and so on are also very large in number. But it can also be cultivated specifically by making energy plantation. There are millions of hectares of land available that can be used for the energy plantations. Coal mine holes that reach 8 million hectares if reclaimed are also potential for the development of these energy plantation, for more details can be read here. With the development of energy plantations, besides getting energy, it can also be used as a means of water conservation and meat production by integrating with livestock such as sheep or cattle. Not only that honey production with bee farms that use flowers from energy plantation is also very potential. For more details can also be read here. The potential for biomass energy in Indonesia is also very large, according to ESDM when it is converted to electricity reaching approximately 50 GW but only 3% is used.

Technically, biomass fuels also have many advantages, such as there is no problem with fly ash, the sulfur content is very small and the ash is not hazard / poisonous material but can even be used for fertilizer crops. Utilization of biomass as an energy source is also nothing new, even before coal is used massively, the biomass fuels is the main energy source, for more details can be read here and here. Not only that, even the European Union has implemented various policies to encourage the use of renewable energy massively such as the 20-20-20 target or RED (Renewable Energy Directive) I, namely increasing the efficiency of energy use by 20%, using renewable energy reaching 20% ​​and the target has been applied in 2020. Of the 20% of renewable energy 80% of them are biomass energy. And because the target is almost over, they are preparing a replacement for RED II with a portion of renewable energy increasing by almost 1/3 with a target time of 2030 and a portion of biomass energy still reaching around 80%. Another example is Japan, which since the accident occurred with the Fukhushima nuclear power plant in 2011, then biomass energy is one of the main energy sources in the country. Biomass energy does have an advantage in its utilization because it is not affected by weather as well as wind and water energy. And more importantly the development of biomass energy in line with the Qur'an for more details can be read here.

Production of Briquettes from Corn Cobs

Although corn cobs can be made pellet, briquette production can be more interesting. Why is that? This is related to the market segment and the technical specifications of the corn cob briquettes. The household segment, and SME may be the biggest user of corn cob briquettes. One of the obstacles in this segment is the unavailability of stoves and supply of corn cob briquettes. The second reason is that by making briquettes the density can be twice that of wood pellets. This will make cheap transportation costs as well as higher energy content.

A number of regions in Indonesia which are agricultural centers will produce abundant corn cobs. If this waste is utilized, it certainly reduces environmental pollution and simultaneously provides economic added value. Dependence on fossil fuels can also be reduced gradually. Aesthetically when made briquettes also make storage easier, cleaner, attractive and easy to use. Efforts towards the use of corn cobs should be a concern for corn production centers. With corn cob briquettes also energy costs or the price can be cheaper than LPG.

Why is coal briquette less attractive to the public? This is because coal briquettes damage the flavor of cooking, especially high sulfur content. Roasting food with coal briquettes makes food not tasty. This is different when using corn cobs as raw material for briquettes. With a very low sulfur content and the sweet aroma of corn making grilling food with corn cob briquettes makes the food taste more delicious. As sawdust briquette can be processed further sawdust charcoal briquette, corn cob briquette can also be processed further into corn cob charcoal briquette. With charcoal briquette made, fixed carbon increases, volatile matter decreases and automatic calorific value also increases, so that the quality increases, among others, not smoky and can be used to bake longer.

Energy Plantation for Coal Mine Reclamation

Indonesia as one of the largest coal producers in the world, turns out to leave environmental problems in its mining activities. It is estimated that around 8 million hectares or around 3/4 of Indonesia's palm oil plantation are former coal mine holes. The holes become a kind of lake that also often takes casualties. The regulations that apply are reclaiming the hole by returning the soil excavated after the coal deposit being extracted. In practice there are still very few who do this so that holes like lakes are still scattered everywhere. Of the very few, most of them only do it symbolically, meaning that reforestation of reclaimed land is only done in certain areas.

Energy plantations with fast rotation plants and leguminoceae groups such as calliandra and gliricidae are the right solutions to reduce these environmental impacts. After the reclaimed energy plantation can be made in the area of ​​the former coal pit. With an area of ​​thousands to millions of hectares, the woody biomass production from the energy plantation will also be large. The wood is then used as an energy source too. Coal companies are basically energy companies, so it will be in line if it also produces wood as an energy source as well. The difference is that wood from the energy plantation is renewable energy, is a carbon neutral fuel and sustainable. Reclamation with energy plantation also provides a positive image for the company. In order to provide high added value, the wood can be processed into wood chips or wood pellets.

Why are fast-rotating plants from the leguminoceae group such as calliandra or gliricidae chosen as energy plantation tree species? This is because a number of advantages of these plants include pioneer plants and are very easy to grow, easy to care for, can be harvested quickly and with roots that are symbiotic with azetobacter so that they can bind nitrogen from the atmosphere to increase soil fertility. The condition of infertile reclamation land can also be repaired with the energy plantation. Indonesia's position on the equator is also very supportive for the production and use of energy from biomass, especially energy plantations. There is a lot of cloudiness because the island nation makes solar energy use of solar panels less suitable to be applied in Indonesia, for more details can be read here.

The use of renewable energy is gradually starting to replace fossil energy. Renewable energy, especially biomass, is environmentally friendly and sustainable. The coal power plant can also gradually use biomass as its fuel by means of cofiring. Cofiring is the easiest and cheapest way for coal power plants to go to biomass power plants. In this way automatic waste of fly ash will also be reduced. Conversion of up to 100% biomass or full firing is the target for the coal power plant. In addition, power plants also do not have to be centralized with large capacity, for example, hundreds of MW or thousands of MW, but more scattered with small to medium capacity with biomass fuels, especially those that are intensively cultivated with energy plantations that can be made in various corners of the archipelago. Gasification and fluidized bed technology are a number of technologies that can be used for small and medium scale power plants and use wood biomass as fuel. It is not even impossible that the power plant is only the size of a refrigerator.