Physico-Chemical Evaluation and Environmental Sustainability of Oil Palm Decanter Cake in Lubok Antu, Sarawak

Abstract

Oil Palm Decanter Cake (OPDC) is one of the large quantity leftovers in the oil palm mill that has been shown to have nutritional value. As a result of its widespread production, its proper disposal has become a major source of concern especially when it comes to the environmental contamination in Malaysia, with a particular focus on the palm oil mill located in Lubok Antu, Sarawak, as it has been observed that Palm Oil Mill Waste (POMW) is one of the major problems that need to be taken into consideration by the mills, particularly related to OPDC. It is critical that significant efforts to be made to ensure appropriate OPDC waste management in the mill are to be done to address rising environmental concerns, hence the purpose of this project is to evaluate the physical and chemical characteristics of OPDC, besides to analyse the environmental sustainability of the potential applications of OPDC as raw material focusing on organic fertilizer and biomethane gas. In evaluating the physico-chemical analysis of OPDC for the applications, seven analyses have been done including Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), density, moisture, oil, heavy metals, Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium (NPK), and Fourier Transmission Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. Besides, the inventory structure for the Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e) have been designed to analyse the environmental sustainability of OPDC for organic fertilizer and biomethane applications through inventory analysis. As a result, biomethane gas application are selected whereby it emits lower CO2e compared to organic fertilizer application, besides sludge is produced upon biomethane production which can be used as soil conditioner. Biomethane is a chemical alternative to natural gas and can be used in transportation and electricity generation, as it has zero emissions and interchangeable with natural gas as it absorbs methane emissions.