Biomass and Bioenergy Vol. 1I, No. 5, pp.

387-395, 1996
Copyright 0 1996 published by Elsevier Science Ltd
Pergamon Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
PII: 80961-9534(%)ooo34-7 0961-9534/96 $15.00 + 0.00

BIOMASS RESIDUES FROM PALM OIL MILLS IN

THAILAND: AN OVERVIEW ON QUANTITY AND
POTENTIAL USAGE

S. PRAsERTsAN*t and P. PRASERTSAN~

tDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, 90110, Thailand
IDepartment of Industrial Biotechnology, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, 90110, Thailand

(Received 2 January 1996; revised 7 April 1996; accepted 1 May 1996)

Abstract-Palm oil production is one of the major industries in the south of Thailand. A study of the
quantity and potential usage of palm oil mill wastes was carried out. Sixteen palm oil mills in the region
generate 386,930 tons/yr 165,830 tons/yr and 110,550 tons/yr of empty fruit bunches, palm press fiber and
palm kernel shell, respectively. In addition, 1,202,260 tons/yr of waste water is being treated anaerobically.
Only the p&carp fiber is used for boiler feed. Empty fruit bunches and the shell are disposed of by the
land filling method, which is very costly. In some factories the empty fruit bunches are burnt in the
furnaces, which causes air pollution. The study suggests potential usages of the solid and liquid wastes.
Copyright 0 1996 published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Keywords-Palm oil residues; waste utilization; waste management; biomass.

1. INTRODUCTION future will inevitably affect the waste disposal

Palm oil is one of the major agroindustries in
the south of Thailand. Oil palm planting area
for the country totals 150,000 hectares, solely in
the south. The oil palm (Hueis guineensis) was
introduced to Thailand in 1968, after it
successfully replaced the natural rubber trees in
Malaysia. As the climatic conditions in the
south are suitable for palm trees, the oil palm
plantation area has expanded ever since. The
planting area and palm oil production in the
southern region are given in Table 1. At present,
there are 16 factories employing the standard oil
extracting process (normally called the wet
process) and 24 factories the dry process. In the
standard milling process, which is the process
used in the factories of a milling capacity over
10 tons of raw material per hour, water is added
into a digester.
Raw material supplied to the mills consists of
fresh fruit bunches (FFB). In 1993 the yield of
FFB was 1.5 x lo6 tons’ and the crude palm oil
production was 305,000 tons. It was estimated
that about 1.18 x lo6 tons of organic waste was
released from the palm oil mills. The stringent
environmental measures implemented at present
and those that will be introduced in the near
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
practice of the mills. An increasing public
concern about the environment has forced some
factories to close down. This is because they
failed to meet the effluent discharge standard
and the bad odor (from the anaerobic pond)
and dust (from burning the solid wastes such as
empty fruit bunches and palm shells) offended
people living nearby. Only a fraction of solid
waste is used for steam and power generation.
This paper reports a result of a field survey to
determine the amount and types of palm oil mill
wastes and proposes means to properly treat or
utilize these wastes. Since 8590% of the palm
oil is produced in the standard process factories,
this paper deals with the standard process only.
2. FSI’IMATION OF WASTES FROM PALM OIL
MILLS
The amount of wastes from palm oil mills
were presented in a study in Malaysia.3 The
palm varieties, growth conditions and planta-
tion management in Thailand are different from
those in Malaysia and undoubtedly result in a
different quantity of solid wastes. Furthermore,
the milling process in Thailand consumes more
water,4 hence has a higher waste water discharge
rate. In order to obtain precise data, the
estimation of wastes was carried out by

387
388 S. PRASERT~AN
and P. PRASERTSAN
questionnaires, observation, monitoring and
interviewing. The FFB price varies according to
its quality. The purchasing officers of the mills
take samples from the suppliers and analyse
them for the percentage of oil and shell (some
varieties have big nuts and thick shells). The
data collected by the mills were obtained during
the survey and interviewing, and were used to
double check the data obtained from the
questionnaires.
There are 16 standard process mills and 24
dry process mills in the south of Thailand. In
total, 10 and five questionnaires were returned
from standard and dry process mills, respect-
ively. A survey of 11 standard mills and three
dry process mills was carried out.
3. WASTES FROM MILLING PROCESSES
The survey data of the dry process mills
showed no significant difference in the details of
the process. However, for the standard wet
process mills, they can be classified into two
groups based on the oil separation technique-
those which use decanters (five mills) and
separators (five mills). It was found that there is
one mill which has installed both the decanter
and the separator in parallel, in the separation
line. Only the separator is operated in the
normal season. The additional decanter is
operated to accommodate the high production
rate in the peak season.
In the dry process, the fruits are dried by hot
air generated from the burning of firewood,
after which the oil from both the pericarp and
the kernel is extracted by a screw press. The
residue from the process is the crushed fruit,
known as palm cake which can be sold for
animal feed. The palm cake contains 8-10%
residual oil and about 9% moisture content.
Although this process leaves no waste, it is not
used in the large scale production because the
Table 1. Oil palm plantation and production of palm oil
Year Planting area Yielding area
(ha) (ha)
1987 98,390 69,160
1988 109,190 82,840
1989 128,610 90,940
1990 140,050 95,990
1991 146,360 103,240
1992 153,280 108,000
1993 152,640 114,560
Source: Office of Agriculture Economics.
‘Calculation based on 20% oil content in the fresh fruit bunches.
mixed oil is not suitable for the downstream
processes.
In large factories, steam and water are used as
shown in Fig. 1 and hence, generate waste
water. The fresh fruit bunches are sterilized in
a horizontal direct contact steam sterilizer at
140°C for 50 min to inactivate the lipolytic
enzymes and loosen the fruit still attached to the
bunches. The sterilized bunches are fed into a
rotary drum thresher to separate the fruits from
the bunches. The empty fruit bunches (EFB) are
conveyed to the dumping ground. The fruits are
fed into a digester where water at 80°C is added.
The homogenous oil mash from the digester is
pushed through a screw press, and later passes
through a vibrating screen, a hydrocyclone and
decanters (or separators) to remove fine solids
and water. Decanter effluent and decanter cake
are the major wastes at this stage. Centrifugal
and vacuum driers are used to further purify the
oil before pumping it to a storage tank. Fiber
and nuts from the screw press are separated in
a cyclone. The nuts are cracked in a centrifugal
cracker. The kernels are packed and sold to
kernel oil mills. Shells are normally left unused.
There are various forms of solid and liquid
wastes from the mills. These include empty fruit
bunches (EFB), palm press fiber (PPF), palm
kernel cake (PKC), palm kernel shell (PKS),
sludge cake (SC) and palm oil mill effluent
(POME). Only EFB, PPF, PKS and POME
appear in large quantities and are considered as
wastes. The others can be sold for animal feed
or fertilizer. The quantity of the wastes depends
on the quality of the raw material as illustrated
in Fig. 2. Taking the average percentage of the
FFB composition found from the survey (28%
EFB, 12% PPF and 8% PKS), the solid wastes
could be estimated as 386,930 tons of EFB,
165,830 tons of PPF and 110,550 tons of PKS
(Table 2). Waste water was found to be
0.44-l. 18 tons/ton FFB.4 If the average figure of
0.87 tons/ton FFB is used for the calculation,
Yield of FFB Palm oil” production
( x 10’tons) ( x lo3 tons)
728 145.66
885 117.02
1098 219.63
1191 238.35
1315 263.20
1352 270.40
1526 305.20
 Biomass residues from palm oil mills in Thailand 389

FFB

Condensate

.* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sterilizer - Steam (14O”C, 50 mim)

Thresher
1 .*~~.~-.+ EFB

Fruits
t
Digester - Water (80-9O’C)

Oil mash
I
Screw press

Effluent Liquid Solid

*d. . . . . .
Decanter . . . -* Cake Cyclone . . ..w PPF

w..... i
1 Oil
1 Nut

Purifier Nut cracker . . . . . .) PKS

i
Treatment
I
Kernel

Pack for kernel

ponds Oil mill
Fig. 1. Palm oil milling process. (- ) Process; (- - -) waste.

the annual discharge of waste water is 1,202,260 easily decomposed to produce another value-
tons. added product, namely organic fertilizer. This
type of fertilizer is much more suitable for the
4. CURRENT AND POTENTIAL USAGE OF
soil than the original EFB itself. Possible
WASTES AND RECOMMENDATION FOR deficiencies in phosphate can easily be overcome
TREATMENT through the addition of some waste water. The
readily available and digestible residue obtained
4.1. Empty fruit bunches (EFB) after mushroom cultivation with or without
EFB is the major component of all solid additional cornposting would allow easier
wastes. Steam from the sterilization process transportation and fertilization as compared to
results in a moisture content in the EFB as high the original EFB. This is particularly important
as 60%, which makes it unsuitable as fuel. It as the bulky nature of EFB makes direct
was reported that the EFB has 42% C, 0.8% N, application difficult and pollutes the air if
0.06% P, 2.4% K and 0.2% Mg.’ The survey incinerated in furnaces. In some plantations, the
found that the EFB have been used as raw EFB are left to decompose under the trees.
material for mushroom cultivation only re- Besides the palm trees, the EFB are also applied
cently. Without any treatment, the EFB are to fruit orchards using 20 FFB per tree. It helps
pressed to form rectangular blocks. Mushroom retain moisture and returns organic matter to
spores are inoculated into the EFB blocks which the soil. However, the EFB cannot be stacked in
were in turn covered by a black plastic sheet to more than two layers around the tree or they
retain moisture and limit sunlight. Mushrooms attract harmful insects.
are a good source of protein and are considered The bulky nature of the EFB causes a high
a valuable product, with the sale price ranging land-fill disposal cost. The mills, therefore, burn
from US!§ 2400-4000 per ton of Vovariella the EFB down to ash. Particulates and gas (SO,,
vohacea. A further advantage of mushroom CO*, CO and NO,) emitted from the furnaces
cultivation is the residue, which now can be sometimes cause air pollution to the nearby
390 S. PRASERTSAN
and P. PRASERTSAN

communities and results in public protests.
Burning a ton of EFB produces 4 kg of ash.
Because of the high mineral content of the ash
(especially potassium) it can be sold at 1 Baht
per kilogram (1 US$ = 25 Baht). It is interesting
to note that there is now at least one factory
which processes the EFB into fibrous material.
The EFB fiber is coarser and stronger than that
obtained from the pericarp. By adding a binding
agent, such as rubber latex, the EFB fiber can
be used for cushion filling material. One of the
most promising products manufactured from
the EFB is the medium density fiber (MDF)
board which will be on the production line as
soon as a factory is set up. The EFB has a great
potential in these applications. It should be
noted that products like coir fiber, fiber board,
cement board, roofing tile and card paper can be
produced from the EFB or fiber. However, the
oil palm waste-based products received little
interest in Thailand since other agricultural
wastes in the country, such as rubber wood and
bagasse, are readily available in larger quantities
and the technical knowledge is already well-
established at an industrial level scale. Further-
more, the use of oil palm waste as raw material
requires oil separation (from the waste) process
and, consequently, generates waste water as
experienced in one factory.
4.2. Palm press fiber (PPF)
The oil retained in its cell wall makes the PPF
a good combustible material. In factories which
produce both steam and electrical power, all of
the PPF is used. However, only 30% is
consumed if power is not produced. Therefore,
in some factories, about 70% of PPF is
considered as waste. The PPF ash contains
1.7-6.6% P, 17-25% K and 7% Ca.5 It could
therefore be used as source of minerals for
plants. Although PPF is similar to rice straw, it
contains a higher percentage of fiber and lignin
which cannot be digested easily by animals.
However, its similarity to rice straw makes it a
good substrate for mushroom cultivation.6 It is
interesting to note that a study by Okiy’ found
that PPF is suitable for the pulp and paper
industry.
4.3. Palm kernel shell (PKS)
PKS is the most difficult waste to decompose.
The shell size is uniform and is not as bulky as
the EFB. They are usually left unused in the
factory or disposed of by the land-fill method.
In terms of energy, PKS is an energy intensive
substance. Local industries that require process
heat (or steam) generally have furnaces (or
boilers) designed for firewood or fuel oil.
However, substantial modification of the

FFB (100%)

EFB (20-30%) Fruit (70-74%)

[59%]

+=l
Moisture Dry EFB Pericarp Nut

(12-14%) (14-16%) (51-551) (18.9-19.2%)

[9.5%] [49.5%] [26.7%] [ 14.3%]

r-d
Oil Fiber Moisture
d-l
Shell Kernel Moisture

(25-28s) (12-13%) (13-14%) (6.8-7.4%)(8.5-8.4%)(3.3-3.4%)

[ll.S%] [ 13.9%] [1.3%] [10.6%] [l%l [2.7%]

Fig. 2. Composition of fresh fruit bunch. Figures in brackets are the percentage of FFB. () = high-quality
FFB and fl = low-quality FFB.
 Table 2. Wastes from palm oil mills by provinces in 1993 a
z.
Province No. of mills Production capacity (tons FFB/yr) Waste water ( x 10’tons/yr) EFB ( x 10’tons/yr) PPF ( x 10’tons/yr) PKS ( x lo-’tons/yr) g
Chum-porn 3 250,400 217.85 70.11 30.05 20.03
Surat-thani 3 457,000 397.59 127.96 54.84 36.56 $
J
Krabi 5 395,000 343.65 110.60 47.40 31.60
212.28 68.32 29.28 19.52 z!
Trang 3 244,000
!z
Satoon 1 18,000 15.66 5.04 2.16 1.44
15.23 4.90 2.10 1.40 g
Songkla 1 17,500
Total 16 1,381,900 1 202.26 386.93 165.83 110.55 J
E
v)
Waste water was calculated based 0.87 tons/ton FFB, an average figure obtained from monitoring of four factories. 6’
EFB, PPF and PKS were calculated based on 28%, 12% and 8% of FFB, respectively. el
B
392 S. PRASERTSAN and P. ~ASERTSAN
furnaces is needed if the conventional fuel is to
be replaced by PKS. Therefore, many factories
are still reluctant to use PKS as fuel unless they
are economically forced to do so.
There is a possibility that the PKS can be used
for activated carbon productions*9 or charcoal.3
PKS contains 20.3% of fixed carbon and is
physically similar to the coconut shell, which
has been used to produce the activated carbon
successfully. It is anticipated that the stringent
environment control measures will increase the
demand for activated carbon in the future. It is
possible that activated carbon can be applied for
the decolorization of the unacceptably dark-col-
ored effluent of the palm oil mills. At present,
there are 110,550 tons of PKS available
annually, at no cost, at 16 mills. Some factories
have shown an interest in incorporating
activated carbon production in the milling
operation.
Many mills have installed co-generation
plants, i.e. generate both heat and electrical
power. High-pressure steam passes through a
back-pressure steam turbine to generate electric-
ity sufficient for the mill consumption. The
exhausted steam is used as heat source for the
milling process. Only the (pericarp) fiber and
sometimes a small amount of shell is fed into the
boiler furnace. As private power production is
being encouraged in Thailand, it is therefore
recommended that the surplus shell should be
used to generate electricity and be sold to the
grid. The heating value of the shell is
17.4 MJ/kg.” It is appropriate to assume that
the overall thermal efficiency of the co-gener-
ation system is 25%. Therefore, the electrical
energy sold to the grid is 2 x lo9 MJ/yr, which
is equivalent to that generated from a 79 MW
power plant operating for 300 days per year
(which is the normal operating duration of the
palm oil mills in Thailand). In practice, if the
PKS is used for electricity generation, 16 small
co-generation systems have to be installed.
Extensive study of co-generation (heat and
power) in the Thai palm oil industrylO indicated
that the heat-to-power ratio of the system was
about 12 during off-peak periods and 8 during
peak periods. The analysis showed that the
existing co-generation system was not properly
designed, and that the low efficiency of the
system was due to a large difference of enthalpy
between the steam required to generate electric-
ity and process steam and as a result, excessive
steam blow-out occurred (39-47% of total
steam input). To lessen the imbalance of
electricity and process heat, an energy conserva-
tion measure to utilize the excess steam to
preheat the boiler feed water appears to be very
cost effective. In addition, the boiler flue gas
which is at about 330°C should be used to
preheat the combustion air in order to improve
the thermal efficiency.”
Many local cottage industries such as lime
making and brick firing are now faced with
energy shortage problems. Usually, heat for the
process is obtained from firewood. Natural
rubber is another important industry in the
south of Thailand. Rubber trees cut down for
replanting (after their economic life), which are
the only source of firewood, are no longer a
cheap fuel source. At present, the rubber wood
price is soaring because the number of
rubber-wood-based furniture factories is con-
tinuously increasing. This inevitably has an
adverse effect on the local industries which rely
on the rubber wood for their energy supply. The
PKS can substitute the rubber wood if the
furnaces are properly modified.
4.4. Palm oil mill efluent (POME)
There are three major sources of waste water,
namely sterilizer condensate (17%), decanter or
separator sludge (75%) and hydrocyclone water
(8%). Monitoring at four factories revealed that
the milling process produces waste water in the
range of 0.44-l. 18 m’/ton FFB with the average
figure of 0.87 m3/ton FFB4 Waste water is
treated anaerobically in a series of ponds. Over
half of the land has to be spared for the waste
water treatment ponds. There is a concern that
this waste water might pollute underground
water.
As a discharge standard of effluent from the
palm oil industry has not been set in Thailand
yet, the general standard for any effluent is
enforced. Since the final effluent is of brownish
colour, it cannot be discharged into the natural
waterways. There is, therefore, an urgent need
to investigate the decolorization process. This is
not limited to the use of activated carbon
mentioned earlier, but includes the biological
method using microorganisms such as Phane-
rochaete chrysosporium.‘* However, environ-
mental guidelines for the palm oil industry are
being developed and the effluent standard is
anticipated to be implemented by the year 2000.
It was observed during the visit to the palm oil
mills that if algae is present in the final pond, the
effluent has a very light brown colour which is
considered acceptable for discharge into the
 Biomass residues from palm oil mills in Thailand
river. Therefore, the role of algae on decoloriza-
tion and the use of algae as a by-product should
be investigated.
The waste water characteristics have been
reported in many publications.2*4. ‘XI4 The high
organic load of waste water in terms of BOD
( w 50,000 mg/l) or COD ( N 80,000 mg/l) is
equivalent to the load generated by a population
of 3 million people.4 While the palm oil
production in Malaysia is 20.6 times that of
Thailand’s, the waste water organic load in
terms of population equivalent is only 2.4
times.13 These figures clearly reflect the lack of
control and inefficient treatment in Thailand.
Furthermore, the specific waste water from the
palm oil mills in Thailand, which is 0.87 m3/ton
FFB, is substantially higher than the figure
0.6 m3/ton FFB quoted in Malaysia.” It was
reported that the minimum discharge achievable
can be as low as 0.3 m3/ton FFB.16
The use as fertilizer and water supply for the
palm trees are the most common methods for
the waste water utilization. As most of the
carbon source (with a proper nutrient ratio in
terms of BOD:N:P = 1OO:l.1:0.2) is used by the
microorganisms when the waste water is treated
anaerobically, nutrients such as N, P and K are
left over for the plants. Substances yielded from
the drying of the waste water can be used as an
animal feed supplement”.” or fertilizer.19 How-
ever, the energy cost of drying must be very low
or obtained freely such as solar energy.
Commercially available single cell protein for
animal feed (Prolima and Centriplus) can be
cultivated from the POME.’ Biotechnological
products such as cellulase, xylanase, betaglu-
cosidase and pectinase enzymes can be obtained
from cultivating Aspergih niger ATCC 6275.*’
Furthermore, the enzymes can then be used for
the saccharification of palm cake and palm fiber
to produce sugars (glucose, xylose, arabinose,
mannose, etc.). The enzymes can also be applied
to enhance the oil recovery from press cake
fiber*’and a laboratory experiment revealed that
it can separate oil and suspended solids from the
POME.
Anaerobic digestion is an effective method for
treatment of wastewater with high organic
content. During the treatment process, microor-
ganisms hydrolyse fat, oil and carbohydrate (in
the form of sugar, starch, pectin and pentosan)
to volatile fatty acids (acetic, butyric, etc.) and
isobutyl alcohol. These compounds have offen-
sive smells and are regarded as air pollution. It
was found recently that commercial products
393
claiming to mitigate the bad smell are available,
and many mills apply the substance in the pond.
This practice does not only result in an
additional treatment cost but is also found not
to work in the long term. Alternatively, the
treatment should be carried out in a reactor in
which the biogas is obtained. Biogas could be
produced from mesophilic anaerobes at a rate of
0.57 m3/kg COD utilized per day, and contained
6&69% methane gas.*’ The production of
biogas was also conducted on a pilot scale using
a thermophilic contact process at a temperature
of 45”-60°C with an organic loading of 3.0 kg
BOD/m3/day. The highest yield of biogas was
seen at 65°C and contained less than 10 ppm of
hydrogen gas. The treatment efficiency was
96%.23 With the average output of 40 kg
(40,000 ppm) organic matter, the potential
production of biogas is 12 m3/m3 effluent.24 For
a mill with handling capacity of 20 tons FFB/h
and 10 h working time per day, the daily
discharge of the effluent is 174 m3/day (calcu-
lated from 0.87 m3/ton FFB). Assuming a very
conservative long fermentation time of 20 days,
the digester volume is 3480 m3. It can be
anticipated that after 20 days of treatment the
BOD should be reduced by 90%, the COD by
75% and the total solids by 70%. Biogas
produced from the digester is calculated as
2088 m3/day or, in terms of heat, 48 GJ/day.
5. DISCUSSION
The palm oil industry contributes an appreci-
able level of economic growth to the southern
region of Thailand. Thousands of people are
engaged in the upstream and downstream
processes of the milling. Although the mills
generate a great amount of waste, the waste is
a natural product, and non-toxic, because no
chemicals are used in the process. The waste, if
properly managed, can be returned to the soil as
fertilizer without any harmful effect. This means
that the waste should not be kept in a place
where the concentration is too high for the
environment. However, dumping the waste by
scattering evenly over 150,000 ha of plantation
is economically not feasible.
It is worth mentioning the potential of
incorporating integrated farming in the ponding
treatment system of a palm oil mill. Because of
the nutrient-rich effluent, some vegetables could
be grown in the treatment ponds. Bamboo rafts
can be used as growing platforms. In the final
pond where algae is present, phytoplankton-
394 S. F~ASERTSAN and P.
feeding fish such as tilapia can be cultured. A
frozen seafood factory in Hat Yai, Songkla
province, discovered that an unpleasant odor
developed in fish cultured in the final treatment
pond, unless the fish were kept in clean, fresh
water for few weeks.
If the effluent is dried out, many associated
problems vanish. The water in the effluent may
be vaporized by the heat obtained from burning
the solid wastes. One ton of FFB generates
870 kg of waste water at 66°C. Taking the total
solid content of 60 kg (derived from Table 2)
the amount of water to be evaporated is 8 10 kg,
which requires about 1900 MJ. One ton of FFB
gives 80 kg of PKS, 120 kg of PPF and 280 kg
of EFB. It was reported that the heating values
of the dried shell, fiber and EFB are 17.4, 4.6
and 9.6 MJ/kg, respectively.2s If the heat
conversion efficiency is 80%, about 2200 MJ is
obtainable from the solid wastes. It is possible,
therefore, to eliminate both liquid and solid
wastes simultaneously by this method. How-
ever, the factory has to install a heat generator
with a capacity of 470 kW for every ton FFB/h
production rate. For the process to be feasible,
the capital and maintenance cost must be
competitive with the overall negative value of
the wastes (both solid and liquid). It is worth to
note that at present the mills have to invest
2-2.5 million Baht for a furnace to burn the
EFB. This money can be used for a new design
furnace that incorporates the evaporation of
POME by the EFB and PKS. The investment
cost might be offset by the by-product (fertilizer
in a form of dry sludge) and by the benefit
resulting from the waste-free condition (neither
waste disposal cost nor land for waste water
ponds). However, the technology for comp-
lementary waste management has to be devel-
oped along with the economic feasibility study.
It is not an intention of this study to suggest the
definitive method of waste utilization or
management. The brief analysis given above is
merely to demonstrate one possibility for waste
management. There are many other possible
ways including the use of solid wastes for
co-generation, and the sale of excessive electric-
ity to the grid, which was extensively studied by
Wibulswas and Thavornkit.” However, the
drying of waste water by energy from the solid
wastes is the only method which can make the
mills free from waste. The dry sludge can be
used as fertilizer. Burning of EFB and shell
generates no net CO, emission because the CO*
F'RASERTSAN
is reused by the palm trees to complete the
carbon cycle.
6. CONCLUSION
The quantity of palm oil mill wastes is
presented and methods of waste disposal and
utilization are proposed. Waste disposal is
usually a costly practice which imposes a
so-called “negative value” on the waste. Waste
utilization requires investment and technology
to produce “positive value” products from the
waste and at the same time mitigates the
environmental problems caused by the waste.
However, the feasibility of waste utilization
depends on the cost-benefit analysis, the
competitiveness of the process and products,
etc.
Acknowledgements-This work was financially supported
by the National Center for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology, NSTDA (Thailand) to whom the authors
are grateful.
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