palm oil waste management | palm oil organic fertilizers

Palm Waste Management: Turning Trash into Organic Fertilizer

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Introduction

Oil palm is everflowering and harvested throughout the year, which has 25 years of

commercial production. By 1970s, it was heavily cultivated in Southeast Asia,

which has broad planting areas and high yield, surpassing in Africa. Oil palm is the

oil crop that produces the highest oil. Economic planted oil palm produces

approximately one ton of oil per hectare. It is known as oil king in the world in

various oil crops.

Palm oil is one kind of vegetable oil derived from tropical woody plants, which is

the largest variety of vegetable oils in the world's production, consumption and

international trade.

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Palm oil is a vital part of the oil market in the world

and the proportion of oil output is over 30%. Palm

oil production is an important industry in Southeast

Asia and plays significant roles in economic

structure. With the development of palm oil market

and increasing of international demand, the total

production of palm oil will increase in the next

years . In Southeast Asia , the main palm oi l

producers are Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Sri

Lanka. Indonesia and Malaysia are the top two

countries of producing palm oil, which accounts for

70-80% of the world total.



Generally speaking, palm oil wastes include palm oil mill effluent(POME), empty

fruit bunch(EFB), palm oil mill sludge(POMS), oil palm fronds(OPF), oil palm

trunks(OPT), decanter cake, seed shells and palm pressed fibers(PPF). When it is to

extract one ton palm oil, it has 6 tons of old leaves , 1 ton of trunk, 5 tons of empty

fruit bunch , 1 ton of peel fiber, 0.5 tons of palm kernel shell,0.25 tons of pomace

and 3 tons of palm oil mill effluent. The wastes account for high proportion in the

process of palm oil production. Palm oil waste management is an severe issues in

the producing countries.



On the one hand, it leads to loss of forest land, which makes many animals lose

their habitats. On the other hand, it has a direct impact on the land and

environment. In the long term, to recycle the wastes is the proper measure in the

disposal. Using palm oil wastes as raw materials for organic fertilizers can not

only reduce environment issues, but also help government solve municipal

problems. It is the best fertilizer for palm trees. In this article, it will make a

specific analysis on feasibility of palm oil wastes to be used as organic fertilizers

in Southeast Asia, which is taken the palm oil wastes in Indonesia as an example.



Palm Oil Production in Indonesia

Palm oil production plays an important role in the economy of Indonesia. As the

biggest producer of palm oil, Indonesia provides nearly half of the total palm oil

production in the world. It has 6 million hectares of oil palm planting areas.

Pattern of production and distribution

There are three kinds of business models of oil palm plantation in Indonesia for

a long time, including large private plantations, the state-owned plantations and

small individual plantations.



Nearly a decade, in order to adapt to the international market development and

price volatility of the situation, oil palm plantation structure has undergone

significant changes. Self-regulation has gradually shifted from government-led and

controlled market to market-oriented private sector operators. With regard to

geographical distribution, the main producing areas of Indonesian palm oil are

Sumatra island, where oil palm acreage and production accounts for 80% of the

island of Indonesian total output.



Production capacity

Since 1964, the production of palm oil has increased from 157,000 tonnes to

33.5 million tonnes in 2014. The palm oil revenues take up 11% of the whole

export proceeds in Indonesia. To continue the privileged positions of the

world’s biggest producer, Indonesia plans to produce 40 million tonnes of palm

oil. In the next few years, the total production of palm oil in Indonesia will

increase continuously.



Total wastes from palm oil production

According to incomplete statistics, there are million of tonnes palm oil wastes

in Indonesia. It mainly concludes palm oil mill effluent(POME), empty fruit

bunch(EFB), oil palm fronds(OPF), oil palm trunks(OPT), decanter cake,

seed shells and palm pressed fibers(PPF). All these wastes are in a huge

number. With the more established palm oil plants, the more palm oil wastes

are produced. In addition, the number will increase in the future.



From the table, we can see that the palm oil

wastes account for a large proportion in the

process of palm oil production. It contains

plenty of moisture in FFB. Although there is

much water, it is good raw materials for

organic fertilizers. Empty fruit bunch and shell

constitute approximately one-fourth of the

whole palm oil wastes. It has 13.5% fiber,

mostly used in papermaking.



Making Organic Fertilizers Using Palm Oil Waste

Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil, which accounts for nearly

45% of total world production. Empty fruit bunch are in a large quantity, but it is

difficult to degrade. Palm oil mill sludge(POMS) contains high oil. They are major

burdens on palm oil production plants. It has become extremely ecological

problems to be solved for Indonesian government. Empty fruit bunch, palm oil

mill sludge, palm fronds and shells, as raw materials of all, can be produced

biological humic acid fertilizer and applied to oil palm plantations. It can reduce

fertilizer utility, improve soil, enhance vigor, increase production and improve oil

palm plantations capacity for sustainable cultivation, promoting sustainable

development of Indonesian palm oil.

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Empty fruit bunch

It refers to oil palm wastes remaining after threshing. The oil palm empty

fruit bunch were directly discarded as trash. It not only polluted the

environment, but also wasted a lot of materials. In order to solve the

problems, it is used to produce organic fertilizers. In this way, it can be

made into organic fertilizers, thereby turning waste into treasure.

Meanwhile, it helps dispose a great number of oil palm empty fruit bunch,

thus contributing to reducing environmental pollution.



Palm oil mill sludge

It contains a variety of nutrients in palm oil mill sludge. The sludge produced in

the process of waste water treatment can all be used for manufacturing organic

fertilizers. It is benefit for plant growth by high-temperature aerobic

fermentation. It is dispensable of composting. Although it can be used as

fertilizer directly, it has some bacteria in the sludge, which is bad for plants.

Palm oil mill sludge can be get from palm oil effluent. POME is the effluent

produced in the process of palm oil production. It is constituted of 95% water, 4-

5% total solids and 0.6-0.7 oil. Owing to high organic content, it is suitable for

producing organic fertilizers. What’s more, it solves the issues for palm oil

plants. It is conductive to the growth for plants as well.



Oil palm fronds

It can be used for organic fertilizer production. It has 12 tonnes old oil palm

fronds per hectare a year. Old leaves can be divided into two parts: the leaflets

and the rachis. Leaflet mainly contains nitrogen and rachis contains potassium. If

there are 136 oil palm trees per hectare and 24 old leaves are cut per year. Supply

of nutrients from the older leaves a year are as follows. It has 136 kg of nitrogen,

10 kg of phosphorus, 183 kg of potassium and 17 kg magnesium. As can be seen

form the statistics, it has high organics in oil palm fronds. Similarly, oil palm

fronds need to ferment. Once the fronds are used to produce organic fertilizers, it

is helpful to both palm oil manufacturers and farmers. It can prevent from soil

erosion and improve soil structure.



Organic Fertilizer Production Technology of Using Palm Oil Waste

It mainly contains several steps in the process of organic fertilizers production,

including crushing, composting and granulation.

Crushing

The first step is to crush the raw materials.Oil palm empty fruit bunches should be

cut into wire. The best length is 3cm, thereby increasing the superficial area of the

thread, improving fermentation speed and shortening the fermentation time. Shells

can be cut into particles in the size of 3-10 mm. Oil palm fronds should cut up as

much as possible. In this process,fertilizer crusher is suitable for crushing these

materials. It can meet the needs of mixing palm oil wastes with high efficiency and

short time.



Adding materials

According to different demands, appropriate additives can be added before

composting. The common accessories include urea, sludge and fermentation

strains. At first, add some sludge or turfy soil. It can add one point to one kilo of

sludge or turfy soil in one kilo of palm oil waste. Then add the good amount of

microorganism agent and urea, fermentation strains. It is appropriate that carbon-

nitrogen ratio reaches 25 : 1-30: 1 after adding materials.

Palm oil mill effluent can be used in this step. Because of high nutrients, it is the

best additive for organic fertilizer production. In addition, heavy metal content in

the bottom of effluent is under the standard level. When it is added to oil palm, it is

harmless to the plants. Therefore, it enables to increase the yield of palm oil.



Composting

It is the critical step in the whole organic fertilizer production. During the

fermentation, compost turner can be used to make materials fermented completely.

In the process of composting, the temperature should preferably be controlled

between 60-75℃. pH value should be controlled between 5.5 and 8.5. The

moisture content is completely controlled 35% when the final fermentation

materials is fermented. It is good for granulation in next step. The length of time is

affected by the fermentation temperature, turning rate and moisture content.



The fermentation temperature should be suitable for composting. It is not

conducive to composting when temperature is too high or too low. Moisture

content of materials should be adequately controlled in the fermentation

process, so that the material can achieve rapid fermentation. It should also be

in a reasonable number of times when palm oil wastes are turning. Turning too

many times not only increases labor costs, to a certain extent, but also

accelerates the evaporation of material moisture, thus affecting composting.



Granulation

After composting, it can be granulated in accordance with different demands. According to

test data of completely fermented materials, add a small amount inorganic materials,

including N, P ,K, Ca and Mg, so that it can achieve organic fertilizer materials standard or

meet the demand for using organic fertilizers of varieties of oil palm plantations. Then it can

be produced into granules by extrusion granulator. They are cylindrical particles and particle

diameter is 0.8-10cm. Extrusion granulator can improve the effect of granulation, making the

best size of granules.

When composting and granulation are completed, it can be drying, cooling and screened. The

materials should be drying and cooling after granulation. It should be kept dry, which makes

organic fertilizer easy to preserve. At last, the organic fertilizer is packaged.



Benefit of Using Palm Oil Waste to Produce Organic Fertilizers

Solving municipal problems

It is a path of sustainable development to produce organic fertilizers. The

government in Southeast Asia is nagged by the palm oil waste management in

recent years. It makes full use of raw materials and realizes the value of these

wastes.

Reducing environmental pollution

It not only can dispose of all the empty fruit bunch and sludge of palm oil wastes,

but also can handle a large number of palm oil mill effluent generated in the

process of palm oil production.



High nutrients for plants growth

Processed palm oil wastes has high organics, which meets the needs of plant growth. Studies

have shown that the organic fertilizers produced by palm oil wastes contain much more

nutrients than common fertilizers. It has obvious effect on oil palm growth. It is one of

suitable palm tree fertilizer.

Improving soil structure

It enhances soil fertility and accelerates growth of oil palm roots, so that promotes

sustainable development of the oil palm industry. It can solve the problems of soil

compaction, acidification and lack of organic matter. It can improve soil physical properties,

promote the formation of soil structure, enhance the capacity of water retention and improve

soil organic matter content, especially in oil palm root growth. Therefore, it can be called the

best fertilizer for palm trees.


palm oil waste management | palm oil organic fertilizers

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