Indonesia’s palm oil waste could generate 3.9 GW of electricity
BRIN chief Arif Satria told President Prabowo Subianto that palm oil processing waste could be used to produce biogas for power generation.
Indonesia could generate around 3.9 gigawatts (GW) of electricity from palm oil industry waste, according to National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) chief Arif Satria. He presented the potential to President Prabowo Subianto during a meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta.
Arif put Indonesia’s annual production of fresh oil palm fruit bunches at about 328.43 million tonnes. Processing the fruit produces an estimated 229.9 million cubic metres of palm oil mill effluent (POME) each year, he said. The liquid waste can be processed into biogas to fuel electricity plants.
He said POME can be a source of methane emissions that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Using technology to turn the waste into biogas could instead provide an alternative source of energy.
Arif also said technological development should go beyond producing biogas. He identified converting the biogas into a form that can be stored in gas cylinders as a more important next step.
