Sungei Kahang POME Biogas Recovery for

Energy Project in Johor

This project aims to reduce methane emissions from the existing open anaerobic pond system used for the treatment of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) generated by the mill of Sungei Kahang Palm Oil Sdn. Bhd. The methane emissions from POME are avoided by introducing 4 new closed anaerobic digester tanks to digest the POME and capture the methane for utilisation on-site.

the project activity will lead to:

Methane avoidance from the existing open anaerobic lagoons by introducing enclosed anaerobic digester tanks

Fossil fuel consumed on site via the diesel generators as well as electricity consumed from grid at site will be replaced by the electricity generated by the biogas via gas engine

Excessive biogas will be co-fired in the existing biomass boilers

Location

The CDM project will be implemented in the mill of Sungei Kahang Palm Oil Sdn. Bhd. in the State of Johor, which is the Southern region of Peninsula Malaysia.. The location of the Mill is approximately 5 km from Kahang town and 35 km from the town centre of Kluang within the State of Johor. Kluang is a town located roughly 110 km to the north of Johor Bahru, the capital city of Johor State.

Location

wastewater generated

Known as Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) The ratio of POME effluent to FFB processed is approximately 50% the average Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of POME was found to

range between 84,000 – 182,000 mg/L

POME analysis

Existing Open Anaerobic Lagoons at Sungei Kahang Palm Oil Sdn. Bhd.

Treatment of POME

piped from the Mill to a concrete cooling tank and retained in the tank for less than a day to allow the POME to cool and the residue oil to separate.

It is then pumped into a concrete sump and from there it flows to a cooling tower for further cooling.

POME is distributed into two series of anaerobic lagoons. POME flows into three (3) sequence batch reactors (SBR) for aerobic

treatment before final discharge.

Flow diagram project boundary

Baseline of POME Treatment at Sungei Kahang Palm Oil Sdn. Bhd.

Volume for each lagoon

Flow process

Biogas generated

approximately 60-65% methane by volume Portion of the biogas will be fed to a new 1MW gas engine generator:

electricity produced would be used to replace electricity currently generated from diesel generators and TNB grid electricity.

Remaining capacity will be used for other processes of the mill in near future.

Retrofitting co-firing system with biomass to current biomass boilers.

FFB processed and POME generation by Sungei Kahang Palm Oil Mill

DATE POME (m3) FFB (t) % POME2 Year Avg. (POME m3/m)

21,098 41,781 0.50

POME m3/yr 253172 501375 -

Operational Information of Sungei Kahang Palm Oil Sdn. Bhd.

GENERATION OF ELECTRICITY

Electricity generation using fossil fuel in a captive power plant only

A plausible alternative could be to supply the Mill with power generated from a fossil fuel based power plant. A typical setting would be to utilise diesel generators.

Electricity generation in the grid only For the Mill, obtaining electricity from the national grid is possible. This

is not a conventional approach for palm oil mills as many palm oil mills are located far from grid. However, should electricity is needed to operate the entire mill operation, further grid system reinforcement (increase in local grid capacity) will be needed and this involves very high capital and electricity cost.

Electricity generation in boilers from available biomass solid waste only Biomass solid wastes such as palm kernel shells, mesocarp fibres and empty fruit

bunches are by products of the palm oil mill extraction process. These are readily available fuel resources that have been utilised traditionally to supply power to mill using steam boilers.

Electricity generation using POME biogas in a captive power plant Complimented by fossil fuel captive power plant and/or grid power Recovery of biogas to supply electricity to the palm oil mill is a plausible option. However, the power generating potential from POME will not likely to be sufficient for the entire mill operation. The option could be combination with diesel generators and/or grid power.

**The Mill has future plans to incorporate some facilities and other additional processes at the site which will require additional energy. However, these plans are not fully decided at the time of preparing this document. However, considering the gas engine would produce additional electricity, the immediate plan is to introduce a unit of mesocarp fibre solvent extraction equipment. This process will require an additional 300 kW of power.

Electricity from Tranmission grid

Electricity generation from Diesel generator

CO2 EMISSION

The average electricity supplied by the on-site diesel generators each year are calculated based on past records from the Mill, which accounts for 91 MWh/yr . Diesel generator emission factor of 0.8 t CO2/MWh was applied. (73 tCO2/yr)

The grid connected baseline for Peninsula Malaysia for 2007 was applied to this project and the calculated was 0.684 tCO2/MWh . (472 tCO2/yr)

Carbon emission reduction

BENEFITS OF THIS PROJECT

Waste Minimisation – The emissions from the Mill can be reduced from the implementation of the project. Greenhouse gasses would be reduced from the biogas recovery system.

Financial rewards – Biogas recovered for the system can be used for power generation in the Mill reducing the need for diesel fuel.

Sustainable development – Recovering biogas from POME promotes the development of renewable energy usage. This elevates the status of the company and Malaysia in promoting renewable energy and sustainable development in energy sector.

Benefits to the society – The project will create more business opportunities for the local residents and create more jobs for skilled workers to operate the anaerobic digesters and biogas recovery systems. This will be a boon for the existing workers as training and skills development would be provided to them. Besides that, the methane (foul gas) would be eliminated from the project implementation, thus creating a better environment for the workers and adjacent residents.

Benefits to the industry and company image – The project implementation would elevate the status of palm oil industry to a healthier, greener image through waste minimisation and recovering renewable energy from POME. Sungei Kahang Palm Oil Sdn. Bhd. would be one of the pioneers in promoting biogas recovery in Malaysia.

It was reminded that such modifications (biogas) of POME treatment must be approved by the Department of Environment. The project entity informed that they are fully aware of the requirement. Approval has already been made and approved by State DOE on 27 November 2007.

END