Old Oil Palm Trunks as Promising Feedstock

for

Biofuel and Bioplastics

JIRCAS

4th BMWS 2007.11

In collaboration with University of Science Malaysia

and Forest Research Institute Malaysia

Yutaka Mori

Problems occurred by introduction of bio-ethanol fuel

� Competition

with food

� Shortage of feedstock

� Price hike in grain and

feedstock

Feedstock: corn, wheat, cassava, sugar cane, molasses

Second-generation ethanol that

does not compete with food

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

50000

1963

/196

419

65/1

966

1967

/196

819

69/1

970

1971

/197

219

73/1

974

1975

/197

619

77/1

978

1979

/198

019

81/1

982

1983

/198

419

85/1

986

1987

/198

819

89/1

990

1991

/199

219

93/1

994

1995

/199

619

97/1

998

1999

/200

020

01/2

002

2003

/200

420

05/2

006

2007

/200

8

100

0t

Source：USDA PSD Online 2008

Worldwide Palm Oil Production

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

国

１０

００

ｔ

Palm Oil Production in Each Country (2007)

Source：USDA PSD Online 2008

Indonesia

Malaysia

Country

� 1911: Introduced from Africa

� 1917: Commercial Production started

� Exports: 2007

36,292M RM＝13 billion US dollars

� Employment： more than 500,000

� Cultivation area： 430M ha (2007： 13% of total land)

peninsula(236Mha), Saba(128Mha), Sarawak(66Mha)

� Palm oil production (2007): 17.7M ton

� Kernel oil production (2007): 2M ton

� Productivity: 3.4-4.9 ton/ha (palm oil)

0.7-1.2 ton/ha (kernel oil)

Palm Oil Industry in Malaysia

Re-plantation of Old Oil Palm

Plywood Production from Old Palm TrunkYoung’s Modulus

2 4 (GPa)

16 7 62 43

11

10

9

15

14

13

Young’s Modulus

2 4 (GPa)

16 7 62 43

11

10

9

15

14

13

16 7 62 43

11

10

9

15

14

13

Moisture Content of Oil Palm Trunk

A

B

CBark

Inner part of the stem

MoistureA

(core)83%

B(middle)

75%

C(outer)

68%

HPLC Profile of Sugar Analysis on Sap

Sucr

ose

Gal

act

ose

Glucose

Fru

ctose

A B C

Sucrose 20.6 23.6 22.1

Glucose 68.4 60.8 54.7

Fructose 23.3 27.0 30.9

Total sugars 113 112 108

Sugars contained in oil palm sap(g / L)

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

0 10 20 30 40 50

Time, h

Redu

cing

suga

r, %

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

EtO

H, %

Reducing sugar, %

EtOH, %

Ethanol production from oil palm sap

Lactic Acid Production from Oil Palm Sap

○,●：sap □,■：reference

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 12 24 36 48

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Glu

cose

,

Lactic acid

, g/L

(●,■

)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 12 24 36 48

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

5

inches2

ft

Upper

most

(centre)

half

half

5

inches

5

inches

5

inches

8

ft

Sugar content and

composition at

different height

� Same amount and

composition throughout the

height except uppermost

part

�Approximately 20% less at

uppermost part

0 1 3 7 15 30 60 90 120

days

2

’

’

2

’

’

2

’

’

2

’

’

Accumulation of sugars during storage of OPT

2

inches

L

1/2

L

1/2

L

ABC

We found out:

sugars in the sap increase significantly during storage.

Comparison of Oil Palm Trunk with Sugar Cane

Sugar Cane

Oil Palm Trunk( after proper aging)

A (中心) B (中間) C (外層)

Moisture content70％ 83％ 75％

68％×0.8

Sugar content in juice or sap

16％ 16％ 14％ 15％

Amount of sugarscontained

112g/kg 95.4g/kg ⇒ 107.8 kg/trunk

Cane or trunk produced per area

60-90ton/ha

154-168 ton/ha (136-148 trunks/ha)

Possible ethanol yield 4.5-7.2kL/ha

9.5-10.3 kL/ha

Sugar Cane

Oil Palm Trunk( after proper aging)

A (Core) B (Middle) C (Outer)

Moisture content70％ 83％ 75％

68％×0.8

Sugar content in juice or sap

16％ 16％ 14％ 15％

Amount of sugarscontained

112g/kg 95.4g/kg ⇒ 107.8 kg/trunk

Cane or trunk produced per area

60-90ton/ha

154-168 ton/ha (136-148 trunks/ha)

Possible ethanol yield 4.5-7.2kL/ha

9.5-10.3 kL/ha

Oil palm sap squeezing system

Trunk

Sap Tank

Fermentation

water

Plywood material

Shredder Squeezer

Peeler

right side

Prototype Shredding machine

Shredded oil palm trunk

trunk

Capacity; 550 kg/h

Squeezer

Specs：

3 roller hydraulic press

Size of roller：φ240mm, 340 w

Capacity: 500kg/h

7.5kw x 2 (AC415Vx50Hz)

8RPM variable

2450 x 2030W x 1800H

Parenchyma Vascular bundles

Solid residues of sap-squeezed trunks

Cross-section

55％ 45％

Ethanol production from parenchyma hydrolysate

0

1

2

3

4

0 10 20 30 40

time, h

Glu

cose

, %

0

0.5

1

1.5

EtO

H, %

A5

A6

A7

A8

Ethanol yield A8) 86%

control: 80%)

A5 hydrolysateA6 hydrolysate + 1% polypeptone, 0.5% yest extract

A7 hydrolysate + 1% （NH4)2SO4

A8 hydrolysate + 1% polypeptone, 0.5% yeast extract

Control glucose + 1% polypeptone, 0.5% yeast extract)

Parenchyma separating equipment

Parenchyma and vascular bundles

separated by the separator

Possible amount of ethanol and lactate produced from oil palm trunk

Heat

etc.

Fermentable sugars：16.8kg（core）39.7kg（middle）51.3kg（outer）

From one trunk

Solids（317kg）

Parenchyma（174kg）

Vascular bundles

（143kg）

Fermentable

sugars

（63.9kg）

Fermentable

sugars

（59.6kg）

Fermentable sugars

(107.8kg)

Ethanol 69.8L

41.4L

Diameter：38cm

Length：10m

sp. gr.：1.0

Sap

Lactate: 107.8kg

63.9kg

Characteristics and advantages of the OPT as the

resource for fuel ethanol and lactic acid production

• Large amounts of sap

• High sugar content

• Easily degradable

parenchyma

Promising feedstock for ethanol and lactic acid

• Constantly discharged waste

• Very large amount

• Available all year around

Potential： Malaysia (4.3M ha) 2.7M kL (1.7M kL ) ethanol /year

4.2M ton (2.6M ton) lactate /year

Indonesia (7.0M ha)* 4.4M kL (2.8M kL) ethanol /year

6.8M ton (4.3M) lactate /year