Page 111 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

Life Cycle Assessment of Biodiesel from Palm Oil 97
Table 1 Palm oil and palm biodiesel industries in major oil palm producing countries of the
world
Country Oil palm Number of Number of Number of palm Number of palm oil
plantation, palm oil CPO kernel oil crushing biodiesel production
million ha mills refineries units plants
Indonesia 6.170 405 32 21 –
Malaysia 4.890 416 57 46 25
Thailand 0.512 70 12 – 15
Nigeria 0.385 21 9 4 –
Colombia 0.209 7 – – 6
Others 0.754 – – – –
Total 12.900 – – – 81
Source MPOB (2010)

coconut, 12 times more than soybean oil yield, and seven times more than that for
rapeseed (Schmidt 2007; Bockish 1998). Also, the per-unit production cost of
palm oil is much lower compared to soybean oil which is 20 % higher. This makes
it a better vegetable oil for biodiesel production.
Palm oil currently is the second largest edible oil source (after soybean oil)
which forms approximately 34 % of the global oil supply (Schmidt 2007). In 2009,
both palm oil and palm kernel oil accounted for 5 % of the total cultivated land for
vegetable oil production globally. In 2010, the global palm oil production was
47.9 million tonnes of which 11 % were used for biodiesel production. For the
production in 2010, Malaysia and Indonesia together contributed about 87 % of
the total palm oil produced in the world with about 19.5 and 22.5 million tonnes,
respectively (MPOB 2010). Projections for 2012 palm oil production growth in
Malaysia and Indonesia indicate expansion of about 3.5 million tonnes. Though
Malaysia has only about 12.5 % of its total landmass (i.e., 32 million hectares)
under oil palm plantation (GOFBM 2009), it has been recognized as the world’s
largest producer of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) contributing over 50 %
of total CSPO production (RSPO report 2011). Nigeria (who was the largest
exporter of palm oil in 1934 but overtaken by Malaysia in 1966) remains the
largest producer of palm oil in Africa and the world’s fourth leading producer in
2010 with a total oil palm landmass of about 385, 000 hectares (RSPO report
2011). Other palm oil-exporting countries include Thailand, Colombia, Ecuador,
Papua New Guinea, Ivory Coast, Brazil. Table 1 shows the number of palm oil and
biodiesel industries in 2010 in major palm oil-producing countries of the world.
These figures keep increasing from year to year thus needed to assess their
environmental impacts and suggest measures for improvement.
In 2007, global biodiesel produced from palm oil recorded the highest pro-
duction capacity of about 38 million tonnes followed by soy oil biodiesel
(36 million tonnes), rapeseed oil biodiesel (16 million tonnes), and sunflower oil
biodiesel (10 million tonnes). Presently, these capacities have increased still with
palm oil biodiesel leading at 44 million tonnes (Biodiesel 2020). Figure 1 shows
the production of biodiesel from palm oil in comparison with other seed oils