Innovation in the Malaysian Waste-to-Energy Sector: Applications with Global Potential

Electricity Journal

Volumn 24, Issue 5, 2011, Pages 29-41

  Sovacool, Benjamin K ^a   Drupady, Ira Martina ^a  

^a NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE   (Singapore)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EFFLUENTS; PALM OIL;

ELECTRICITY-GENERATION; EMPTY FRUIT BUNCHES; ENERGY SECTOR; LANDFILL GAS; MALAYSIA; MALAYSIANS; PALM OIL MILL EFFLUENTS; USABLE ENERGY; WASTE TO ENERGY;

WASTE INCINERATION;

EID: 79959499941     PISSN: 10406190     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.tej.2011.05.004     Document Type: Article

References (27)

1. K.Y. Foo and B.H. Hameed2010Insight into the Applications of Palm Oil Mill Effluent: A Renewable Utilization of the Industrial Agricultural Waste, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews 14: 1445-1452; and Man Kee Lam and Keat Teong Lee, Renewable and Sustainable Bioenergies Production from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME): Win-Win Strategies toward Better Environmental Protection, Biotechnology Advances 292011124-141
2. Khazanah NasionalOpportunities and Risks Arising from Climate Change for Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, March2010
3. POME is an acidic, thick, brownish, viscous liquid composed of about 95 percent water, 4 percent suspended solids, and 1 percent oil. About 0.65 tons of raw POME is created for every ton of FFB processed at a typical mill. Such a substantial amount of POME is generated during the milling process because large amounts of water are required to steam, wash, and sterilize palm oil fruit, as well as heat and crack palm nuts. POME is not suitable for rivers and water sources, however, because it has an extremely high chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand content, so much that the POME discharged by the Malaysian palm oil industry in 2005 was equivalent to the waste generated by 75 million people. See Lam and Lee, supra note 2; Foo and Hameed, supra note 2; and T.Y. Wu, A.W. Mohammad, J. Md. Jahim and N. Anuar, Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Treatment and Bioresources Recovery Using Ultrafiltration Membrane: Effect of Pressure on Membrane Fouling, Biochemical Eng'g. J. 352007309-17
4. National Solid Waste Management, Strategies and Roadmap toward GHG Emission Reduction by Waste Sector, Presentation to United Nations Centre for Regional Development Second Meeting of the Regional 3R Forum in Asia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct.4-62010
5. The data for these case studies comes primarily from research interviews and field research. This research is part of a larger ongoing project evaluating the Small Renewable Energy Program in Malaysia. Because a dearth of information has been published on the SREP so far, we collected data primarily through 89 research interviews conducted at 38 institutions in the four provinces of Kedah, Johor, Sarawak, and Selangor over the course of July 2010 to February Institutions visited included Bell Palm Industries Sdn. Bhd., the Economic Planning Unit at the Prime Minister's Department, the Forest Research Institute Malaysia Kub-Berjaya Enviro Sdn. Bhd., Malaysian Energy Commission, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Petronas, Recycle Energy Sdn. Bhd., Renewable Energy Research Centre (SIRIM) Berhad, Renewable Power Sdn. Bhd., Sarawak Electricity Supply Company, Sarawak Energy Berhad, Sime Darby, and Tenaga Nasional Berhad. It was mutually agreed at the start of these interviews that data from them would be presented anonymously to protect confidentiality, and also because individuals were speaking on their own behalf and not officially on behalf of their institutions2011
6. Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety, Waste Incineration: A Potential Danger? (Berlin: BMU, Sept.2005
7. For example, a 1996 study in the United Kingdom of 14 million people living within 7.5 kilometers of 72 municipal incinerators noted that these people have an increased likelihood of contracting several different forms of cancer. Three municipal incinerators in France were closed in 1998 because milk from cows on nearby dairy farms was shown to be polluted with high levels of dioxins. In 1997, Japanese scientists noted that the rate of infant mortality in neighborhoods near incinerators were 40 percent to 70 percent higher than the national average. See Citizens' Clearinghouse on Waste Management, Overview of Municipal Waste Incineration (Ontario, Canada: CCWM, 2003) for more on these studies1998
8. BMU supra note 8
9. One recent meta-survey of the epidemiological research looking at the potential health effects of waste incineration found many studies that reported no significant effects on respiratory symptoms, pulmonary function, twinning, cleft lip and palate, lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, or esophageal cancer. The study calls for more rigorous hypothesis-testing to investigate the potential health effects of waste incineration on incinerator workers and community residents before conclusion can be reached. See Suh-Woan Hu and Carl M. Shy, Health Effects of Waste Incineration: A Review of Epidemiologic Studies, J. Air & Waste Mgmt. Assn. 5120011100-1109
10. For more on the details of the SREP, readers are invited to sample Hassan Ibrahim, Small Renewable Energy Power Program for the Promotion of Renewable Energy Power Generation, Presentation to First Meeting of ASEM Green IPPs Network, Bangkok, Oct. 24-25, 2002; Mok Poh Koh and Hoi Why Kong, Renewable Energy in Malaysia: A Policy Analysis, Energy for Sustainable Development 6(3) (Sept. 2002), at 31-39; Xavier Jacob Francis, Development of Small Renewable Energy Program, Proceedings of Seminar on Energy from Biomass200697-104
11. Chin Haw Lim, Elias Salleh, and Philip JonesRenewable Energy Policy and Initiatives in Malaysia, Int'l. J. on Sustainable Tropical Design Research & Practice 1 (1) (Dec200633-40
12. Zamzam JaafarWong Hwee Kheng and Norhayati Kamaruddin, Greener Energy Solutions for a Sustainable Future: Issues and Challenges for Malaysia, Energy Policy 31 (2003), at 1061-1072; Chung Lau Lee, Kok Tat Tan, Keat Teong Lee and Abdul Rahman Mohamad, A Comparative Study on the Energy Policies in Japan and Malaysia in Fulfilling Their Nations' Obligations Toward the Kyoto Protocol, Energy Policy 37 (2009), at 4771-4778; and Tick Hui Oh, Shen Yee Pang and Shing Chyli Chua, Energy Policy and Alternative Energy in Malaysia: Issues and Challenges for Sustainable Growth, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 1420101241-1252
13. Angela NevilleTop PlantKajang Waste-to-Energy Plant, Semenyih, Malaysia, Power (Dec2010http://www.powermag.com/renewables/waste_to_energy/Top-Plant-Kajang-Waste-to-Energy-Plant-Semenyih-Malaysia_3225.html
14. National Solid Waste Management, Strategies and Roadmap toward GHG Emission Reduction by Waste Sector, United Nations Centre for Regional Development, Second Meeting of Regional 3R Forum in Asia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Oct4-62010
15. Patrick SullivanThe Importance of Landfill Gas Capture and Utilization in the United States (New York: Earth Engineering Center, Columbia Univ., April 62010
16. Sumiani YusoffRenewable Energy from Palm Oil e Innovation on Effective Utilization of Waste, J. Cleaner Production 14200687-93
17. Abdul Rahman Mohamed and Keat Teong Lee, Energy for Sustainable Development in Malaysia: Energy Policy and Alternative Energy, Energy Policy 3420062388-2397
18. Yusoff supra note 16.
19. Marilyn A Brown and Benjamin K. SovacoolA Tale of Five Challenges, Ch. 2 in Climate Change and Global Energy Security: Technology and Policy Options (Cambridge: MIT Press2011
20. Bernt JohnkeEmissions from Waste Incineration, in Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (Geneva: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change2004455-468
21. Gary CrawfordLandfill Gas Capture and Utilization Projects (Washington, DC: World Bank Carbon Finance Unit, April 92008
22. Gary CrawfordLandfill Gas Capture and Utilization Projects (Washington, DC: World Bank Carbon Finance Unit, April 92008
23. Nickolas J. Themelis and Priscilla A. UlloaMethane Generation in Landfills, Renewable Energy 32 (7) (June20071243-1257
24. Patrick SullivanThe Importance of Landfill Gas Capture and Utilization in the United States (New York: Earth Engineering Center, Columbia University, April 62010
25. Seungdo Kim and Bruce E. DaleGlobal Potential Bioethanol Production from Wasted Crops and Crop Residues, Biomass and Bioenergy 262004361-375
26. Oak Ridge National Laboratory and U.S. Department of Energy, Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply, DOE/GO-102995-21352005
27. Brown and Sovacool, supra note 19. 22