Title: Clean Technology for Crude Palm Oil Industry in Thailand

Primary Researcher: Orathai Chavalparit
Email address: thaichavalparit@yahoo.com
Submitted on: March 15, 2005

Start date: 29 August 2001
End date: 28 August 2005

Introduction:

The crude palm oil industry plays an important role in the economic development of Thailand and in enhancing the economic welfare of the population. Palm oil shares 70% of the Thai vegetable oil market, and is estimated to be worth Bath 40,000 million Baht per annum. The average annual growth rate during the last decade was 15%. In 2003, the production of palm oil was estimated to be 680 thousand tons. It is estimated that in 2006 the national consumption will be up to 718 thousand tons. In 2003 there were 25 wet-process crude palm oil factories in Thailand, producing about 0.7 million ton of crude palm oil from 4 million ton of fresh fruit bunches (FFB). Despite obvious benefits of this industrial development, it also significantly contributes to environmental degradation, both at the input and the output sides of its activities. They generate many by-products and wastewater, which may have a significant impact on the environment if they are not managed properly.

Palm oil production generates large amounts of process residues such as fibers (6.0x105ton/year), shells (2x105ton/year), and empty fruit bunches (9.0x105ton/year). A large fraction of the fibers and much of the shells are utilized as fuel to generate process steam and electricity in the palm processing mill itself. However, much is also wasted by dumping in areas adjacent to the mill, or utilized as a fertilizer in the palm oil plantation.Fortunately, there is much room for improving the environmental performance of Thai crude palm oil industry. Environmental friendly approaches, such as clean technology and industrial ecology, can remedy and minimize environmental problems caused by oil palm production. In spite of these obvious benefits, many mills are faced with various constraints in implementing clean technology options and waste exchange.

Aim:

The aim of this study is to assess the potential contribution of clean(er) technology to improve environmental performance of crude palm oil industry in Thailand, to analyze implementation barriers for cleaner production and to generate ideas for moving Thai crude palm.

Research:

Three main research questions are concerned with this study. Firstly, how to apply clean technology and an industrial ecology concept at the factory level to ensure a more sustainable industrial development in the Thai crude palm oil industry? The second question is which actors, factors and barrier are crucial or potentially crucial for introduce of clean technology and waste exchange in crude palm oil mill in practice? Finally, what should be done to improving the environmental reform of Thai crude palm oil industry by learning from Malaysia’s experience with a special focus on research and development on clean technology and waste exchange?

The objectives and research questions reveal that this study seeks to find out how to improve the environmental performance of crude palm oil industry by identifying clean technologies and the theoretical and practical assessment of these technologies and to analyze and access the possibilities and the potential for improving the environmental performance of crude palm oil industry in Thailand, based on the combination and integration of existing clean technology and industrial ecology approach. For this, case study research offers the most relevant methodology. Within the case study, the issues to be concerned are to evaluate the environmental performance of existing production processes in Thailand, to identify cleaner technology options, to assess the feasibility of cleaner production and waste exchange application in Thailand, to analyze the implementation barriers for Cleaner Production and to develop strategies to overcome these barriers. The detailed research methods applied are the study of relevant policy documents and statistics; a secondary analysis of existing studies on cleaner technology, impact assessments, and environmental performance in crude palm oil; interviews with relevant key informants in the economic, policy and social networks surrounding the case study enterprises; and a review of best international experiences in crude palm oil processing, with a special focus on Malaysia. The methodology of this study can be divided into 4 main parts:

- Literature review. Secondary data collection and case study collection
- Cleaner production methodology
- Actor network analysis
- Generating ideas for improving the environmental reform of crude palm oil industry in Thailand by learning from Malaysia’s experiences.

Funding via University

Yes