(438b) Thermo-Economic Analysis of a Novel Conceptual Process Model for Sustainable Power Plants Using Empty Fruit Bunches

Empty Fruit Bunch waste generation rate from the oil palm industry in Malaysia reaches up to 280,000 tons per year. Large amount of oil palm wastes available spell biomass energy potential. Although the more common methods in managing oil palm wastes are incineration, anaerobic decomposition and fast pyrolysis, to be able to manage wastes while generating sufficient power and being free of carbon footprint is a challenge. This paper has its’ focus set on utilizing empty fruit bunch (EFB) from oil palm because 23% of palm wastes are made up of EFB. A technology that can convert waste into energy while at the same time able to recover water from the biomass waste is an entirely new notion. The main concept here is that the high water content in EFB be extracted for steam generation. Steam generated coupled with flue gas produced from incineration of biomass wastes will then both lead to power generation, thus creating a sustainable EFB waste management system with production of useful side-products. With a novel incinerator cum boiler design and utilization of steam turbine, the proposed biomass waste management and power generation system is actually self-sustainable and capable of power export of up to 10MW with an additional 2.5MW reserved for auxiliary purposes. Along with economic analysis and simulation using HYSYS, the plant has proven its functional, environmental and economic feasibility; based on Malaysian data as reference.