Greenhouse gas emissions of palm oil mills in Thailand

This research is aimed at developing a methodology for the calculation of greenhouse gas (GHG) for palm oil mills in Thailand. It was prepared by setting up a system boundary to cover palm oil mills with the wet extraction process for the evaluation of the cradle to gate process. The existing methodologies for calculation were reviewed to develop a Thai GHG calculation methodology. There were 14 palm oil mills participated in the assessment of GHG emitted at source and the collection of data in relation to GHG calculation. They accounted for 34.6% of total crude palm oil (CPO) production capacity in Thailand. The GHG emissions of the wet extraction process arose from the acquisition of raw material, the chemicals used, the energy used, transportation and wastewater management. The average GHG emission value of fourteen mills without allocation was 1198 kgCO(2)e/metric ton (MT) CPO. The major sources emitting GHG were from the cultivation and harvesting of fresh fruit bunches and the wastewater treatment system. The total CPO production in Thailand in the year 2009 by the wet extraction process emitted an approximate total of 1.62 million GHG metric tons of CO(2)e. The GHG emission values of CPO by energy allocation from the mills with biogas capture, the mills without biogas capture, the Thailand average, and the best observed scenarios were 750, 1087, 871 and 440 kgCO(2)e/MT CPO, respectively. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.