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Cogeneration potential in the Columbian palm oil industry: Three case studies
F.R.P. Arrieta, F.N. Teixeiraa, E. Yanezb, E. Loraa,, E. Castilloc
a

/Excellence Group in Thermal and Distributed Generation. Av. BPS 1303, Cp 50 Itajuba -MG, Brazil Federal University of Itajuba b CENIPALMA, Colombia c UIS, Colombia Received 5 July 2006; received in revised form 24 November 2006; accepted 17 January 2007

Abstract The palm oil mills are characterized by the availability of considerable amounts of by-products of high-energy value such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), bers, shells and liquid efuents with high content of organics called palm oil mill efuent (POME). A palm oil mill produces residues equivalent to almost three times the amount of oil produced by biomass, showing a huge potential for increasing the power efciency of the plants and installed power, mainly by the use of by-products in cogeneration plants with high steam parameters and by reducing steam consumption in process. The objective of this paper is to present the results of the study about the cogeneration potential for three representative palm oil mills located in two important palm oil producing regions in Colombia (South-America), fth palm oil producers of the world. The sizing of the cogeneration system was made assuming it operation during the greatest possible number of hours throughout the year (based on the seasonal availability of fruit) considering parameters for the steam at 2 MPa and 350 1C, using a condensing-extraction turbine. The balance of mass and energy was made by using the Gate Cycle Enter Software, version 5.51, to estimate the potential of electricity generation. The results showed that for fresh fruit bunch (FFB) processing capacities between 18 and 60 t FFB h1, it is possible to have surplus power ranging between 1 and 7 MW, if the plants are self-sufcient in electric energy and steam for process. With an average Capacity Factor (approximately 0.4), it is possible to expect a generation index of 75 and 160 kWh t1 FFB when the processing plant is operating or shutdown, respectively, 3 or 4 times better than when a traditional system with a back-pressure steam turbines is used. This analysis used up to 60% of EFB produced in plant as fuel, considering its value as fertilizer for the palm crop. Several economic conditions were considered to estimate the economic and technical feasibility of cogeneration systems in palm oil mill for Colombian palm oil sector. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Combined heat and power; Elaeis guinnensis; Biomass

1. Introduction Palm oil, soybean, colza and sunower are the most commonly used vegetable oils throughout the world. The worldwide palm oil production is 30.45 Mt. The greatest producers are Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Thailand and Colombia. With an actual productive area of 1610 km2, Colombia produces 3.24 Mt of fresh fruit bunches (FFB), 672.597 kt of raw palm oil, 158.172 kt of kernel and 63.726 kt of palm kernel oil [1]. It has 51 palm oil mills
Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 35 3629 1355.

around the country, and the average productivity is 4 t ha1 y1. The palm oil mills are characterized by:

 

E-mail addresses: edgar.yanez@cenipalma.org (E. Yanez), electo@unifei.edu.br (E. Lora). 0961-9534/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2007.01.016

A consumption of electricity evaluated to range between 17 and 38 kWh t1 FFB for Malaysia [2] 20 and 25 kWh t1 FFB for Thailand [3] and a steam consumption of 550750 kg ton-FFB1 [2]. Average heat to power relation of 17.9 [2]. The availability of considerable amounts of by-products of high energy value such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), bers, shells and liquid efuents with high content of organics called palm oil mill efuent (POME). A palm oil mill produces residues equivalent to almost three times the amount of oil produced by biomass.

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A huge potential for increasing the power efciency of the plants, mainly by increasing steam parameters and the installed power in cogeneration plants and reducing steam consumption in process. Possibility of generating biogas from the anaerobic treatment of the liquid efuents of the process and its conversion into electricity by using internal combustion engines or micro-turbines. According to Yeoh [4] the average specic yield of efuents in the palm oil industry of Malaysia is 2.6 m3 t1 of oil, with an average BOD 25 g l1, and an specic production of methane ranging from 0.47 to 0.92 m3 kg1 BOD (depending on the temperature). This methane has a caloric value of 34.5 MJ m3, which could be used for electricity generation with a consumption of 0.50 m3 kWh1 based in generating units using natural gas [4]. Possibility of generating electricity in isolated regions.

 

Lack of tradition in the sector regarding self-generation and energy commercialization, Lack of legal base, incentive programs and attractive prices of electricity commercialization for the countrys independent producers.

Based on the analyzed literature, it is possible to generalize some indicators for the cogeneration systems in the palm oil industry:

 

A crop comprising 100 km2 can correspond to an installed power of 511 MW in the palm oil mill, depending on the type and parameters of the cogeneration system and residue availability; Main proposals regarding cogeneration plant improvement are the substitution of back-pressure steam turbines for condensationextraction ones (which increase the installed electric power by approximately 60%) and also the boilers efciency, which at the moment have an average value of 73% LCV based [2]. The specic investment of the cogeneration plant of 1.2 MW of power with a back-pressure turbine and a boiler of 35 t h1 with 2.3 MPa of steam pressure is about 580 US$ kW1 with an investment recovery time of 3.7 years [5]. Power installed in modern palm oil mills ranges between 5 and 15 MW with 4.2 MPa and 360 1C of steam parameters. Although a plant of 44 MW with steam parameters of 6.2 MPa and 482 1C is being proposed [6]; Electricity generation potential is 90132 kWh t1, FFB depending on the system operating pressure [7]; Uncertainty in relation to use of EFB as fertilizer and apparently problems during its combustion in boilers because of its moisture and alkali content.

However, the increase in the price of electricity and fuel costs over the past years, as well as the strong competition in the international palm oil market, had forced the search for reduction in the production costs, the possibility of implementing the production of biodiesel and the commercialization of carbon credits. These reasons have led the palm oil industry a renewed interest in cogeneration. The participation of FFB processing in oil production costs is approximately 16% that is 25% greater than the same index for Malaysia. The greatest cost when FFB is processed comes from the energy, representing 33% of the variable costs in the process [1]. A preliminary study has established the possibility of a 25% reduction in variable production costs by the implementation of cogeneration systems in the mills. The objective of this paper is to present the cogeneration potential for three representative palm oil mills located in two important Palm

In the Colombian palm sector, cogeneration is not very widespread as a result of:

 

A traditional productive process characterized by high and irregular steam consumption (semi-continuous process due to batch FFB sterilization), Low capacity factor in the mills for some months of the year, and within the periods of low FFB availability just a few hours a day;

Fig. 1. Location of Columbian palm oil mills.

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oil producing regions in Colombia (Fig. 1): one in the Eastern region, located at 5190 3400 N, 72140 0.200 W (Plant A), and two in the Central region located at 71530 800 N, 731270 5900 W (Plant B) and 71420 2100 N, 731230 1900 W (Plant C). The data collecting and their processing were made by a team of specialists of the Excellence Group in Thermal and Distributed GenerationNEST of the Federal University of ItajubaUNIFEI (Brazil), the Research Center of the Oil Palm sectorCENIPALMA of Colombia and the Center for Environmental Studies and ResearchCEIAM of the Industrial University of Santander-UIS (Colombia). 1.1. Characterization of by-products (biomass) in the palm oil mills Table 1 shows the data on the availability of byproducts, according to different authors, expressed in percentage of each ton of FFB. The caloric value of the biomass is: ber 18.6 MJ kg1; shells 20.8 MJ kg1; and EFB with 50% of moisture 8.16 MJ kg1. The amount of biogas generated by each ton of FFB is assumed as 19.6 m3 and its caloric value 22.9 MJ m3 [8]. 2. Methodology The main objective of the thermal measurements is the collection of the necessary data for the technical and economic feasibility studies. Two stages were evaluated: the rst considered the current capacity of the mills, and the second anticipated a future expansion. The data collected for cogeneration modeling were: 1. For the processes: fruit sterilization; oil extraction, nut recovery, oil clarication, and storage:  Steam pressure, temperature and ow in each process input;  Pressure, temperature, condensed recoverable ow (which could return to the boiler), non-recoverable ow and boiler replacement water ow. 2. For the cogeneration power station:  Consumption of electricity in kWh t1 of processed FFB;  Purchase and sale price of electricity $ kWh1;  For each fuel: availability and seasonal variation along the year, low caloric value, elementary and immediate analysis;
Table 1 Availability of biomass residues and efuents in palm oil mills References Fresh fruit bunch (t-FFB ha1 year1) 20.08 10.0 1822a Empty fruit bunch (% FFB) 22 2030 17.726.1

    

Total consumption of water in t h1; Price of water in $ m3; Amount of efuents of the process, kg t1 FFB; If a biogas plant was already installed, the production in m3 h1 and the composition of the gas was measured; Summary of the processes with productive diagrams and mass and energy balance, including the plants facilities (for the production of energy for the process) and the production of biogas (in case it exists). The feasibility study included the following sections (Fig. 2):

 

    

Analysis of the heat and electric demands; Analysis of the energy cost in the present situation. In the case of an isolated plant with its own generation using diesel engines, it is necessary to evaluate the fuel consumption; Analysis of alternatives. Different power levels were evaluated and also different types of technologies according to the cases; Simulation of each alternative. Determination of the obtained net savings; Estimation of the investments required in each alternative; Analysis of the economic and nancial feasibility; Sensitivity analysis.

The cogeneration is thermodynamically very interesting and technically feasible. In many cases, it is also economically attractive and offers important reductions in the annual purchase of energy and therefore in the production costs. The characteristics and main parameters of the three studied mills are presented in Table 2. In general the cogeneration systems proposed for the three plants have the following characteristics in common:

 

The system is designed to operate in thermal parity, which means it will follow the curve of heat demand; The sizing of the system was made assuming its operation during the greatest possible number of hours throughout the year (based on the seasonal availability of fruit), which includes the storage of biomass for the

Fiber (% FFB)

Shell (% FFB)

Liquid efuent (POME) (% FFB) 67 87 7080

[8] Malaysia [9] Thailand [10] and [11], Colombia 2001

a

13.5 1213 11.615

5.5 6.87.4 57

Average value with a high level of technology 2832 t ha1 for a crop period ranging from 5 to 6 years.

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Fig. 2. Stages of economic and technical analysis in a cogeneration project [12]. Table 2 Characteristics and parameters of the three evaluated plants Palm oil mills A Brief description of the energy supply facilities Current processing capacity (t-FFB h1) Future processing capacity (t-FFB h1) Equivalent processing, t-FFB h1Nominal capacity indexa Fruit availabilityb (%Max%Min) Biomass mass balance (%FFB) Fiber Shells EFB Available biomass percentage use (%) Fiber Shell EFB Biogas Cogeneration plant is already operating Connection with the electric grid
a b

B Purchase all electricity from the grid 20 25 13.790.69 155 13.50 3.50 24.00 100 100 50 100 No Yes

C Electricity from the grid and a low efciency cogeneration 60 60 29.730.50 144 13.28 3.23 23.40 100 100 70 100 Yes Yes

Isolated system using diesel and biogas in engines 18 30 11.900.66 127 13.75 5.00 20.26 100 100 50 100 No No

Capacity factor expressed as: current processing capacity/equivalent processing. Percentage expressed as: monthly processed fruit vs. annual processed fruit.

months with low production of fruit. It is possible, then, to assume an average capacity of processing, which corresponds to the indicator of Table 2 equivalent processing, expressed in t FFB h1; Steam cycle was chosen as the cogeneration technology. This was due to the use of solid fuels (biomass residues),

the use of the heat energy as steam and nally due to a wide dissemination of the steam generating technology in processing plants; The steam parameters were 2 MPa and 350 1C. The design efciency of the proposed boilers was of 85%. Fig. 3 shows a scheme of the boiler studied using the

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software SBCSteam Boiler Calculations described in [13]. In order to use high steam parameters, considerable modications in the process are required such as the reduction in the specic consumption of steam and its variability according to the time, increase in the capacity factor of the plant, etc; It was decided to use a condensingextraction turbine and a system for process steam generation including: a pump, a reducing valve of pressure and a heat exchanger; The use of an air cooled condenser was chosen considering low water availability; The existence of a steam generation auxiliary system; It is assumed that only 50% of the EFB is being consumed at plants A and B and 70% at plant C, according to Table 2. During the economic analysis the cost regarding the substitution of the EFB by fertilizers was considered. This consideration was based on the limits established by the crop due to the use of EFB as fertilization complement and for soil improvement. However, Ravi [14] showed that the use of EFB as fuel for the generation of electric energy offers a superior economic return, almost 3.5 times, in comparison with its use on the eld.

  

information, which is 0.06 USD$kWh1, and operation and maintenance costs for a biogas plant is 682 USD$ month1 using real costs of plant A. For economic analysis, plant lifetime was assumed to be 20 years, whereas a presumed built-up schedule not was considered. Debt interest rate was assumed 15% a1. The net present value was estimated considering cash ows over nancing charges and then the IRR calculated. The IRR is dened as the discount rate that results in a net present value of zero, and is usually interpreted as the expected return generated by the investment. All estimated costs for the economical analysis are expressed in 2005 dollars.

3. Results 3.1. Power and economic evaluation for each studied case Table 3 shows the results of the cogeneration potential for all cases and also the variants, with and without cogeneration. In case C: In variant I (actual capacity), the complete substitution of the present power plant by a new one is considered. In variant II (future capacity) only the substitution of the present steam turbines, as a result of their degradation, is considered. First, it must be emphasized that in all the cases the investment costs included not only the equipment cost for steam generation and electricity, but also the costs regarding control systems, assembly and electrical supervision of the plant and the substations, civil works, connection to the grid and so on, all of these under international price standards therefore the economic analysis is in real terms. Case A, in spite of being the palm oil mill presenting the smallest processing capacity among the cases that were studied, showed the best economic indicators for the internal return rate (IRR), with 30%. It is also important to mention that these gures can be improved to 42% when its capacity increases by up to 30 t-FFB h1. Fig. 5 show the sensitivity analysis of the project in relation to the investment costs and the electricity sale price variation. These results are obtained mainly according to the plants capacity factor, the regular distribution of the fruit production during the year and the high costs of generation using the diesel engine. In relation to Case B, in spite of having a capacity slightly superior than plant A, indicators are not very favorable, and they are negatively affected by the irregular distribution of the fruit production and mainly by its low capacity factor. Economical analysis outlined for a 10% reduction in the investment costs and an increase in the sale price of the electric energy ranging about 50% offer a IRR of 20%. Case C could only display results similar to those presented by Case A if a new and complete cogeneration system were implemented, so as to attain a global efciency in the generation of electric energy, much higher than the

The thermal cycle used to calculate the balance of mass and energy in Fig. 4, was made by using the GateCycleTM Enter Software, version 5.51 [15]. 2.1. Data assumed during economic calculations

Operation and maintenance data for cogeneration systems are related to total cost using suppliers

Fig. 3. Scheme of the proposed boiler.

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Fig. 4. Thermal scheme of the cogeneration power station of plant A.

Table 3 Results of the energy evaluation of cogeneration for all cases Item FFB processing Cogeneration plant operation Gross electric power Net electric power Auxiliary equipment Cogeneration heat Electricity generation Efciency (LCV Base) Electricity Generation Heat Rate (LCV Base) Heat Generation Efciency (LCV Base) Efciency of Heat and electricity Cogeneration (LCV Base) Processing Time per year-Cogeneration plant Utilization Factor-Cogeneration plant Unit t-FFB Plant A 18 Yes 1530 1484 46 7207 12.13 29.67 58.92 71.06 6449 74 Not 3012 2966 46 0 24.25 1485 0.0 24.25 6449 74 30 Yes 2936 2858 78 10811 14.02 25.68 53.03 67.05 6450 74 Not 5114 5035 78 0 24.70 14.57 0.0 24.70 6450 74 Plant B 25 Yes 1834 1768 66 9008 10.32 34.90 52.55 62.87 5394 62 Not 3986 3920 66 0 22.87 15.74 0.00 22.87 5394 62 Plant C I-60 Yes 1974 1853 120 21621 5.76 62.54 67.14 72.89 5385 61 Not 7818 7698 120 0 23.90 15.06 0.00 23.90 5385 61 II-60 Yes 959 913 46 21625 3.03 56.14 71.73 74.76 3895 44 Not 2445 2421 24 0 20.07 21.18 0.00 20.07 3895 44

KW KW KW KW % MJ kWh1 % % h year1 %

present one. Plant C is favored by the high amount of processed fruit and by the electric energy sale prices. 3.2. Energy indicators The indicators that will be shown in Table 4, are a product of the analysis of the results obtained for the different case studies. It was not possible to establish a coherent relation between the Generation Index (kWh t-FFB1) and the processing capacity of the analyzed palm oil mills due to the differences between the availability of

fruit and its distribution throughout the year. For this reason the Capacity Factor (CF) for each of the plants was determined, which indicates the usage percentage (or fraction of time) of the installed processing capacity (see Fig. 6). Fig. 6 shows the relation between the Capacity Factor and the Generation Index. Fig. 7 presents a summary of the average indicators of income and products that are expected for the palm oil mills with cogeneration and surplus electric energy sale. The Generation Index of 31 kWh t FFB1 shown in Fig. 6 for plant C is explained by the fact that it has a high

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demand of heat and the cogeneration plant was designed based on a fuel availability that does not correspond to the installed processing capacity of 60 t FFB h1. It is possible to conclude, therefore, that this generation index value is not the typical one for plant C, which will have a higher value when the annual distribution of fruit meets the demand of the nominal capacity of the plant. With an average Capacity Factor (approximately 0.4), it is possible to expect a generation index of 75 and 160 kWh t FFB1 when the processing plant is operating or shutdown, respectively. According to previous studies carried out by CENIPALMA the average generation index in the Colombian palm oil mills ranges about 20 kWh t FFB1. The valuations that were carried out regarding the three studied plants show that the generation index can reach values up to 7080 kWh t FFB1 when a cogeneration plant with condensing-extraction steam turbines and 2.0 MPa steam parameters is installed. This performance fares 3 or 4 times better than when a traditional system with a back-pressure steam turbines is used. Taking all the variants analyzed into account it was observed that todays conditions do not present economic feasibility. However, it was possible to observe that with a specic investment cost ranging about 690850 US$ kW1 (average value considered for the three analyzed cases) it is feasible to develop the cogeneration project if the electricity

commercialization prices range about 0.110.16 US$ kWh1, taking the existing exchange ($2.200,00 per USD) and 15% interest rates into account at the time this study was accomplished. It is important to mention that the advantage of the palm oil mills that have greater fruit processing capacity is the possibility of installing cogeneration systems with higher steam parameters, which will considerably increase the generation of electricity. 3.3. Opportunities and limitations of the cogeneration in the Columbian palm oil sector The opportunities of the cogeneration in the palm oil sector in Colombia are given by:

       

Residual fuel availability of the oil extraction process; Location of some mills in isolated regions, allowing the electrication of these areas; Constant increase in the cost of electricity and diesel fuel; Business diversication; Possibility of reducing the variable costs of oil production by 25%; Possibility of commercializing carbon credits; Possibility of using governmental incentives to co-nance the investment in the cogeneration plant; Possibility of increasing the power efciency of the process.

Fig. 5. Sensitivity of the investment cost and the electricity sale price regarding the IRR for case A (processing capacity of 18 t-FFB h1).

Fig. 6. Relation between the Generation Index and the Capacity Factor.

Table 4 Indicators of the plants with cogeneration facilities Palm oil mill Capacity (tFFB h1) Capacity factor Generation index (kWh t-FFB1) Specic installed capacity kW installed (t-FFB h1)1 Nominala Realb Specic cost (US$ kW1)

Palm oil mill FFB processing A B C

a b

Palm oil mill FFB no-processing 165 157 128

18 25 60

0.49 0.40 0.37

82 71 31

165 157 128

333 396 350

1018 688 849

Based on the nominal processing capacity. Based on the real processing capacity.

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Fig. 7. Power indicators of income and product in the palm oil mill with cogeneration and sale of electric energy surplus.

The obstacles against cogeneration in the palm oil sector in Colombia are given by:

     

Current electricity low sale price; Lack of regulatory legislation for energy commercialization; High cost of grid interconnection; Agricultural use of empty fruit bunch (technically it can be replaced by fertilizers); Low water availability for the condenser cooling; Relatively high investment in the cogeneration project, which leads to the need for economic incentives such as special electricity purchase prices by the electric companies or tax reduction (considering the cost avoided with the increase in the generation capacity).

4. Conclusions


The main conclusions that were drawn from the economictechnical study of the opportunities of cogeneration in the oil palm sector in Colombia, based on the three analyzed case studies are

 

In all the analyzed cases, the biomass available in the plants not only guarantees the power demands of the process, but also allow to generate surplus electricity; For fruit processing capacities between 18 and 60 t FFB h1, it is possible to have surplus power ranging between 1 and 7 MW, being the plants selfsufcient in electric energy and steam for process. This for 2 MPa and 350 1C of steam parameters; These amounts of cogenerated electric energy are available between 60% and 70% of the annual time, representing an increase in the availability of energy that is 50% higher than in todays systems; This analysis used up to 60% of EFB produced in plant as fuel, considering its value as fertilizer for the palm crop;

 

The system proposed uses condensing-extraction steam turbines, so it has a greater operational exibility at the same time it guarantees the thermal and electric demands of the process. It also results in the achievement of a considerable amount of surplus electricity; The variables of greater impact on the feasibility of cogeneration projects are: investment costs, electricity tariffs, variability in the amount of available biomass, exchange rate and interest rate; For all the analyzed cases within the present conditions, the economic feasibility was not reached. However, it was observed that with specic investment costs of about 690850 US$ kW1 (according to the capacity) it is possible to develop the cogeneration project if the electricity tariff and the price of commercialization of the surplus electricity range between USD$ 0.11 and USD$ 0.16 kW h1, according the exchange and interest rates at this study was accomplished (May of 2005); In Colombia it is possible to observe the tendency towards the constant increase in electricity tariffs. However, within a period of approximately three years it could be possible to reach the levels of tariffs and prices mentioned previously, and that would allow the attainment of economical feasibility in cogeneration in the palm sector; According to the aforementioned conditions it is possible to achieve recovery time values ranging about four years; The implementation of incentive programs regarding cogeneration projects in the palm sector is mandatory. They should include: long term contracts that guarantee the purchase of, differentiated tariffs regarding the commercialization of the surplus electricity; and reduction of import customs duties for generation equipment.

Acknowledgments The authors are very grateful to CENIPALMA and the palm oil mills for providing all the information, so that this study could be carried out.

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