Case study_Indonesia_MM1_Biogas units generate pwer for palm mill oil0 pages

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Dresser-Rand Environmental Solutions

Biogas Units Generate
Power for Palm Oil Mill
Musim Mas I, Indonesia Case Study
Dresser-Rand supplies
biogas units to generate
power for Indonesian
Musim Mas (Pangkalan
Lesum).

The Opportunity
Greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction and energy cost savings are two issues of
increasing importance to businesses in a wide variety of sectors, including the palm
oil industry. The Musim Mas Group is taking steps to capture methane gas – a waste
gas that is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide – from its palm oil mills.
The palm oil mill effluent (POME), a thick, brownish liquid containing organic matters,
solids, oil, and grease, is a waste generated in the milling process. POME is harmful
to the environment if it is discharged untreated.
The conventional industry practice of processing
POME is to keep the waste liquid in open-air
treatment ponds subjected to anaerobic digestion.
This process can release large amounts of GHG,
particularly methane gas, into the atmosphere.
The biogas system solves this issue by capturing
the methane gas generated by the POME in the
pond. The pond is tightly sealed with a high-density
polyethylene material to capture the methane gas.
The methane gas is subsequently used to generate
electricity for the mills and estates as an alternative
fuel to diesel.

The Solution
In 2010, one of the palm oil mills in Pangkalan
Lesung (Pekanbaru, Riau Province) was fitted with
this methane capture facility to generate electricity.
The Musim Mas Group has approximately100,000
hectare of planted area (oil palm plantation) in
Sumatra and Kalimantan with eight palm oil mills.
The plant was built as part of a Clean Development
Mechanism project to use the POME to generate
biogas. All of the power supply for mill operation,
the biogas plant, estates, and the housing area
is generated in the mill through the use of steam
turbines and a Dresser-Rand Guascor® biogas
generator set. This ensures its independence from the
country’s power grid. The plant also consists of three
small diesel generator sets for emergency situations.