Utilization of oil palm as a source of renewable energy in Malaysia

Malaysia is currently the world's largest producer and exporter of palm oil. Malaysia produces about 47% of the world's supply of palm oil. Malaysia also accounts the highest percentage of global vegetable oils and fats trade in year 2005. Besides producing oils and fats, at present there is a continuous increasing interest concerning oil palm renewable energy. One of the major attentions is bio-diesel from palm oil. Bio-diesel implementation in Malaysia is important because of environmental protection and energy supply security reasons. This palm oil bio-diesel is biodegradable, non-toxic, and has significantly fewer emissions than petroleum-based diesel (petro-diesel) when burned. In addition to this oil, palm is also a well-known plant for its other sources of renewable energy, for example huge quantities of biomass by-products are developed to produce value added products such as methane gas, bio-plastic, organic acids, bio-compost, plywood, activated carbon, and animal feedstock. Even waste effluent; palm oil mill effluent (POME) has been converted to produce energy. Oil palm has created many opportunities and social benefits for the locals. In the above perspective, the objective of the present work is to give a concise and upto-date picture of the present status of oil palm industry enhancing sustainable and renewable energy. This work also aims to identify the prospects of Malaysian oil palm industry towards utilization of oil palm as a source of renewable energy. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.