Authors : A.B. Nasrin, N. Ravi, W.S. Lim, Y.M. Choo and A.M. Fadzil
Abstract: Cogeneration or combined heat and power is one of the proven economically approaches to produce >1 useful of energy simultaneously from the single energy source. Malaysia is fortunate to have plentiful supplies of biomass mainly from milling sector of the oil palm industry. Due to that biomass based cogeneration plant is used in palm oil mills in Malaysia to generate steam and electricity. In this study, the assessment of cogeneration plant efficiency was conducted in six palm oil mills with processing capacities ranged from 20-54 ton h-1. In addition to determining boiler, turbine and overall cogeneration plant efficiencies, the study also focused on developing the baseline data of energy utilization and generation in palm oil mills and estimated the potential excess energy from the available palm biomass generated in palm oil mills. It was found that most of the boilers and turbines used in palm oil mills have moderate efficiencies which were <80 and 35%, respectively, compared to conventional operational unit used in fossil based power plants. Besides that, most of the mills used excessive specific energy to generate steam and electricity compared to the optimum industrial designed data. In terms of the potential excess electricity, it was found that the potential excess electricity that could be generated for export ranged from 113 kW for the 20 ton h-1 mill to 900 kW for the 54 ton h-1 mills. The details of technical findings and potential economic benefits are discussed in this report. As the project is in line with the Government’s programme in promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency, millers should take this opportunity to operate the cogeneration plant in an energy efficient manner, earn additional income besides managing the waste in an environmental friendly approach.
A.B. Nasrin, N. Ravi, W.S. Lim, Y.M. Choo and A.M. Fadzil, 2011. Assessment of the Performance and Potential Export Renewable Energy (RE) From Typical Cogeneration Plants Used in Palm Oil Mills. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 6: 433-439.