special study1

8/9/2019 Special Study1

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POTENTIAL OF USING OIL PALM FLY ASH AS FERTILIZER FOR

AGRICULTURAL PURPOSE AND OTHER RELATED USAGE

by

Joseph Dal Khan Suan

A special study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for theDegree of Master of Science in

Agricultural Systems and Engineering

Examination Committee: Dr. Avishek Datta (Chairperson)Dr. P. Abdul Salam

Nationality: Myanmar

Previous Degree: Bachelor of Agricultural ScienceYezin Agricultural UniversityYezin, Myanmar

Scholarship Donor: Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affair

Asian Institute of TechnologySchool of Environment, Resources and Development

Thailand

August, 2014


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ABSTRACT

The oil palm industry was tremendously increased during the past few decades. As a result,the biomass produced from oil palm industry is subsequently increased. For every kg of

palm oil produced, approximately four kg of dry biomass is produced. Biomass producedfrom oil palm mills such as empty fruit bunches, palm kernel and palm fiber are used as

fuel for boiler to generate electricity. Oil palm ash, produced from the burning of oil palm biomass in the boiler, is abundantly available in major oil palm production countries likeIndonesia and Malaysia and likely to increase in the future. Many researchers have beenengaged in the utilization of oil palm ash in different fields due to its properties such as

pozzolanic, alkaline nature, etc. This paper reviewed on the potential use of oil palm flyash as fertilizer for agricultural purpose and other related use. Oil palm ash has the

potential in many uses such as cement supplement, adsorbent, and raw material for blacksoap production, fertilizer supplement and soil amendment for acid soil.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

Title Page i Abstract ii

Table of Contents iii List of Figures iv List of Tables v List of Abbreviations vi

1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Rationale of the study 1

2 The Oil Palm 2 2.1 Origin and history 2 2.2 Morphology 2 2.3 Climate condition 3 2.4 Production process 4 2.5 Treatment of waste products 4 2.6 Production quantity 5 2.7 Yield 6 2.8 The uses of palm oil 8 2.9 Environmental concerns 8

3 The Uses of Oil Palm Ash 9 3.1 Oil palm ash as geopolymer material 9 3.2 Oil palm ash as adsorbent 11 3.3 Oil palm as a catalyst in biodiesel production 12 3.4 Oil palm ash as sludge chemical binder 12 3.5 Oil palm ash as coupling agents in natural rubber processing 12 3.6 Oil palm ash as raw material for black soap production 12 3.7 Oil palm ash as fertilizer for agricultural purpose 13 3.8 Conclusions 14

References 15


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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

2.1 Map showing the extent of oil palm cultivation in the 43 oil palm producing countries in 2009 (Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012)

2

2.2 Fresh fruit bunch (left) and fresh fruitlet (right).Source: Internet.

3

2.6.1 The production quantity (Mt) of palm oil in relation to other majoroils (Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012).Source: data from FAOSTAT (2011).

5

2.6.2 Production quantity (Mt) of palm oil from 1961 to 2009 for theworld and the four regions producing palm oil (Kongsager &Reenberg, 2012).Source: data from FAOSTAT (2011).

5

2.7.1 Yield (tCPO/ha) development for the regions from 1961 to 2009.Yield is calculated by dividing production quantity of palm oil byarea harvested (Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012).Source: data from FAOSTAT (2011).

6

2.7.2 Yield (tCPO/ha) for the countries with more than 10,000 ha of oil palm in 2009. Yield is found by dividing production quantity of palm oil by area harvested (Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012).Source: data from FAOSTAT (2011).

7

2.8.1 Uses of oil palm byproducts and biomass in food and manufacturingindustries (Fairhurst & Mutert, 1999).

8

3.1 Boiler ash (A) and palm oil fuel ash (B) (Zarina et al ., 2013). 9


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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE TITLE PAGE

3.1 Chemical composition of POFA (Zarina et al ., 2013) 10

3.2.1 Previous researches in the utilization of oil palm ash as noveladsorbents for different applications (Foo & Hameed, 2009a)

11

3.7.1 Elemental composition of oil palm ash Chun et al ., (2008) 13


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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

% Percentage° Degree°C Degree CelsiusAl Alumina

Al2O3 Aluminum oxideBET Brunauer-Emmet-TellerCaO Calcium oxideCa(OH) 2 Calcium hydroxideCRD Completely Randomized DesignCPO Crude Palm OilFAOSTAT Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations StatisticsFe2O3 Iron (iii) oxideFFB Fresh Fruit Bunchg Gramkg KilogramK 2O Potassium oxideha HectareL Literm Meterm2 Meter squaremg Milligram per gramMgO Magnesium oxidemm MillimeterMPa MegapascalMt Metric tonMPOB Malaysia Palm Oil Board

NPK Nirtogen, Phosphorus and Potassium Na 2SiO 3 Sodium silicate NaOH Sodium hydroxide Na 2O Sodium oxideOPA Oil palm ashPOFA Palm Oil Fuel Ash

pH Soil reactionRCB Randomized complete block designRSPO Roundtable on Sustainable Palm OilSi SilicaSiO 2 Silicon dioxideSO 3 Sulfitet Ton

UNEP United Nations Environment Programmew/b Water to binder ratiowt Weight


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CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

The oil palm ( Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) gives the highest yield of oil per unit area compared

to any other oil crop and produces two types of oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil (Poku,2002). During the past few decades, the oil palm plantation has been rapidly expandingaround equatorial regions in the world and is now grown in 43 countries, especially inIndonesia and Malaysia, and their total cultivated area accounts for nearly one-tenth of theworld’s permanent cropland (Koh & Wilcove, 2008).

Despite the large amount of palm oil production, the oil contributes to less than 25% byweight of the palm fruit bunch (Poku, 2002). For every kg of palm oil produced,approximately four kg of dry biomass is produced, excluding palm oil mill effluent. InMalaysia alone, the production of palm biomass was approximately 87 Mt in 2010,although this value excludes oil palm fronds and trunks, which would further increase theamount of biomass produced by the palm oil industry (Ng et al , 2012). This has inspired agrowing interest in the utilization of oil palm waste as a renewable source of energy orfeedstock for a large variety of downstream products (Foo & Hameed, 2009a).

In the early cultivation, it was a common practice to dispose oil palm waste byuncontrolled tipping or dumping, an operation in which waste is spread over the estatesground or tipped to fill in low economic value open dumps on selected pieces of land(inundated swampland, abandoned sand mines and quarries), without taking care of thesurrounding environment, nor considering any precautions to compact, cover and prohibitthe spreading of contaminants into the underlying waterways (Foo & Hameed, 2009b).

1.2 Rationale of the study

Waste from the palm oil industry also abundantly produced which caused criticism andcomplaint. The waste such as palm fibers, nut shells, palm kernel and empty fruit bunchesare the solid wastes obtained from palm oil processing for oil extraction. Furthermore, theywere incinerated in boilers and due to the burning of empty fruit bunches, fibers and shellsas fuel to generate electricity, the waste, which is collected as ash, becomes oil palm ash(Subramaniam et al. , 2008). Oil palm ash is a waste and byproduct of the palm oil industrywhich is one of the most important agro industries in South-East Asia and in the AfricanSub-Sahara region (Ranjbar et al. , 2014). In 2007, a total of 3 million tons of oil palm ashwas produced in Malaysia in 2007 and hundred thousand tons of oil palm ash is producedannually in Thailand, and this production rate is likely to increase as palm oil plantationareas have increased (Tangchirapat et al. , 2007).

Disposal of oil palm ash caused environmental pollution and public health concerns. Inorder to reduce the problems, many researchers have been focused on a way to utilize oil

palm ash as raw material for geopolymer composite, cement replacement in production ofconcrete, wastewater treatment and air purifier in cleaning atmospheric contaminants(Zarina et al ., 2013). This paper studies about the potential of using oil palm fly ash asfertilizer for agriculture purpose and other related usages.


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CHAPTER 2THE OIL PALM

2.1 Origin and history

The oil palm ( Elaeis guineensis Jacq.), the most important species in the genus Elaeis , is

belongs to the palm family, Arecaceae (Syed et al ., 1982). It originates from West Africa,where the main palm belt originally extended from Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast,Ghana, and Cameroon to the equatorial Congo (Hartley, 1988), but at present oil palm iscultivated in the majority of countries in the tropics (Figure 2.1).

Oil palm has long been used as food and medicine. The earliest archaeological evidence ofthis is an earthenware jar containing residues of palm oil in a 5,000-year-old Egyptiantomb (RSPO, 2011). The development of oil palm as a plantation crop began in SoutheastAsia, and it has become the most important industrial crop in countries like Malaysia,Indonesia and Thailand (Shuit et al ., 2009). The African oil palm was introduced to Asia inthe form of four seedlings from Mauritius and Amsterdam, which were planted in the

botanical gardens in Bogor, Indonesia, in 1848 (Tate, 1996).

Figure 2.1: Map showing the extent of oil palm cultivation in the 43 oil palm-producingcountries in 2009 (Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012).

2.2 Morphology

The stem of oil palm is stout and stands erect. It could attain a height of 30m when fullgrown. The plant is monoecious (bears both the male and female flowers). When fourspear leaves appear on the palm, it is matured for tapping. Tapping the base of the spearleaf produces exudates called the palm sap or palm wine. The leaves are pinnate and reach

between 3-5m long. A young palm produces about 30 leaves a year. Established palms


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over 10 years produce about 20 leaves a year. The flowers are produced in dense clusters;each individual flower is small, with three sepals and three petals (Obahiagbon, 2012).

The palm fruit is a drupe (a fleshy fruit with thin skin and a central stone containing theseed), it takes five to six months to mature from pollination to maturity. It is reddish, aboutthe size of a large plum, and grows in large bunches. The fruit produces two types of oil;

the palm oil from the mesocarp and the kernel oil from its kernel. Palm oil is rich incarotenoids, (pigments found in plants and animals) from which it derives its deep redcolor, and the major component of its glycerides is the saturated fatty acid palmitic; henceit is a viscous semi-solid, even at tropical ambients, and a solid fat in temperate climates.The individual fruitlet, (Figure 2.2) ranging from 6-20g, are made up of an outer skin (theexocarp), a pulp (mesocarp) containing the palm oil in a fibrous matrix; a central nutconsisting of a shell (endocarp); and the kernel, which itself contains an oil, quite differentto palm oil, resembling coconut oil (Poku, 2002).

Figure 2.2: Fresh fruit bunch (left) and fresh fruitlet (right).Source: Internet.

2.3 Climate condition

Oil palms can grow in the tropical climate zone 16° north and south of the equator; theannual rainfall should preferably be around 2,000mm evenly spread throughout the year.Consequently, tropical monsoon regions with distinct dry and rainy seasons are lesssuitable for the cultivation of oil palms. The humidity should preferably be around 80-90%, and temperatures, which affect flowering and the ripening of the fruit, must bearound 30°C. Oil palms need approximately five hours of sun daily and do not grow wellunder closed canopies. The high leaf area ensures high primary production (Okamoto,2000).

Irrigation is often too expensive, though the young trees in the nurseries are irrigated when

planted. Nowadays, plantations have well-established drainage systems with small canalsand streams running through the groves. Seasonal droughts found at higher tropicallatitudes greatly reduce yields (Basiron, 2007), and irrigation is often needed in plantationsmore than 10° North and South from the equator (Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012).


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2.4 Production process

The production process is divided into four stages (Sheil et al ., 2009; Tivy, 1990):

1. In the nursery, the seedlings are raised for about 12 months prior to transplantationin the field.

2. After 24 to 30 months, the oil palm starts to yield fruit in compact fresh fruit bunches. Depending on the plant material and palm age, each palm can produce 8-15 fresh fruit bunches per year, each weighing 15-25kg and consisting of 1,000-1,300 reddish fruits (Figure 2.2). The yield per tree gradually increases until

peaking at approximately 20 years; hence oil palm plantations are typicallydestroyed and replanted at 25 to 30 year intervals, although an oil palm can producefor approximately 35 years. Harvesting involves cutting ripe bunches manuallyusing a chisel or sickle. The collection of harvested fruits is either done manually,sometimes with a wheelbarrow, or mechanically, using a tractor-mounted grabberwith trailer. Once a plantation is established there is only a minimum of workrelated to, except weeding.

3. To preserve the freshness and quality of the palm oil, the fresh fruit bunches are preferably sent to the mill for extraction within 24 hours of harvesting. The freshfruit bunches are steamed under high pressure to sterilize, loosen, and soften thefruits before they are stripped from their stalks and mechanically pressed to extractthe oil.

4. The extraction of oil. The fruit consists of a fibrous mesocarp layer and anendocarp with a kernel (Figure 2.2). Oil (triacylglycerols) can be extracted from

both the fruit and the seed, crude palm oil (CPO) from the outer mesocarp, and palm-kernel oil from the endosperm. The CPO is sent to a refinery to removeimpurities, colors (by bleaching), and odors (by deodorizing). The refinery alsoseparates the solid (palm stearin) and liquid (palm olein) fractions of oil to cater toa wide range of uses.

2.5 Treatment of solid waste products

In a well-run palm oil mill, it is expected that each 100 tons of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) processed yields 20-24 tons of CPO and about 4 tons of palm kernels oil. Thus between72-76 percent of the FFB comes out at various stages of the process as waste.

The solid wastes that result from the milling operations are:

Empty fruit bunches, Palm fiber, and Palm kernel shell.

In the large- and medium-scale mills the above-mentioned waste products are all put toeconomically useful purpose. They could therefore be referred to as by-products ratherthan waste products. Wet, empty bunches are partly dried in the sun and later used as fuel.Another economic use for the empty bunches is to return them to the plantation as a mulchto enhance moisture retention and organic matter in the soil (Poku, 2002).


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2.6. Production quantity

Global palm oil production has increased constantly over the last five decades, from 1.5 Mtin 1961 to 45 Mt in 2009 (Figure 2.6.1). The rapid increase in production has led to palmoil surpassing soybean oil as the world’s primary vegetable oil. Figure 2.6.1 shows therelationship between global palm oil production and the other major vegetable oils over the

past five decades. Palm oil now accounts for approximately 32% of the global vegetableoil production, soybean is second with 25%, and rapeseed oil third with 15% (Kongsager& Reenberg, 2012).

Figure 2.6.1: The production quantity (Mt) of palm oil in relation to other major oils(Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012).Source: data from FAOSTAT (2011).

In terms of geography, Asia has been the predominant region since the 1980s, and in 2009Asia processed 88% of the world’s palm oil (Figure 2.6.2). In 2007, Indonesia overhauled

Malaysia and became the world’s leading palm oil producer, and in 2009 these twocountries produced 85% of the world’s palm oil: Malaysia 39% and Indonesia 46%(Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012).

Figure 2.6.2: Production quantity (Mt) of palm oil from 1961 to 2009 for the world and thefour regions producing palm oil (Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012).Source: data from FAOSTAT (2011).


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The main producer in Africa is Nigeria, which in 2009 accounted for 71% of the area planted with oil palms in Africa, which in turn accounted for 21% of the world area planted with oil palms. Twenty-one other countries in Africa grow oil palms, with Ghana,Guinea, the Ivory Coast, and DR Congo as the most important palm oil growers by areaafter Nigeria (Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012).

2.7. Yield

The oil palm yield has increased from 1.87 to 2.97 tCPO/ha worldwide over the last fivedecades (Figure 2.7.1), equivalent to 1.0% per year, which must be characterized as a lowgrowth rate. Nevertheless, oil palm yields far exceed those of other vegetable oils.Rapeseed and soybeans, which must be considered as the main competitors of palm oil,yield only around 1.5 and 0.5 t/ha, respectively (Thoenes, 2006).

Figure 2.7.1: Yield (tCPO/ha) development for the regions from 1961 to 2009. Yield iscalculated by dividing production quantity of palm oil by area harvested(Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012).Source: data from FAOSTAT (2011).

Currently, Asia has the highest yields, and in 2009 the national averages in Malaysia andIndonesia reached 4.4 and 4.1 tCPO/ha (FAOSTAT, 2011), respectively. However, theyield has stagnated over the past 30 years, and Indonesia and Malaysia increased theiryield by less than 1% per year in that period (FAOSTAT, 2011). The stagnated averageyields in the early 2000s were possibly a result of expansion into less fertile areas, and thehigh proportion of immature plantations (Sheil et al ., 2009). Intensively managed

commercial estates have achieved yields of 5-7 tCPO/ha, and even higher yields up to 10-15 tCPO/ha have been reported (Persson & Azar, 2010).

Oceania has obtained high yields over the last five decades but they have only increasedtheir yield rate by 0.1% per year. Latin America experienced the largest increase rate of2.4% per year in the period, yet they are still almost 1 t/ha behind Asia. Africa had thesame growth rate as Asia (1.1% per year) but the harvest is still approximately six timesless per hectare compared to rest of the world (Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012).


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2.8. The uses of oil palm

The success of palm oil can partly be connected to its wide diversity of uses. It can befound in numerous supermarket products. Palm oil is mostly used as an ingredient in themanufacture and further processing of food products, but many other uses are becomingincreasingly important. Moreover, there are multiple uses of oil palm byproducts, which

can increase profits and reduce waste (Kongsager & Reenberg, 2012). Figure 2.8.1 showsan overview of uses of palm oil and oil palm byproducts.

Figure 2.8.1: Uses of oil palm byproducts and biomass in food and manufacturingindustries (Fairhurst & Mutert, 1999).

2.9. Environmental concerns

Numerous NGOs continuously alert the international community to the negativeenvironmental impact of the development of palm oil. The debate has largely been spurred

by land use change that occur by converting natural rainforest, peat swamp forest,cropland, or other land types to oil palm plantations. This land use change, in turn, hasfurther environmental implications such as the loss of biodiversity, emission of greenhousegasses from carbon stock changes in biomass and soil, forest fires, and related respiratorydiseases. Furthermore, processing mills are a source of air and water pollution, and theimpact of large estates on water regulation and quality is still under debate (Wicke et al .,

2011).


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CHAPTER 3THE USES OF OIL PALM ASH

3.1 Oil palm ash as geopolymer material

The oil palm industry was tremendously increased within the last decades. As a result, oil

palm mills are producing large amounts of biomass and these are used extensively as fuelfor steam production in oil palm mills. After combustion, a large quantity of ash is

produced and creates problems of disposal. This palm oil fuel ash was identified as a good pozzolanic material (Sumadi, 1993) and extensive research works have been carried out inview of the utilization of POFA as a supplementary cementing material (Mehmannavaz etal ., 2014).

Zarina et al ., (2013), have reviewed the potential of various ashes from palm oil waste asgeopolymer material and published in the journal of Reviews on Advanced MaterialsScience. According to the review paper, there are two types of ash, palm oil fuel ash(POFA); by product from power electricity generation plants that used palm oil shells and

palm oil bunches as burn materials (Figure 3.1A), and boiler ash; biomass known asmesocarp fiber and shell that consists of clinkers and ash that has been burnt in the boiler(Figure 3.1B).

Figure 3.1: Boiler ash (A) and palm oil fuel ash (B) (Zarina et al ., 2013).

The authors concluded that both of these ashes contain silica (Si) which has potential todevelop as geopolymer composites. However, only POFA has been successfully producedash geopolymer materials but it required other raw material that rich in alumina (Al) to

produce geopolymer with suitable strength. In order to produce geopolymer, the POFA has been activated by alkaline activator consists of mixture of sodium silicate (Na 2SiO 3) andsodium hydroxide (NaOH). On the other hand, the use of boiler ash as geopolymermaterials was never been investigated.

In that review paper, the authors present chemical compositions of POFA, analyzed by X-ray florescence from a number of research articles (Table 3.1). From the table it was shownthat POFA was rich in silicon dioxide (SiO 2), and more than 40% was found. It was alsofound that chemical compositions of POFA from different mills were also slightly differentand the authors of the review paper did not provide any possible reason for why they weredifferent in chemical composition.


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Table 3.1: Chemical composition of POFA (Zarina et al ., 2013).Chemical

Components Palm ash composition (wt. %)

Malaysia(Johariet al., 2012)

Thailand(Altwairet al., 2011)

Thailand(Tangchirapatet al., 2009)

Thailand(Tangchirapatet al., 2007)

Malaysia(Chindaprasirtet al., 2008)

SiO 2 51.18 65.3 63.6 57.7 43.6Al2O3 4.61 2.5 1.6 4.5 11.4Fe2O3 3.42 1.9 1.4 3.3 8.4CaO 6.93 6.4 7.6 6.5 4.8MgO 4.02 3.0 3.9 4.2 0.4SO 3 0.36 0.4 0.2 0.2 2.8K 2O 5.52 5.7 6.9 8.2 3.5

Na 2O 0.06 0.3 0.1 0.5 4.7

3.1.1 Utilization of POFA as geopolymer material

Researches on the utilization of POFA as supplementary cementitious material in the production of concrete have been done by many researchers. The research done by(Chindaprasirt et al ., 2008) found that the consumption of POFA in concrete improved theresistance against sulfate and chloride penetration. Furthermore, the use of POFA alsoenhances the other properties of concrete such as compressive strength, tensile strength,modulus of elasticity and expansion (Johari et al ., 2012). In the same time, the water

permeability, drying shrinkage and water to binder ratio (w/b) has been reduced (Altwair etal ., 2011). Tangchirapat et al. , (2009), studied on the use of POFA in the production ofhigh strength concrete, where it was found that at 90 days the compressive strength ofconcrete containing 20% of ground palm ash was 70 MPa with drying shrinkage and water

permeability lower than high strength concrete containing Type I Portland cement.Meanwhile, Johari et al ., (2012), studied about the influence of POFA fineness in the

production of high strength concrete. From the research it was concluded the compressivestrength of concrete with ultrafine POFA was more than 95 MPa at 28 days. Moreover, theother mechanical properties such as porosity, water permeability, initial surface absorption,gas permeability and rapid chloride permeability were enhancing with the inclusion ofultrafine POFA.

3.1.2 Potential of boiler ash as geopolymer material

The other ash that produced from palm oil mill is boiler ash. Nowadays, the boiler ash only

used as application on roads and ground in the plantations and mills. The compositions of boiler ash were consisting of potassium, silicon, phosphorous which is suitable to use asfertilizer and also additive in concrete and cement (Subramaniam et al ., 2008). However,so far no study has been done about utilization of boiler ash in production of geopolymer.As such, future work will be study about the utilization of boiler ash as geopolymermaterial (Zarina et al ., 2013).


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3.2 Oil palm ash as adsorbent

Li et al ., (2008) witnessed the ability of activated carbon for removal of broad types oforganic and inorganic pollutants dissolved in aqueous media, even from gaseousenvironment. Despite its prolific use in adsorption processes, the biggest barrier of its

application by the industries is the cost-prohibitive adsorbent and difficulties associatedwith regeneration (Foo & Hameed, 2009c). For these reasons, extensive researches have

been done to evaluate the feasibility and reliability of natural, renewable and low-costmaterials as alternative adsorbents. Simultaneously, oil palm ash, an abundantly availableindustrial waste from the oil palm mills, has currently emerged to be an ideal adsorbent inthe wastewater treatment processes and as air purifier in cleaning of atmospherecontaminants (Foo & Hameed, 2009b). Table 3.2.1 shows lists of previous researches inthe utilization of oil palm ash as novel adsorbents for different applications.

Table 3.2.1: Previous researches in the utilization of oil palm ash as novel adsorbents fordifferent applications (Foo & Hameed, 2009a).

Adsorbate BETsurface area

(m2/g)

Treatment/Modifications Removal(%)

Maximumadsorption

capacity (mg/g)

Reference

Sulfurdioxide gas

8.60 Slurred with CaO andCa(OH) 2

100 - Mohamed etal ., 2005

Sulfurdioxide gas


100 5.06 Zainudin etal ., 2005

Sulfurdioxide gas


100 - Mohamed etal., 2006

Reactive blue 19 dye

- Composite with chitosan - 423.50 Hasan et al., 2008

Acid green25 dye

5.36 Sulfuric acid - 181.80 Hameed etal., 2007

Direct blue71 dye

5.36 Sulfuric acid - 400.01 Ahmad et al., 2007

Disperse blue

- - 99 47.20 Isa et al., 2007

Disperse red - - 99 48.60Zinc ions 23.4 Nitric acid 97 0.01 Chu &

Hashim,2002

Initially, Chu & Hashim (2002) studied on adsorption and desorption characteristics ofzinc on ash particles derived from oil palm waste. They found that oil palm ash with acompetent removal of 97% corresponding to an adsorption capacity of 0.01mg/g. Lately, aseparated study on utilizing oil palm ash with sulfuric acid modification was individuallyexamined by Hameed et al ., (2007) and Ahmad et al ., (2007) for the treatment of acidgreen 25 and direct blue 71 dyes molecules, denoting an adsorption capability of181.80mg/g and 400.01mg/g. A comparative investigation has been undertaken by Hasanet al ., (2008), which complying a chitosan-oil palm ash composite beads for thediscrimination of reactive blue 19 dyes, accomplishing an adsorption of 423.50mg/g withan early concentration of 500 mg/L.


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3.7 Oil palm ash as fertilizer for agricultural purpose

Extraction of the oil from fresh oil palm fruits requires separation of the fruitlets fromempty fruit bunches prior to further processing. After processing, these empty fruit

bunches, which consist of fibers and shells, are often used as boiler fuel by palm oil mill

plants to produce steam for electricity generation and palm oil extraction. Yin et al ., (2008)conducted an investigation into physicochemical characteristics of ash produced fromcombustion of oil palm biomass waste in a boiler and found that the oil palm ash shouldnot be classified as toxic wastes in terms of heavy metal leachability since leachablecopper, cadmium, lead and nickel concentrations were detected below the stipulatedleachability limits. It was determined that the oil palm ash (OPA) contained high amountof potassium as well as presence of silica (Table 3.7.1) which implied its suitability to bereused as crude fertilizer.

Table 3.7.1: Elemental composition of oil palm ash Yin et al ., (2008).Elements Weight (%)Oxygen (O) 56.30Magnesium (Mg) 2.27Aluminium (Al) 0.56Silicon (Si) 4.65Potassium (K) 16.04Calcium (Ca) 1.36Iron (Fe) 0.59Zinc (Zn) 0.33Other 1.42

The effect of oil palm bunch ash, spent grain, poultry and turkey manures applied solely

and their supplemented forms, as sources of fertilizer on soil fertility, leaf mineralcomposition and growth of bitter kola ( Garnicia colae ) seedlings was investigated atAkure in the rainforest zone of Nigeria by Moyin-Jesu & Adeofun, (2008). They used eightorganic fertilizer treatments: spent grain, oil palm bunch ash, poultry manure, turkeymanure, spent grain + poultry manure, spent grain + turkey manure, oil palm bunch ash +

poultry manure and oil palm bunch ash + turkey manure and applied at 40g per 10kg soilfilled polybag and arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD) and replicated threetimes. The results indicated that these organic fertilizers showed better performance thancontrol treatment at 5% significant level. Among the treatments, oil palm bunch ash +

poultry manure applied at 8 t/ha was most effective treatment in improving bitter kolagrowth parameters, soil and leaf mineral composition.

In 2012, Adjei-Nsiah studied the effects of oil palm bunch ash and mineral fertilizerapplication on grain yield and nutrient uptake in maize and soil chemical properties were in

both the major and minor rainy seasons in the semi-deciduous forest agro-ecological zoneof Ghana. In both the major and minor rainy seasons, the response of maize to four levels(0, 2, 4, and 6 t/ha) of palm bunch ash and 200 kg/ha of NPK (15-15 15) application wasevaluated using randomized complete block design (RCB). Results of the study showedthat application of oil palm bunch ash increased soil pH, soil phosphorus, andexchangeable cations at 5% significant level. Maize grain yield varied among the differenttreatments at 5% significant level in both the major and minor rainy seasons. The highest


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maize grain yield of 4530 and 6120 kg/ha was obtained at oil palm bunch ash applicationrate of 2 t/ha for the major and minor rainy seasons, respectively.

Another study was conducted at the Forest and Horticultural Crops Research Centre,Ghana by Adjei-Nsiah & Christian, (2013), to investigate the effects of oil palm bunch ashapplication on growth, nutrient uptake and yield of three vegetable crops; garden eggs,

pepper and okra both in the field and in the pot. The results of the study showed that oil palm bunch ash application increased soil pH, soil phosphorus and exchangeable cations at5% significant level. In the field experiment, mineral fertilizer application resulted in anincrease in the fresh fruit yield of the garden eggs and the pepper over the control by asmuch as 93% while oil palm bunch ash application resulted in fresh fruit yield increase of

between 55-91%. For okra, fertilizer application resulted in fresh fruits yield increase ofabout 83% over the control while yield increase as a result of oil palm bunch ashapplication ranged between 8 and 69%. For the garden eggs, the highest fruit yield of 9.52t/ha was obtained at oil palm bunch ash application rate of 4 t/ha while for the pepper andthe okra, the highest fruit yields of 6 and 4.96 t/ha were obtained at the oil palm bunch ashapplication rate of 2 t/ha. The study suggested that oil palm bunch ash could be used as aliming material and fertilizer supplement to increase soil pH of acid soils and increase theyield of vegetable crops.

3.7.1 Oil palm bunch ash fertilizer in market

Oil palm bunch are now available in global market with different size of packages andspecifications. DST and PalmNJR are Malaysia based companies and they commercializedoil palm bunch ash fertilizer with their own packaging size. The package size of oil palmash fertilizer produced by PalmNJR company is 25 kg/bag while the package size of oil

palm ash fertilizer produced by DST company is either 900 kg/bag or 50 kg/bag. Althoughdifferent size of package, due to its alkaline nature, all oil palm ash fertilizers are sold asfertilizer supplements, soil amendments for acidic soil, and organic source of potassium.

3.8. Conclusions

As the oil palm industry in rapidly growing, the amount of ash produced from oil palmmills is also increased. In Malaysia alone, the production of oil palm ash was estimated as4 million ton/year (Zarina et al ., 2013). This has inspired a growing interest in utilizationof this agro-industrial waste. In Malaysia, one such effort is the usage of ash as fertilizersfor agricultural plots. However, this may present another environmental dilemma sincesuch application is usually not well-controlled and may result in major alterations in the

physicochemical properties of the existing agricultural soils (Yin et al ., 2008). Until now,

there were several studies conducted to evaluate the practicability of utilization of oil palmash and it finds its potential as geopolymer material, adsorbent, catalyst in biodiesel production, sludge chemical binder, coupling agent in natural rubber processing, rawmaterial for black soap production and as organic fertilizer amendment.


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