Sustainable Biomass: The importance of feedstock and R&D needs

Dr Hirzun Mohd Yusof Sime Darby Renewables

Strategy blueprint…..estimated availability of 25 million tonnes of biomass

Biomass feedstock against others

Source: Lux Research

Feedstock consideration….oil palm trunks and fronds

• Contain sugar syrup

• Replanting area is scattered throughout the country

• Increase logistic cost

• Impact on soil fertility for replanting has not been measured

• Adoption of work flow….during harvesting or independent team?

• Labour availability

• Irregular size of petiole –need to maximise loading

• Contain sugar syrup…pre-process and collect?

Oil palm trunks

Fronds

Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches

• Obvious choice…already aggregated at mill….

• It is a disposal issues for independent mills

• Plantation companies nutrient value of EFB

• High water content

• Pre-processing maybe needed……. depending on technology used

Cellulosic ethanol? Where are the gallons……

four projects open in the US (INEOS Bio, Abengoa, POET-DSM and QCCP — not to mention Beta’s Crescentino project, and GranBio and Raizen in Brazil