Palm oil mill effluent (POME) biogas off-site utilization Malaysia specification and legislation

Abstract

Biogas generated from anaerobic digestion of palm oil mill effluent (POME) is one of the highly potential renewable energy (RE) sources in Malaysia that can be used for a variety of application including electricity generation, heating and as fuel for vehicular transportation. While POME biogas can contribute a substantial amount of energy to the nation, POME biogas plants are usually located in rural area thus hindering wide application of the biogas. Supply of biogas is commonly higher than its demand in rural area and excess biogas is flared. It is proposed that excess biogas should be transported to location with higher energy demand. Biogas can be transported via truck (in a form of compressed biogas) or via existing natural gas pipeline. As biogas often consist only of approximately 60 % bio-methane, it is crucial to upgrade the biogas by scrubbing and compressing to make biogas transportation and distribution economical. The specification of biogas is different for different storage system as well as for different distribution by truck and pipeline. Considering the factor of safety and quality, the specification of biogas need to comply with the Malaysian Standards and Regulations which function to monitor the welfare and quality of biogas. This paper emphasised the options of POME biogas for off-site utilization that follow the requirement of Malaysian Standards and Regulations.