Estimating water footprint of palm oil production: case study in Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia is currently facing some issues in fulfilling the high demand in palm oil production, which inevitably led to a rapid expansion of palm oil industry in Malaysia. Therefore, water-related problems have become a major concern in environmental and social issues associated to palm oil industries. Inevitably, it is very important that the water consumption in this sector be analysed. Water footprint is one of the methods that can be used as a tool for sustaining appropriate freshwater resources. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate water footprint at palm oil mill from fresh fruit bunches to the production of crude palm oil. Water footprint revealed that the main potential impacts within the system boundary are dominated by water usage at the process through producing crude palm oil and wastewater effluent. At this stage, the total water input mainly comes from the nearest water resources such as rivers and lakes. In one operating day, the mill can produce wastewater of 3.81 m3/tonne of CPO. This amount is equivalent to 0.74 m3/tonne of average production rate of POME for each t of FFB process. At the end of this paper, strategies to optimise the use of water in palm oil mills are presented.