Establishment of industrial energy benchmarking in Malaysian downstream palm oil industry

Abstract

The second largest energy demand in Malaysia comes from industrial sector (28 % of the total demand) and one of the main industries in Malaysia is palm oil industry. The energy consumption in Malaysian palm oil industry must be reduced in order to reduce the environmental impact (GHG emission). The main objective of this research is to establish energy benchmarking in Malaysian downstream palm oil industry using product-based energy benchmarking. The method for energy benchmarking consists of four main steps, which is data collection, data analysis, set-up baseline SEC and establishment of industrial energy benchmarking. The data used in this research was obtained from Malaysian Green Technology Corporation. An equation to estimate baseline SEC value has been obtained and energy benchmarking in this industry has been successfully established. Data analysis revealed that the average SEC for this industry is determine to be 2.59 GJ/t and the lowest SEC (0.04 GJ/t) was obtained by Company D while the highest SEC (5.99 GJ/t) is obtained by Company C. Apart from that, the recommendation of no cost, low cost, medium cost and high cost energy saving measures for this industry has been done. Finally, the best practice in this industry has been determined as maximizing the plant utilization rate and implementing ESMs.