Saudi Journal of Engineering and Technology (SJEAT)
Volume-3 | Issue-12 | 680-691
Original Research Article
Palm Oil Biomass Waste a Renewable Energy Resource for Power Generation
Obuka Nnaemeka SP, Onyechi Pius C, Okoli Ndubuisi C
Published : Dec. 30, 2018
Abstract
This work evaluated the palm oil biomass waste as a source of renewable
energy for electric power generation. Nigeria was once the largest producer of Oil Palm
products, but since has been relegated to the back ground by Malaysia and some other
countries and needs to revitalize its palm oil industries. Electricity regeneration in
Nigeria has also been highly politicized and still at shortfall to its teeming population
demand. This situation invariably requires revamping through exploitations of
alternative energy sources. This work was carried out at Presco Nigeria Ltd which owns
palm plantations from where we obtained our oil palm empty fruit bunches for this
research. The result obtained from this work shows that 896 kg of empty fruit bunches
produced 1.7 MW of power though lower than that of the same mass of methane, it is
proving to be by far more cost effective, easier to maintain and run. The research also
reported that oil palm empty fruit bunch has more calorific value than other oil palm
biomass resources. Placing this research finding with others in literature indicates that
the quantity of the biomass is directly proportional to the amount of energy produced.