is a special legal provision enacted under the Environmental Quality ( Prescribe Premises ) ( Crude Palm Oil ) regulation 1977 , under the Environmental Quality Act 1974 ( Act 127 ). In addition , the operation of palm oil mills are subject to the Environmental Quality ( Clean Air ) Regulations 2014 and Environmental Quality ( Schedule Wastes ) Regulation 2004 . The Environment Quality ( Clean Air ) Regulation 2014 imposed on palm oil operations was to minimise the negative environmental impact due to the operation of the biomass boiler . The Environmental Quality ( Schedule Wastes ) Regulation 2004 was imposed to minimise the negative environmental impact arising from the generation of scheduled waste from the use of chemicals in laboratory analysis and mineral oil for machinery operation .
Fresh fruit bunches are transported from the estate to the palm oil mill for processing into CPO and PK . To ensure that the quality of CPO meets high quality specifications , the FFBs need to be processed within 24 hours . The typical quality parameters in CPO is Free Fatty acid ( FFA ) and Moisture and Deterioration of Bleachability Index ( DOBI ). Figure 3 shows the flowchart of palm oil mill processing and Figure 4 shows the mass balance of the products produced in the palm oil mills as a percentage of the FFBs .
The FFBs are graded to ensure they meet the specifications according to the standards set by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board ( MPOB ). After that , they are loaded onto the loading ramp prior to transportation to the steriliser for sterilisation . The purpose of the sterilisation process is to deactivate the lipolytic enzyme to prevent the rise of FFA due to the lipase reaction . It also facilitates the fruitlet detachment process and minimises un-stripped bunches ( USB ). Other than that , the sterilisation process preconditions the nuts for cracking to separate the kernel from the shell with good cracking efficiency . Typically , the sterilisation process takes from about 60 to 90 minutes depending on the steriliser type and capacity . The by-product or waste generated from this process is steriliser condensate which contains water , sand , oil and organic particles . As shown in Figure 4 , the steriliser condensate is estimated to be about 15 % from the overall FFBs processed . After sterilisation is complete , the sterilised fruit is conveyed to the threshing station to strip the fruitlets from the bunch . The loose fruit is transported to the digester while the empty fruit bunches ( EFB ) are transported to the EFB press station for pressing to recover the oil residue inside the bunches , and for shredding as a precondition process for the bio-composting process . The EFB also becomes another agricultural waste . The digester breaks up the oil bearing cells from the mesocarp fibre to ensure that oil extraction during pressing is done efficiently . The oil extraction process is carried out by a pressing machine and produces crude oil and press cake .
Crude oil is transferred to a clarification station for oil clarification to separate pure oil and sludge . Pure oil is processed in a vacuum dryer to remove moisture to produce CPO which is stored in the storage tank . The by-products from the clarification process include waste water specifically called palm oil mill effluent ( POME ). The press cake that contains a mix of mesocarp fibre and nut is then sent to the depericarper station to separate the mesocarp fibre from the nut . The mesocarp fibre is used as fuel in the biomass boiler for steam generation and the nut is processed in the nut cracker to produce a cracked mixture containing shell and kernel . The shell is then separated from the kernel through both dry and wet separation . The shell is used as fuel for the biomass boiler while the kernel is dried in the kernel silo before it is stored in the kernel bunker .
Palm Oil Mill Waste Management And Emission Control Generally , the agricultural wastes generated from palm oil mill operations are EFB , shell , mesocarp fibre and POME while the major air emissions come from the biomass boiler . As shown in Figure 4 , EFB production accounts for about 20 % of the total FFB processed . The EFB is commonly used as mulching in oil palm plantations where it degrades naturally . However , in order to better utilise and boost the potential of EFB , it is converted to biocompost . This process involves the utilisation of both the EFB and POME from the POME treatment system ( POMETS ). The POME is the source of living micro-organisms that facilitate the decomposition process in EFB , releasing the nutrients from the organic compounds in the EFB . The shredded EFB is mixed with POME and fermented for around 45 days . The EFB is stacked and sprayed with POME
35