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Full chain energy analysis of biodiesel

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 Applied Energy 86 (2009) S209S214

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Full chain energy analysis of biodiesel production from palm oil in Thailand
Somporn Pleanjai, Shabbir H. Gheewala *
The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkuts University of Technology Thonburi, 126 Pracha-Uthit Road, Bangmod, Tungkru, Bangkok 10140, Thailand

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Biodiesel from palm oil has been considered for partial substitution of diesel fuel for transportation in
Received 15 January 2009 Thailand. The Government of Thailand recently has set up a production target of 8.5 million liters per
Received in revised form 6 May 2009 day of palm oil-based biodiesel by 2011. The aim of this study is to investigate the energy consumption
Accepted 10 May 2009
of palm methyl ester (PME) production in Thailand using a life cycle approach compared to other possible
Available online 2 June 2009
oil crops for biodiesel production including jatropha and coconut. The main contributors to the energy
This article is sponsored by the Asian use are cultivation, oil production, transesterication and transportation. Taking into account only fossil
Development Bank as part of the fuel or petroleum inputs in the production cycle, the energy analysis provides results in favour of PME in
Supplement Biofuels in Asia. Thailand. The net energy balance (NEB) and net energy ratio (NER) of PME and co-products are 100.84 GJ/
ha and 3.58, respectively. The NER of PME without co-products is 2.42, which is still higher than one indi-
Keywords: cating a favourable result. The results are important in selecting an appropriate feedstock for biodiesel
Biodiesel production and this study will support policy makers in the energy sector to make informed decisions
Palm methyl ester vis--vis promotion of oil palm plantation for biodiesel. This will also support the Government of Thai-
Net energy balance land in its policy to promote the use of indigenous and renewable sources for transportation fuels.
Net energy ratio 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Life cycle assessment

1. Introduction
In order to reduce the dependence on import and to improve
energy security of the country, biodiesel for transportation has
been one of the options being promoted by the Government of
Thailand. Also, the Government of Thailand has planned to increase
the national renewable energy share from 0.5% in 2002 to 8% by
the year 2011 [1]. Palm oil has been considered as a prospective
feedstock for biodiesel production, particularly due to the fact that
it has the highest yield among Thailands oil yielding plants [2]. As
palm biodiesel is being promoted at the policy level, it is impera-
tive to consider a full chain energy analysis as a rst step to address
energy gain or loss of renewable energy production.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is one method for such an evalua-
tion. LCA studies the environmental aspects and potential impacts
throughout a products life from raw material extraction through
production, to use and disposal (i.e. from cradle to grave) [3].
LCA has become an important decision-making tool for promoting
alternative fuels because it is very important to study the fuel life
cycle systematically in terms of energy efciencies, environmental
impacts and cost benets before implementing a fuel policy. Many
LCA studies have been carried out on alternative fuels such as bio-
diesel, methanol, ethanol, and fuel cell, etc. [46]. The life cycle
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +662 4708309 10x4139; fax: +662 8729805.
E-mail address: shabbir_g@jgsee.kmutt.ac.th (S.H. Gheewala).
concept has also been used in full chain energy analysis of fuel eth-
anol from molasses in Thailand [7].
This study is therefore focused on evaluation of energy balance
of biodiesel production from palm oil in Thailand using a life cycle
assessment (LCA) approach for supporting the policy makers in the
energy sector to make informed decisions vis--vis promotion of
oil palm plantation for biodiesel. This will also support the Govern-
ment of Thailand in its policy to promote the use of indigenous and
renewable sources for transportation fuels.
2. Methodology
2.1. Goal and scope of work
The goal of this study is to (1) present a full chain analysis of bio-
diesel production for palm oil in Thailand to evaluate whether the
production and use of the fuel can help reduce petroleum diesel im-
ports and (2) assess supply potentials of palm oil for biodiesel in the
country based on the government target through net energy bal-
ance (NEB) and net energy ratio (NER). The NEB is the difference be-
tween the total energy outputs (the energy content of biodiesel and
its co-products or without its co-products) and total energy inputs
(the total fossil energy inputs in the fuel production cycle). It is one
of the accepted indices for analyzing the energy efciency of biofu-
els [8]. In the same way, NER is the ratio of total energy outputs to
total energy inputs and reects the energy efciency of the process.
Both NEB and NER will be used as indicators for investigating the
results of this full chain energy analysis.

0306-2619/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.05.013
S210 S. Pleanjai, S.H. Gheewala / Applied Energy 86 (2009) S209S214

2.2. Palm oil-based biodiesel production cycle: system boundary and
data sources
The analysis included the four main stages: oil palm plantation,
palm oil production (crude palm oil extraction and palm oil ren-
ing), biodiesel production or transesterication into biodiesel
(palm methyl ester or PME) and transportation at all stages. The
analysis excluded the assessments of energy consumption associ-
ated with facilities construction i.e. manufacturing machines, irri-
gating structures, vehicles, etc. as well as manual labour. The
calculations are based on 1 hectare (ha) per year of oil palm farm-
ing area. Although parts of co-products such as glycerol can be
exploited for cosmetics, kernel can be exploited for frying oil, salad
oil, oleochemical industry, etc., these are currently being utilized
for energy and will be considered as such. The decanter cake and
empty fruit bunches (EFB) are used for fertilizer because of their
high nutrient content and will not be included explicitly as energy
outputs [9]. Also bre will not be included because it is used as fuel
in the crude oil extraction process itself. However, the effects of all
these are indirectly included anyway as they displace fertilizers
and fuels in the life cycle of palm itself. The system boundary of
PME life cycle is shown in Fig. 1.
2.3. Estimation of energy inputs
2.3.1. Oil palm plantation
The oil palm is mainly grown in the southern part of the coun-
try, where more than 70% of the oil palm cultivation area is located
[10]. The oil palm plantations are concentrated in three southern
provinces; Krabi, Chumporn and Suratthani. The water require-
ment for the oil palm plantation is mostly met by rainwater in
the 25 years lifetime of the plant [11]. Oil palm start bearing
bunches 23 years after eld planting. The usual frequency of a
harvesting round is 1015 days or 23 times a month. The crude
palm oil extraction rate in Thailand is around 1617% [12]. The
plantation has 2122 trees per rai (1 ha = 6.25 rai), and 2.72.8
ton fresh fruit bunch (FFB) per rai per year (or around 17 ton FFB
per ha per year). Various materials inputs (e.g. fertilizers, herbi-
cides and seeds) are needed for the production of FFB at the oil
palm plantation. While most of the harvest is done manually, some
machinery, farm equipment, and trucks for FFB transport require
fossil energy. Young palm are harvested with a chisel whereas
old and tall palms with a long-handled sickle, there is no fossil en-
ergy input to harvesting.
2.3.1.1. Fertilizers and herbicides. Fertilizers applied at the oil palm
plantation are obtained from the eld study. Total amount of ap-
plied fertilizers in oil palm plantation was calculated (as the aver-
age of 9 months at the nursery stage and 25 years at the eld stage)
per year. The applied fertilizers were 7.79 kg/ton FFB for N-fertil-
izer, 0.05 kg/ton FFB for P2O5-fertilizer and 14.41 kg/ton FFB for
K2O-fertilizer. Glyphosate and paraquat are used as herbicides.
Herbicides are applied at an average of 13 times per year at
0.30.5 kg per rai per time for glyphosate (0.28 kg/ton FFB) and
0.10.2 kg per rai per time for paraquat (0.10 kg/ton FFB) from
the study site. In Thailand, nearly all chemical fertilizers and herbi-
cides are imported. Fossil fuel energy requirement for fertilizer and
herbicides production included transport estimated from West and
Marland [13] are as follows: N-fertilizer 57.47 MJ/kg, P2O5-fertil-
izer 7.04 MJ/kg, K2O-fertilizer 6.85 MJ/kg, and glyphosate (it as-
sumed that is equal to paraquat) is 266.56 MJ/kg.
2.3.1.2. Seeds. Seeds of oil palm were applied at 168 kg/ha [14]. The
energy input for seeds has been estimated by using the ratio of -
nal energy consumption to gross domestic product (GDP) of year
2006 (0.66 MJ/Baht [15]) and average oil palm price, between years
19982006 (1.5 Baht/kg (Ofce of Agricultural Economics)) yield-
ing a value of 0.99 MJ/kg [16].

Production of Fertilizers
Oil Palm Plantation
Fertilizer and Fuel Stock

Production of Seed

Transport of
Fresh Fruit Bunch
Production of Herbicides (FFB) Ash, EFB, Fiber, Shell,
POME, Decanter Cake,
Palm Kernel
Diesel
Crude Palm Oil (CPO)
Extraction and Palm Oil
Steam and Refining
Electricity
Electricity
co-generation Electricity
Transport of Production
Refined Palm Oil
Fuel Stock (RPO)

Transesterification Production of
Glycerol into Biodiesel Catalyst
(PME) NaOH

Production of
Methanol
Use in Diesel
Transport of MeOH
Ve hicle
PME

Fig. 1. Life cycle scheme for the studied system.

 S. Pleanjai, S.H. Gheewala / Applied Energy 86 (2009) S209S214 S211

2.3.2. Palm oil production: crude palm oil extraction and palm oil
rening
The palm oil mill, with a capacity of around 45 tons of FFB per
hour (1000 tons of FFB per day), was assumed to be located next to
palm oil renery. Data information is obtained from monthly re-
port of the selected mill. The amount of crude palm oil (CPO)
was 0.163 0.038 ton/tonFFB (1.073 tonCPO yields 1 ton rened
palm oil (RPO)). Fiber residues are used as a fuel to generate pro-
cess steam and electricity in the palm oil processing mill itself.
The electricity generated in the factory is about 97.6% of total elec-
tricity consumption, the rest being purchased from the grid. Fiber
is a biomass fuel which acts as primary fuel. The electricity pro-
duced on-site and from the grid used for CPO extraction process
is 13.560 1.349 kWh/ton FFB and 0.329 0.340 kWh/ton FFB,
respectively. The electricity from the grid used for RPO rening
was 1.17 kWh/tonRPO. Diesel oil used for diesel generator for start
up of boiler is 0.870 0.322L (0.87 kg/L).
2.3.3. Transesterication into biodiesel
The biodiesel plant has capacity of 6000 L per day. The feed-
stock is rened palm oil, methanol (CH3OH or MeOH) is the alco-
hol, and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or potassium (KOH) the
catalyst. The reactor time is 8 h per batch. The operating tempera-
ture is 5060 C. Transesterication of the palm oil produces palm
methyl ester (PME) and glycerol. The mixture is allowed to sepa-
rate by gravity and the ester is separated from the glycerol and
washed with water until the washing water is neutral. The ester
is then dried by heating. The materials used based on on-site data
are as follows: RPO:MeOH = 5:1 (v/v), NaOH:MeOH = 1:20 (w/v).
Efciency of the process reaches 95% by weight. Glycerol produced
is 0.18 kg/kg PME. Electricity consumption is 0.03 kWh/kg PME.
The energy used for MeOH production is 30.29 MJ/kg [17] and
NaOH production is 18.25 MJ/kg [18].
of products per ton of FFB are as follows: 0.066 0.005 ton of shell
and 0.054 0.005 ton of kernel. The caloric values of these were
obtained from many sources as follows: PME 38.07 MJ/kg [24],
glycerol 19 MJ/kg [25], palm kernel 17 MJ/kg [26] and shell
18.46 MJ/kg [27].
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Net energy results
It is convenient to display net energy value per ton of PME. A
summary of materials, direct energy and energy-related material
inputs and various energy outputs in PME system are presented
in Table 1. It can be seen that the main energy inputs through
the life cycle of biodiesel are from N-fertilizer production and
methanol production. Energy input for transportation is also signif-
icant; however, this is unavoidable as most of the palm oil is being
produced in the south of Thailand but is used in Bangkok. Energy
outputs from co-products (glycerol, palm kernel and shell) are also
signicant contributing almost one third of the total energy output.
3.2. Full chain energy analysis
The analysis starts with energy consumption in each process to
produce biodiesel per ha per year as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. On the
whole, the energy consumption for biodiesel production phase has
relative in %. It was found that 19.7% of the total biodiesel produc-
tion energy consumption from N-fertilizer energy consumption to
produce N-fertilizer. Thus, using of the fertilizer should greatly re-
Table 1
Energy inputs and energy outputs in PME system.
Life cycle biodiesel production Per ton PME MJ/kg PME

2.3.4. Transportation Input

In this study, the representative oil palm plantation and crude Oil palm plantation
N-fertilizer (kg) 54.01 3.10
palm oil production are located in Krabi province, in the southern P2O5-fertilizer (kg) 0.35 0.0024
part of Thailand. The palm oil mill is located close to the oil palm K2O-fertilizer (kg) 99.90 0.68
planting areas. The proximity of the factory to planting areas is nec- Glyphosate (kg) 1.94 0.52
essary in order to allow harvested fresh fruit bunches to be trans- Paraquat (kg) 0.69 0.18
Seed (kg) 67.77 0.07
ported to the crushing mill within 24 h to avoid excess generation
Diesel used (for transport FFB) (kg) 69.16 2.89
of free fatty acid (FFA) and have a reasonably high oil extraction per-
(a) Sub-total 7.45
centage [19]. It has been assumed that the palm oil mill is located
next to palm oil renery. The biodiesel plant is located in Bangkok Crude palm oil extraction
province, the central part of Thailand. Trucks with capacity of 3 tons Electricity (MJ) 22.58 0.02
transport FFB from oil palm eld to palm oil mill, the transport dis- Diesel used (for starting turbine) (kg) 5.25 0.22
tance being 56 km (round trip) [20]. Trucks with load 20 tons trans- (b) Sub-total 0.24
port RPO from oil renery factory to biodiesel plant, the transport
distance being 1628 km (round trip) [20]. Trucks with 20 tons load Palm oil rening
Electricity (MJ) 12.20 0.01
transport PME from biodiesel plant to its point of use, the transport
Diesel used (for transport RPO) (kg) 49.16 2.06
distance being 46 km (round trip) [20]. The fuel economy for the
(c) Sub-total 2.07
heavy diesel vehicles was 1.628 km/L of diesel [21].
Biodiesel production
2.3.5. Primary energy inputs determination MeOH (kg) 180.00 5.45
Primary energy representing the aggregated to total use of en- NaOH (100%) (kg) 10.00 0.18
Electricity (MJ) 297.00 0.30
ergy resources is conventionally considered. It is of importance
Diesel used (for transport PME) (kg) 1.23 0.05
to include both process energy and the production and delivery en-
(d) Sub-total 5.98
ergy in the analysis. The fuel energy content value of diesel of
41.84 MJ/kg was obtained for Thailand [22]. The electricity grid Total (a + b + c + d) 15.75
mix of Thailand consists of 23.56% lignite, 0.02% fossil oil and
76.42% natural gas and the primary energy is 9.9 MJ/kWh [23]. Output
Palm methyl ester (PME) (kg) 1000.00 38.07
Glycerol (kg) 180.00 3.42
2.4. Estimation of energy outputs
Palm kernel (kg) 374.38 6.36
Shell (kg) 457.58 8.45
Mass of all palm oil mill products and glycerol are collected
Total 56.30
from monthly report of the mill and biodiesel plant. The amount
S212 S. Pleanjai, S.H. Gheewala / Applied Energy 86 (2009) S209S214

50 160

40
120

GJ/ha
GJ/ha

30
80
20

10 40

0 0
Oil Palm Palm Oil Biodiesel Transport Total PME Glycerol Palm Shell Total
Plantation Production Production Kernel

Fig. 2. Energy consumption for life cycle PME production. Fig. 4. Energy outputs from PME and co-products for life cycle PME production.

Transport cient utilization of the co-products including bres and shells

Fertilizer
31.8%
24.1%
Diesel
1.4%
Electricity
2.1%
NaOH
MeOH
1.2%
34.6%
Fig. 3. Percentage energy consumption in each activity of PME production.
duce the amount of the fertilizer that is reduced the energy con-
sumption. It was found that 18.3% of the total biodiesel production
energy consumption from transport FFB. Thus, using of the diesel
fuel for transportation that should be changed fossil fuel to biofuel
that is not only made environmental friendly but also increase en-
ergy security. It was found that 34.6% of the total biodiesel produc-
tion energy consumption from methanol production. It should be
used non-fossil fuel as fuel to produce methanol. That is also made
environmental friendly. In other word, in oil palm plantation
phase, the largest contribution comes from the energy inputs in
fertilizer manufacture (N, P and fertilizers) at 24.1% of the total en-
ergy input, and the smallest is due to seed used (0.4%). The biodie-
sel production phase has the highest energy consumption; the
largest contribution coming from the energy inputs in MeOH pro-
which would improve the overall energy output and hence the
NEB and NER. Utilization of methane from the wastewater treat-
ment is another important area to be considered.
Herbicide 3.3. Comparison with other studies
4.5%
The comparison of NEB and NER for PME with co-products with
Seed
those from coconut methyl ester (CME) and jatropha methyl ester
0.4%
(JME) in Thailand are shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The biodiesel system
comprises agriculture, oil extraction and rening, transesterica-
tion and transport. The energy used for life cycle biodiesel produc-
tion from various vegetable oils were different in each segment
depending on production yield, milling process, etc. Palm oil has
a very high yield at 2800 kg oil/ha [28,29]; higher than other oils.
Coconut has a yield of about 2400 kg oil/ha [30] and jatropha
1600 kg oil/ha [28,31]. The oil yield from the crops itself is always
one of the key factors to decide the suitability of a feedstock for
biodiesel production. Oil crops with higher oil yield are more pref-
erable in the biodiesel industry because they can reduce the pro-
duction cost. Generally the cost of raw materials accounts about
250
200
150
GJ/ha

duction at 34.6% of the total energy input. There are a number of

100
energy yielding by-products in the palm oil production which
may result in the energy usage even being negative as depicted
50
in Fig. 2. The palm oil production phase has the lowest energy con-
sumption as most of the electricity used is produced on-site from
bres. Diesel is used only for start up of the boiler. Steam genera- 0
tion used biomass residues (bres) as a fuel. The energy consump- PME CME JME
tion as well as variation for transportation phase is quite high
Fig. 5. Net energy balance (NEB) for biodiesel and its co-products from various
because some sites have to transport products large distance while plant oil sources.
some sites operate all activities in their community area. The total
energy (fossil) inputs add up to 39.16 GJ/ha. The details of the en-
ergy output from each phase are shown in Fig. 4. Total energy out- 7 NER (Biodiesel and its co-product) NER (Biodiesel)
put from only PME and all products are 94.67 GJ/ha and 140.00 GJ/
6
ha, respectively.
Thus, the NEB of PME with co-products and PME alone are 5

100.84 GJ/ha and 55.51 GJ/ha, respectively. The positive energy 4

balances indicate that less fossil energy is required to produce bio- 3
diesel than the amount of energy in the produced biodiesel (with 2
and without co-products). The net energy ratio (NER), the ratio of
1
total energy outputs to fossil energy inputs reects the energy ef-
0
ciency of the process. The NER of PME with co-products and PME
PME CME JME
alone are 3.58 and 2.42, respectively. The NER results are more
than one for both the cases clearly showing the benet of PME pro- Fig. 6. Net energy ratio (NER) for biodiesel and its co-products from various plant
duction and use. However, there are opportunities for more ef- oil sources.
 S. Pleanjai, S.H. Gheewala / Applied Energy 86 (2009) S209S214 S213

7080% of the total production cost of biodiesel. This result sup-
ports the decision of the Government of Thailand which has been
promoting palm oil as a feedstock for biodiesel production.
From the Figs. 5 and 6 the system starts from coconut cultiva-
tion and transportation of copra to coconut oil (CCO) crushing fac-
tory, transportation of CCO to the biodiesel production plant. CME
conversion process is by transesterication using methanol and so-
dium hydroxide as catalyst. The production of 1 kg of CME requires
1.1 kg CCO which is from 1.667 kg copra. About 2.08 MJ of heat and
3.25 MJ of electricity are required per kg of CME [32].
After allocating the energy inputs and outputs between CCO
and copra based on economic value (as copra is not used for energy
but has substantial economic value), the total energy consumption
for producing 1 kg CME is 9.13 MJ. The average price of copra in
2008 was 15.83 Baht/kg and for CCO was 30.00 Baht/kg. The total
energy output from biodiesel and its co-product, glycerol, is
39.78 MJ/kgCME. The main contributors to the energy use are
methanol manufacturing, N-fertilizing process and transportation
contributing approximately 31%, 16.5% and 9%, respectively. The
NEB of CME (with co-products) is 66.99 GJ/ha and the NER is
4.36 (with its co-product) and 4.16 (without co-product). Thus, it
could be promoted for biodiesel production from CCO in Thailand.
However, the data for this study are not from commercial scale and
therefore indicative.
Energy analysis of the JME in Thailand was carried out by Pruek-
sakorn and Gheewala [33]. The analysis included Jatropha curcas
Linnaeus (JCL) cultivation, oil extraction, biodiesel production,
and transportation at all stages. Within 1 year, JCL starts producing
seeds but the maximum productivity is after 4 or 5 years. Its life
span is over 20 years [34]. After, drying by sunlight, JCL dry fruit
is transformed to JCL oil, seed cake, and dry peel by cracking, press-
ing, and ltering process. JME from JCL by transesterication using
CH3OH (23% v/v) and NaOH (0.70.9% w/v), which is the major
trend in Thailand due to lower prices than CH3CH2OH and KOH.
The average JCL biodiesel yield for best case is 2.7 ton/ha/year.
The energy consumption in each process to produce biodiesel
was calculated per ha per year. The main contributors to the en-
ergy use are transesterication, irrigation, and fertilizing process
contributing approximately 40%, 23% and 22%, respectively. The
NEB and NER of JME and its co-products from the life cycle of JCL
are 236 GJ/ha and 6.03, respectively. The NER of JME without its
co-products is 1.42. It implies that the biodiesel production from
JCL can be promoted in Thailand. It must be noted that jatropha
is not being planted on a commercial scale in Thailand; hence,
the values obtained may overestimate what could be actually
achieved. Also, utilization of all the co-products assumes the pres-
this study. This resulted in a higher biodiesel yield of 3.07 t/ha/year
from the literature [3738] as compared to 2.49 t/ha/year for this
study. The higher yield in the literature is reasonable as it also in-
cludes data from Malaysia and Indonesia where the productivity of
palm is higher.
3.4. Opportunities for improvement
The effects of the following factors on NER are estimated: (1)
replacement of methanol by bio-ethanol and (2) energy recovery
from biogas in wastewater treatment at the palm oil mill.
A reduction in energy consumption in transesterication pro-
cess would improve NER. The greatest life cycle energy consump-
tion input fraction corresponds to the one related to the
methanol used. The replacement of methanol by bio-ethanol from
cane molasses could result in the increase of NER (without co-
products) from 2.42 to 2.48. The energy consumption can reduce
2.7% from base case. The other important factor is recovering bio-
gas from anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill wastewater and
using it for energy. This results in the NER increasing from 3.58
(with co-products) to 3.70.
3.5. Potential of palm oil for biodiesel in Thailand
In Thailand, oil palm has quantitatively the highest commercial
production among the existing major oil crops. The palm oil har-
vested area, palm oil production and the price of palm oil in the
years 20032007 are shown in Table 2 [39]. The information re-
veals that the trend of palm oil production is increasing but the
price has uctuated widely, reaching a level of US$ 88 per ton in
the year 2007 (1 US$ = 35 Baht). The crude palm oil (CPO) is sent
mainly to rening plant; however it can be used as a feedstock
for biodiesel production in Thailand. The consumption and produc-
tion of CPO is shown in Fig. 7 [39]. It can be seen that the CPO ex-
port is reduced due to the local demand for biodiesel production.
According to the Energy Policy and Planning Ofce, in the year
2003, the objective of renewable energy development was to seek
for alternative energy to replace non-renewable energy from fossil
fuels [15]. The target was to increase the share of renewable energy
from 0.5% of the commercial primary energy in 2002 to 8% of the
CPO Production CPO Consumption
2
1.8 Biodiesel from CPO CPO Export
1.6
1.4
Million ton

ence of an adequate infrastructure for transport and utilization of 1.2

1
all the biomass.
0.8
The results of this study have been compared with a similar re- 0.6
cent study by Thamsiriroj and Murphy [35]. The literature study 0.4
yielded a net energy ratio of 2.64 which is quite similar to the cur- 0.2
0
rent study where the NER is 2.42. A detailed comparison showed
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
similar energy inputs and outputs at all stages of the life cycle;
Year
the main difference was the slightly higher productivity of oil palm
18.35 tFFB/ha/year [36] as compared to 17.19 tFFB/ha/year for Fig. 7. Raw material balance of CPO.

Table 2
Palm oil harvested area, palm oil production and the price of palm oil during 20032007 [39].

Year Palm oil harvested area (hectare) Palm oil production (metric ton) Price of power crop (baht/metric ton)
Central South Total Central South Total Palm oil
2003 19,023 268,880 287,903 293,392 4,609,183 4,902,575 2340
2004 21,062 288,553 309,615 310,358 4,871,439 5,181,797 3110
2005 22,515 301,677 324,192 311,647 4,691,023 5,002,670 2760
2006 28,436 351,436 379,872 428,707 5,812,046 6,240,753 2390
2007 32,718 405,530 438,248 497,508 6,880,722 7,378,230 3080
S214 S. Pleanjai, S.H. Gheewala / Applied Energy 86 (2009) S209S214
commercial primary energy, or 6540 ktoe, by the year 2011. A part
of the 8% goal is to be provided by biodiesel-based energy which
would require 3.96 million liters per day of biodiesel product.
The plan is to introduce B5 (5% biodiesel blended with diesel) in
the South and the Central Part of Thailand over the period 2007
2011. A 10% biodiesel blend is to be introduced countrywide from
2012 onwards. The demand for diesel is estimated at about 85 mil-
lion liters per day in 2012.
4. Conclusions
Biodiesel is an alternative, renewable fuel currently available
that has a high overall positive life cycle energy balance. The main
contributors to the energy use for palm methyl ester (PME) pro-
duction in Thailand are cultivation, oil production, transesterica-
tion and transportation. Taking into account only fossil fuel or
petroleum inputs in the production cycle, the energy analysis pro-
vides results in favour of PME in Thailand. The net energy balance
(NEB) and net energy ratio (NER) of biodiesel and its co-products
from the life cycle of PME are 100.84 GJ/ha and 3.58, respectively.
The NEB and NER of PME (without its co-products) are 55.51 GJ/ha
and 2.42, respectively.
In terms of NEB, PME performs better than CME partly due to its
high yield. For NER, PME and CME are in the same range. Jatropha
shows a very good performance for both NEB and NER if all the co-
products can be utilized for energy purposes. However, in terms of
biodiesel, PME still performs better than JME. This supports the
Government of Thailands policy to promote the use of palm oil
biodiesel as a renewable transportation fuel. Energy balance is as-
sessed as a rst step in evaluating the most appropriate feedstock
for biodiesel. The environmental and economic impacts should be
further studied for an overall assessment.
Acknowledgements
The authors are very grateful for the nancial support by the
Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment (JGSEE). We
would like to thank the staff at the Asian Palm Oil Co., Ltd., for
information of oil palm plantation and crude oil extraction. We
would also like to thank the staff at Chumporn Palm Oil Rening
Plant for rened palm oil production information. Special thanks
to the staff at the Royal Thai Navy plant for biodiesel production
information.
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