Study of geothermal brine direct use for crude palm oil (CPO) factory in Indonesia

Abstract

Palm oil is edible oil which extracted from the pulp of fruit oil palms. The use of this oil is mainly for cooking purposes. In Indonesia, crude palm oil production has a huge role for Indonesia's economics, because Indonesia is the largest crude palm oil producers in the world, with expected annual production of 27 million tons in 2017. In crude palm oil factories, there are several components, mainly in crude palm oil purifier, which would need some heating process. The heating temperature would need around 45-100 °C for purifying processes and around 140 °C for fruits boiling process. In the conventional crude palm oil factories, this heating process is conducted by an industrial boiler. This paper would propose a design for a crude palm oil factory modification from the conventional factory into a modified factory where the heating process would be using geothermal brine. A study case of using geothermal brine for CPO factory utilization is also conducted in Y geothermal field in Indonesia. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the geothermal fluids can substitute industrial boiler in CPO factory.