ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF FATTY ACIDS PRODUCTION FROM PALM OIL USING LIFE CYCLE APPROACH

Abstract

To date, no comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) study has been conducted on palm-based fatty acids, the powerhouse of the oleochemical industry. Thus, a cradle-to-gate LCA for the production of palm-based fatty acids in Malaysia was performed to assess their potential environmental impacts. The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) findings showed that the significant impacts for palm-based fatty acids were mainly attributed to the production of the feedstocks used, which are crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) and refined, bleached and deodorised palm stearin (RBDPS). The greenhouse gas (GHG) emission for the fatty acids studied is in the range of 1.39-9.43 kg CO2 eq. per kg fatty acid and dropped to a range of 0.07-0.18 kg CO2 eq. per kg fatty acids by excluding contributions from the production of feedstock. For CPKO-based fatty acid production, the energy substitution using oil palm biomass led to a reduction of up to 13% in global warming potential compared to grid electricity. The findings from this study can be used to establish baseline information on the environmental profile of fatty acids and draw up policies pertaining to the carbon credit scheme or green labelling for the sustainable production of palm-based fatty acids in the future.