Production of palm biofuels toward sustainable development

Abstract

The oil palm presents a comparatively advantageous source of feedstock for biofuels production compared to other first-generation biofuel feedstocks. Among the sources of feedstocks for biofuel production currently available and developed in the world, the oil palm is the prime option which fulfills the sustainability criteria for high productivity, efficiency, competitive price discounts, and above all it is cost effective. Biofuels produced from oil palm biomass would be considered sustainable only when all the production chains from oil palm cultivation to biofuels production (including the production of input materials and energy) are within the acceptable production criteria for sustainable oil palm and biofuels developments. In order for the oil palm industry to fully accomplish the objectives of sustainable oil palm biofuels production, Malaysia and Indonesia are currently ensuring the implementation of stringent sustainability standards via best management practices especially for the production of palm biofuels so as to improve yield and reduce the amount of input resources. This chapter highlights on some best management practices involving globally accepted initiatives for sustainable oil palm agriculture, palm oil milling, and refining as well as different production routes to palm biofuels production. Integration of different production routes for various types of palm biofuels through effective utilization of wastes for sustainable development are also elaborated in this chapter. © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2013.