Analysis of near infra red (NIR) impact as the control process of a palm oil mill and refinery plant for environmental sustainability

Abstract

The development of the plantation sector in Indonesia is overgrowing. Industry, aside from being an indicator of potential economic activities and employment equity, impacts the environment. Processing of crude palm oil (CPO) into its derivatives through several stages of the process, sampling took in each stage of the process and analysis of samples by conventional methods that use chemicals that produce hazardous waste. The use of near infrared (NIR) in the samples does not require chemical substances, thereby reducing the amount of hazardous waste and thus causing less negative environmental impact compared to other analytical methods. Since the NIR analysis method does not require chemical substances, the timing of analysis becomes faster and more efficient, albeit at relatively high equipment prices. The purpose of this research is to analyze the effectiveness of NIR used as the process control. This study uses a statistical method to see the accuracy and precision. The result of this study show that the NIR analysis can shorten the analysis time compared to the primary standard method (extraction). With the NIR method, time taken from preparing the samples to data analysis obtained is ±5 minutes, while with the standard method (extraction) it takes 9.5 hours. This research will be expected as a literature review or reference in the assessment of the effectiveness of the use of NIR in reducing waste at various CPO refinery factories in Indonesia. It is expected that the result of this study is utilized as a stakeholder reference for NIR usage as the control process for environmental sustainability.