Oil palm blooms all year round and can be harvested all year round. It has a 25-year history of commercial production. With the development of the palm oil market and the increase in international demand, the total output of palm oil will increase in the next few years. In Southeast Asia, the main palm oil producers are Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Indonesia and Malaysia are the world’s largest palm oil producers, and the output of the two countries accounts for about 70-80% of the world’s total output.
Generally speaking, palm oil waste includes palm oil mill effluent (POME), empty fruit bunches (EFB), palm oil mill sludge (POMS), oil palm leaves, oil palm trunks (OPT), filter cakes, seed shells and palm pressed fiber (PPF). For every ton of palm oil extracted, 6 tons of old leaves, 1 ton of tree (OPF), trunks, 5 tons of empty fruit bunches, 1 ton of peel fiber, 0.5 tons of palm kernel shells, 0.25 tons of pomace and 3 tons of palm oil mill effluent are required.
These wastes account for a large proportion in the palm oil production process. In the long run, recycling these wastes is the proper treatment measure. Using palm oil waste residue to produce organic fertilizer can not only reduce environmental problems, but also help the government solve municipal problems. It is the best fertilizer for palm trees.
Using palm oil waste residue to produce organic fertilizer
Indonesia is the world’s largest palm oil producer, accounting for nearly 45% of the world’s total production. The number of empty fruit bunches is large, but it is difficult to degrade. Palm oil mill sludge (POMS) has a high oil content and is the main burden of oil production plants. It has become an ecological problem that the Indonesian government needs to solve urgently.
Empty fruit bunches, palm oil mill sludge, palm leaves and shells are used as raw materials to produce biohumic acid fertilizers for use in oil palm plantations. It can reduce the use of chemical fertilizers, improve soil, enhance vitality, increase yield, improve the sustainable planting capacity of oil palm plantations, and promote the sustainable development of Indonesian palm.
Empty fruit bunches
Refers to the waste left after oil palm threshing. The empty fruit bunches of oil palm are directly discarded as garbage, which not only pollutes the environment, but also wastes a lot of materials. In order to solve this problem, it is used to produce organic fertilizer, so that organic fertilizer can be made, waste is mainly used, and a large number of empty fruit bunches of oil palm are disposed of at the same time, which helps to reduce environmental pollution.
Palm oil mill sludge
Palm oil mill sludge contains a variety of nutrients. Sludge produced during wastewater treatment can be used to make organic fertilizer. It undergoes high-temperature aerobic fermentation, which is conducive to plant growth. No composting is required. Although it can be used directly as fertilizer, the sludge contains some bacteria, which is not good for plants.
Palm oil mill sludge can be obtained from palm oil wastewater. POME is wastewater produced during palm oil production. It consists of 95% water, 4-5% total solids and 0.6-0.7 oil. Due to its high organic matter content, it is suitable for the production of organic fertilizer. More importantly, it solves the problem of palm oil plants. It is also conducive to the growth of plants.
Oil palm leaves
It can be used to produce organic fertilizer. There are 12 tons of old oil palm leaves per hectare every year. Old leaves can be divided into two parts: leaflets and rachis. Leaflets mainly contain nitrogen, and rachis contain potassium. If there are 136 oil palm trees per hectare, and 24 old leaves are cut off every year, the nutrients provided by the old leaves in a year are as follows.
It has 136 kg of ammonia, 10 kg of phosphorus, 183 kg of potassium and 17 kg of magnesium. From the statistical results, it can be seen that the organic matter content in oil palm leaves is very high. Similarly, oil palm leaves need to be fermented. Once oil palm leaves are used to produce organic fertilizer, it will help both palm oil manufacturers and farmers. It can prevent soil erosion and improve soil structure.
Organic fertilizer production mainly includes several steps of crushing, composting and granulation.
Crushing
The first step is to crush the raw materials. The empty fruit bunches of oil palm should be cut into filaments. The length of the filaments is preferably 3cm, so as to increase the surface area of the filaments, increase the fermentation speed and shorten the fermentation time. The shells can be cut into particles of 3-10mm in size, and the oil palm leaves are chopped as much as possible. In this process, it is suitable to use a semi-wet material crusher to crush these materials, which can meet the needs of mixing palm oil waste residues, with high efficiency and short time.
Adding materials
According to different needs, appropriate additives can be added before composting. Common additives include urea, sludge, fermentation strains, etc. First add an appropriate amount of sludge or peat soil. You can add a little to one kilogram of sludge or peat soil to one kilogram of palm oil waste, and then add an appropriate amount of microbial agents and urea, fermentation strains.
After adding materials, the carbon-ammonia ratio should reach 25:1-30:1. Palm oil mill wastewater can be used in this step. Due to its high nutrient content, it is the best additive for producing organic fertilizer. In addition, the heavy metal content at the bottom of the wastewater is lower than the standard level. When it is added to oil palm, it is harmless to plants. Therefore, it can increase the yield of palm oil.
Composting
It is a key step in the production of organic fertilizer using palm oil waste. During the fermentation process, a compost turner can be used to fully ferment the material. During the composting process, the temperature is best controlled between 60-75℃℃, the pH value is controlled between 5.5-8.5, and the moisture content of the fermented material is controlled at about 35% during fermentation, which is conducive to the next step of granulation. The length of time is affected by the fermentation temperature, the turning rate, and the water content.
The fermentation temperature should be appropriate. Too high or too low is not conducive to composting. The water content of the material should be fully controlled during the fermentation process so that the material can be fermented quickly. The number of turning the palm oil waste residue should also be reasonable. Too many turnings will not only increase the labor cost to a certain extent, but also accelerate the evaporation of the material’s moisture, affecting the composting effect.
Granulation
After composting, granulation can be carried out according to different needs. According to the test data of the fully fermented material, a small amount of inorganic materials, including N, P, K, Ca and Mg, are added to make it meet the organic fertilizer material standard or meet the needs of various oil palm plantations for the use of organic fertilizer. Then it can be made into granules by a fertilizer granulator. They are cylindrical granules with a particle size of 0.8-10cm. The extrusion granulator can improve the granulation effect and make the granules reach the optimal size.
After composting and granulation are completed, they can be dried, cooled and screened. The material should be dried and cooled after granulation. It should be kept dry to make the organic fertilizer easy to preserve. Finally, the organic fertilizer is packaged.
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