Alternative POME Treatment Technology in the Implementation of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO), and Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Standards Using LCA and AHP Methods

Muhammad Ansori Nasution, Ayu Wulandari, Tofael Ahamed and Ryozo Noguchi
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Muhammad Ansori Nasution: Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (IOPRI), Medan 20158, Indonesia
Ayu Wulandari: Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (IOPRI), Medan 20158, Indonesia
Tofael Ahamed: Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan
Ryozo Noguchi: Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a major concern as open lagoon technology is not environment-friendly. Therefore, the palm oil industry refers to a roundtable on sustainable palm oil (RSPO), Indonesian sustainable palm oil (ISPO), and Malaysian sustainable palm oil (MSPO) standards for POME treatment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. An alternative POME treatment technology is the combination of open lagoon technology (COLT) with composting, biogas technology plus composting, biogas technology plus membrane, and biogas technology plus land application. The objective of this study is to analyze the life cycle assessment (LCA) result using a multi-criteria decision approach and to determine the implementation of POME treatment in the RSPO, ISPO, and MSPO standards. The LCA system boundary was considered from gate-to-gate and unit per ton of fresh fruit bunch as a functional unit. SimaPro ® was used as the LCA analysis tool; Expert Choice ® and Super Decision Software ® were used to perform the analytic hierarchy process and analytic network process, respectively. In this study, COLT–Biogas plus composting technology had the maximum priority weight (0.470), according to the opinion of experts. The results could help palm oil mill decision-makers in choosing environment-friendly POME treatment technology.

Keywords: palm oil mill effluent; life cycle analysis; analytical hierarchy process; analytical network process; certification standard sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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