Published on October 18, 2005

Factory able to produce its own power

Asian Palm Oil Co Ltd, one of the biggest palm-oil producers in Krabi, has managed to cut the pollution discharged by its factory by as much 80 per cent using

an environmentally safe production system.

The system was the brainchild of the company’s research team, which had help from Thammasat University.

Managing director Nipon Udompholkul said the system yields biogas from wastewater

that can be used to produce electricity.

That electricity is in turn consumed at the factory.

This has allowed the plant to generate 93 per cent of its own electricity needs. State-owned Egat Plc supplies the rest.

The company also transmits some of the biogas-generated electricity to Egat to supply about 300 families living in surrounding areas.

Nipon said Asian Palm Oil’s system was the first of its kind in the country.

Two other palm-oil makers in Surat Thani use a similar technique but they are still re-leasing large amounts of wastewater.

The Asia Palm Oil system eliminates most water pollution by reducing the level of bio-chemical oxygen from 200-250 milligrams to 20-50 milligrams.

Nipon said the factory em-ployed a closed-anaerobic-tank system for managing wastewater, which is derived from the production of crude palm oil.

The outcome is biogas that can produce electricity.

At present, the factory is producing about 6,000 litres of biogas a day from the wastewater.

The environmental safety

project was initiated in 1998 after people living nearby complained about the pollution being discharged by the factory. It began operating in 2002.

Apart from reducing pollution, the company is also saving on

energy costs, said the plant’s manager, Chanchit Nawongsri.

The project also supports the country’s renewable energy project and Krabi province’s strategic policy to produce electricity from wastewater-derived biogas, Chanchit said.

He said the company had spent Bt22 million installing the environmental safety system and expected to receive a return on its investment within five

years.

There are 18 palm oil manu-facturers in Krabi, but Asian

Palm Oil is the only factory with such an environmental safety system.

More than 80 per cent of Asian Palm Oil’s crude palm oil is consumed domestically.

Petchanet Praturangkrai

The Nation

Krabi

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