detailed greenhouse gas budget for palm oil production

• Published in: International journal of agricultural sustainability 2010-08, Vol.8 (3), p.199-214
• Main Authors: Chase, Laurence D.C, Henson, Ian E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: air pollution; Arecaceae; Biodiesel fuels; Biomass; Budgets; By products; Carbon dioxide; Carbon sequestration; Climate change; crop production; Crop rotation; Emissions; Estimates; Fertilizers; food processing; gas emissions; Grasslands; Greenhouse effect; greenhouse gas emissions; Greenhouse gases; land use change; land-use conversion; literature reviews; methane; Net losses; Nitrous oxide; palm oil; palm oils; Petroleum industry; quantitative analysis; Rubber; soil organic carbon; Vegetable oils
• ISSN: 1473-5903; 1747-762X
• DOI: 10.3763/ijas.2010.0461

We have evaluated the global warming impact of palm oil production in a model that simulates the operations of a typical palm oil mill that processes fruit from a nucleus estate and outgrowers. It estimates carbon sequestration in the crop and in mill products and by-products, and balances this against the major sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs), all converted to carbon dioxide equivalents (CO 2 -e) over the 25-year lifespan of the crop. The model shows that most carbon sequestration occurs in the standing crop, with smaller amounts in mill products and by-products. Land-use conversion plays a dominant role in the GHG budget, with planting of oil palm after logged forest or rubber leading to a net loss of carbon, and to a net gain following grassland. In the default oil-palm-to-oil-palm case the carbon lost from cleared palms is balanced by sequestration in the current crop. Methane from mill effluent and nitrous oxide from N fertilizers are the next most important emission sources. The default replant case gives net emissions of 0.86t CO 2 -e per t crude palm oil, but these can be reduced to very low values, mainly through conversion of methane and surplus fuel in the mill to energy.