Unlocking the environmental hotspots of palm biodiesel upstream production in Malaysia via life cycle assessment

Abstract Palm biodiesel has emerged as a potential renewable fuel to substitute vehicle fossil fuel in Malaysia. The embodied environmental impacts due to palm biodiesel upstream production processes are often overlooked and not thoroughly investigated. This study identifies the environmental hotspots of all palm biodiesel upstream production processes (from palm tree cultivation to refined palm biodiesel production) using life cycle assessment methodology. The result shows that the major environmental hotspots are the agricultural stage (fresh fruit bunch plantation) and milling stage, totaling up to 81–92% of the overall environmental loads. Fossil fuel utilization, chemical fertilizers application, and transportation are the key activities that induce the overall upstream burdens, contributing to 69–82% of the damage assessment. The findings reveal that air particulate matters, greenhouse gases, and heavy metals are the main chemical compounds that escalate the environmental burdens in major environmental hotspots in the upstream processes. A configuration setup of crude palm kernel oil plant located within the mill with anaerobic digestion shows a reduction of 4.13–12.2% of environmental impacts compared to the baseline scenario in Malaysia. This study suggests practical environmental reduction solutions to allow stakeholders to construct a more sustainable palm biodiesel upstream production.