BACKGROUND

The abundance of natural resources and a favourable climate of Malaysia make it

possible to have commercial cultivation of crops such as oil palm. Up to the year of 2008, the

total plantation area of oil palm in Malaysia was approximately 4487957 ha and it was

reported that a total of 423 palm oil mills could be found in Malaysia in 2005 with a

production capacity of about 89 million tonnes of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) per year. The

processing of palm oil leads to wastes which include palm oil mill effluent (POME), decanter

cake, empty fruit bunches, seed shells and fibre from the mesocarp. These wastes have to be

properly treated in order to avoid any environmental damage. Thus, it is crucial to determine

the best way of treating the wastes and since the wastes are originally organic, they can be

turned into organic compost as they are rich in plant nutrients.

Organic compost is a type of compost prepared using organic sources. Organic compost

is safe to be used in organic gardening and it is easy to produce, making it possible to be

produced at home or on a commercial scale. Commercial organic compost however, is more

expensive than conventional compost and this is due to the fact that commercial organic

compost requires more work and attention when being produced as to ensure that the

compounds or materials in the compost are truly organic. One of the ways of producing

organic compost is by using palm oil mill wastes. As mentioned before, palm oil mill wastes

that are suitable to be used to form organic compost consist of palm oil mill effluent (POME),

decanter solids (DS), empty fruit bunches (EFB), palm kernel shell (PKS) and also fibre from

mesocarp.

POME is rich in nutrients making it suitable to be made into organic compost that could

be used in plantations. This compost has the ability to increase the yield of the plantation

which leads to more income and profits to the farmers. It is also possible to use POME as

land application to provide nutrients for plantation. Table 1.1 below shows the characteristics

of POME that make it suitable to be turned into organic compost:

Parameter Concentration

(mg/L)

Element Concentration

(mg/L)

Oil & grease 4,000 Potassium 2,270

BOD 25,000 Magnesium 2

COD 50,000 Calcium 439

Total solids 40,500 Phosphorus 180

Suspended solids 18,000 Iron 46.5

Total volatile solids 34,000 Boron 7.6

Total Nitrogen 750 Zinc 2.3

Nitrate 35 Manganese 615

PH 4.7 (no unit) Copper 0.89

Table 1.1: Characteristics of Plam Oil Mill Effluent (POME)

Figure 1.1: Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)

Besides POME, decanter solid can also be used to produce organic compost. Decanter

soild contains high nutrients and is suitable as an organic fertilizer. The experiment done by

Malaysia Palm Oil Board (MPOB) showed that fertilizer produced from decanter solid has

approximately the same quality and effectiveness as the standard inorganic fertilizer. Another

palm oil mill waste that is suitable to form organic compost is empty fruit bunches (EFB).

Generally, in order to produce organic compost from EFB, aerobic composting method can

be applied. Aerobic composting is a controlled biological decomposition of organic materials

which produces organic fertilizers. It requires a large amount of oxygen especially in its early

stage and low oxygen supply might result in slow decomposition. Table 1.2 below shows the

characteristics of EFB, showing the elements and their concentration present in EFB:

Element Concentra-

tion

Element Concentra-

tion

Element Concentration

Total

Carbon

43.70% Phosphorus 0.05% Moisture 70%

Total

Nitrogen

0.52% Iron 649ppm Holocellulose 19.65

Potassium 1.34% Boron 4ppm Lignin 6.36%

Magnesium 20ppm Zinc 21ppm Hot water

soluble

1.65

Calcium 0.19% Manganese 0.07% Alcohol

Benzene

1.23%

Sulfur 0.07ppm Copper 13ppm

Table 1.2: Characteristics of Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB)

Figure 1.2: Decanter Solid

Figure 1.2: Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB)

In addition to POME, DS and EFB, palm kernel shell and fibre from mesocarp are also

suitable to be made into organic compost due to the presence of high nutrients for plantation.

The detail information on how these palm oil mill wastes are turned into organic compost

will be discussed in the later sections of this report.

Figure 1.3: Palm Kernel Shell

Figure 1.4: Palm Oil Mill Waste Fibre

There are of course some reasons as to why organic compost is widely used and some

comparison between organic compost and inorganic compost can be made. One of the

benefits of using compost as an organic fertilizer is its low production cost. As mentioned

earlier in the report, organic compost is easy to produce and doesn’t require complicated

equipments or machineries. Thus, making organic compost becomes easy, cheap and

sometimes free as it can also be made at home using the home wastes. Apart from that, since

organic compost is rich in nutrients, it definitely helps to improve soil structure, texture and

aeration. Organic compost also stimulates healthy root development and improves the

environment as it is natural-source compost. A compost pile is an excellent means of

disposing of organic debris, leaves, food wastes, grass clippings and many more. Besides

that, organic compost may also help to increase yield and directly fertilize plants and at the

same time, improves the biodiversity or soil life as well as long-term productivity of soil.

However, organic compost also has some disadvantages. One of the advantages is that

transporting large amount of organic compost will require high cost due to the fact that it is a

dilute source of nutrients which makes it difficult to be transported. In addition, organic

compost tends to have a more complex composition and variable compared to that of

standardized inorganic compost. It is also important to note that improperly-processed

organic compost might contain some pathogens that might be harmful to the living life. Thus,

proper composting is crucial in order to avoid any damage that might be caused by the

pathogens.

As for inorganic compost which is produced by synthetic chemicals and minerals, it has

quite a number of problems. Firstly, inorganic compost shows trace mineral depletion over

time. Many inorganic composts do not restore or replace trace mineral elements in the soil

which in the end leads to mineral depletion. Secondly, too much of inorganic compost might

result in a drying out of the roots or even leads to the death of the plant. Thus, it is important

to know the suitable amount of inorganic compost that should be used or applied to the

specific plant. The production of inorganic compost will in the end produce ammonia. The

production of this synthetic ammonia consumes high energy from the global natural gas

which is quite costly. So it can be seen that the production of inorganic compost requires a

higher cost compared to that of organic compost. Comparing these two types of composts i.e.

organic and inorganic compost, it is seen that organic compost nutrient content, nutrient

release rate and solubility is basically lower than that of inorganic compost. Thus, it can be

concluded that organic compost might be preferred than inorganic compost due to its

advantages and benefits. However, it is also important to bear in mind that organic compost

also has some disadvantages which can be prevented.

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