POTENTIAL LOCATIONS TO BUILD A BIOMASS POWER PLANT IN MALAYSIA

Malaysia is located in a region where biomass productivity is high which

means that the country can capitalize on this renewable energy resource to
supplements limited petroleum and coal reserves. Furthermore, Malaysia is a major
player in the palm oil and sago starch industries, produces a substantial amount of
agricultural biomass waste which present a great opportunity for harnessing biomass
energy in an eco-friendly and commercially viable manner.

There are 4 types of biomass, which are, wood and agricultural products, solid
waste, landfill gas and biogas, ethanol and biodiesel. In order to build a biomass
power plant for each of types above, we must at least consider these 4 factors of the
location. A factor is a criterion that will negatively or positively affects the possible
location for the energy production plant. The availability of biomass, the use of land,
the use of roads and the availability of electrical supply network were considered as
factors. Each of these factors was considered with a different relative weight.

Firstly, the availability of biomass. The district with a greater production of

biomass wastes were considered the most appropriate. For example, we can
consider Sabah (Sandakan), Sarawak, Johor (Pasir Gudang) and Pahang (Maran) as
a potential location to build a biomass power plant. It is because, these three states
have a largest area for oil palm plantation. Malaysia has approximately 4 million
hectares of land under oil palm plantation. Over 75% of total area planted in just four
states, Sabah, Johor, Pahang and Sarawak. The extraction of palm oil from palm
fruits results in a large quantity of waste in the form of palm kernel shells, empty fruit
brunches and mesocarp fibres. Processing crude palm oil generates a foul-smelling
effluent, called Palm Oil Mill Effluent or POME, which when treated using anaerobic
processes, releases biogas. Around 58 million tons of POME is produces in Malaysia
annually, which has the potential to produce an estimated 15million m^3 of biogas.

Other than palm oil biomass, Malaysia have rice husk. Rice husk is another
important agricultural biomass resource in Malaysia with a very good energy potential
for biomass cogeneration. An example of its attractive energy potential is biomass
power plant in the state of Perlis which uses rice husk as the main source of fuel and
generates 10MW power to meet the requirements of 30,000 household. Other than
that, municipal solid waste. The per capacity generation of solid waste in Malaysia
varies from 0.45 to 1.44kg/day depending on the economic status of an area.
Malaysian solid wastes contain very high organic waste and consequently high
moisture content and bulk density of above 200kg/m62. The high rate of population
growth is the country has resulted in rapid increase in solid waste generation which is
usually dumped in landfills. For example, Selangor is the state that has the highest
population in Malaysia.

Secondly, the use of land. The installation of an energy production plant must
comply with the legal requirements and land usage. Competition with other current
uses of the land must be avoided, allowing current activities to continue. The areas
considered feasible for the installation of a plant were those without vegetation,
meadows or scrub and were industrial use lands. Urban areas and lands of
agricultural use were considered unsuitable because other activities are carried out
there that are relevant to society.

Thirdly, the use of road. Connectivity is essential for the supply of raw
materials to the plant; thus, the transport of raw materials should be considered.
Therefore, a maximum distance of 0.1km between the energy plant and the road was
considered a priority. Moreover, the type of road material affects accessibility, and
thus, this was considered a factor.

Lastly, the availability of electrical supply network. The distance between the
energy production plant to the electrical network is relevant to the electricity
generated in the electrical supply network. If the distance between these two is short,
this would provide an economic benefit to plant installation. A maximum distance of 3
km between the energy plant and the electrical network was considered a priority.
REFERENCES

Celián Román-Figueroa, Sebastián Herrera and Manuel Paneque (January 9th 2019).
Selection of Optimal Localization for a Biomass Energy Plant that Uses Residual
Biomass as a Raw Material in the Araucanía Region of Chile, Biomass for Bioenergy
- Recent Trends and Future Challenges, Abd El-Fatah Abomohra, IntechOpen, DOI:
10.5772/intechopen.83526. Available from:
https://www.intechopen.com/books/biomass-for-bioenergy-recent-trends-and-future-
challenges/selection-of-optimal-localization-for-a-biomass-energy-plant-that-uses-
residual-biomass-as-a-raw-mat

Michael Cheang (25 September 2007). "Wind, Sun and Diesel". The Star (Malaysia).
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GE Energy signs equipment, service contracts for new Power Plant in Malaysia". Electric
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