Assessing the Environmental Performance of Palm Oil Biodiesel Production in Indonesia: A Life Cycle Assessment Approach

Abstract

The production of palm oil biodiesel in Indonesia has the potential to negatively impact the environment if not managed properly. Therefore, we conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) study on the production of palm oil biodiesel to assess the environmental performance in Indonesia. Using an LCA approach, we analyzed the environmental indicators, including the carbon footprint, as well as the harm to human health, ecosystem diversity, and resource availability in palm oil biodiesel production. The functional unit in this study was 1 ton of biodiesel. The life cycle of palm oil biodiesel production consists of three processing units, namely the oil palm plantation, palm oil production, and biodiesel production. The processing unit with the greatest impact on the environment was found to be the oil palm plantation. The environmental benefits, namely the use of phosphate, contributed 62.30% of the 73.40% environmental benefit of the CO2 uptake from the oil palm plantation processing unit. The total human health damage of the life cycle of palm oil biodiesel production was 0.00563 DALY, while the total ecosystem’s diversity damage was 2.69 × 10−5 species·yr. Finally, we concluded that the oil palm plantation processing unit was the primary contributor of the carbon footprint, human health damage, and ecosystem diversity damage, while the biodiesel production processing unit demonstrated the highest damage to resource availability.