Emission factor establishment for palm oil mill boiler

Emission factors of various particle sizes (pm2.5 and pm10 and total particulate) of particulate matter from boiler of palm oil mill plant fully equipped with a multidust cyclone were established and reported in this paper. the 13,600 kg steam/ h capacity of water-tube typed boiler used in the mill study processes800 million tonnes per day of fresh fruit bunch (ffb). the samples of the dust were collected iso-kinetically using the usepa method 17 sampling train through a sampling port located after a multidust cyclone unit. results showed that the total dust emitted from the palm oil mill‘s boiler 1 varies from 29.275 to 59.893 g/s with an average of 41.913±13.48 g/s,whereas for boiler 2 the emission varies from 12.909 to 19.212g/s with an average of 17.127±2.875 g/s. based on the actual boiler capacity (bc),the calculated emission factor for total dust for boiler 1 is 11.094±3.569 g/kg,whereas for boiler 2 it is 4.533±0.761 g/kg. for the various particle sizes of particulate matter,the pm10 emission factor from boilers 1 and 2 are 1.518±0.625 g/kg and 1.034±0.173 g/kg respectively. meanwhile,the emission factor of pm2.5 for boilers 1 and 2 are0.259±0.083 g/kg and 0.173±0.029 g/kg. data on emission factors of pm2.5 and pm10,as established in this study,are very important as the emitted pollutants may pose significant health impacts,which have been a widely recognized yet almost unsolvable problem in palm oil industries. establishment of efs of pollutants from palm oil mill is extremely needed so that emissions can be estimated earlier,before any new mill is built or an existing mill is expanded. the establishment of efs for palm oil mills will definitely benefit various parties including the industries,authorities,policy makers and societies. © school of engineering,taylor’s university.