title: Life Cycle Assessment for the Production of Oil Palm Seeds.
abstract: The oil palm seed production unit that generates germinated oil palm seeds is the first link in the palm oil supply chain, followed by the nursery to produce seedling, the plantation to produce fresh fruit bunches (FFB), the mill to produce crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel, the kernel crushers to produce crude palm kernel oil (CPKO), the refinery to produce refined palm oil (RPO) and finally the palm biodiesel plant to produce palm biodiesel. This assessment aims to investigate the life cycle assessment (LCA) of germinated oil palm seeds and the use of LCA to identify the stage/s in the production of germinated oil palm seeds that could contribute to the environmental load. The method for the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is modelled using SimaPro version 7, (System for Integrated environMental Assessment of PROducts), an internationally established tool used by LCA practitioners. This software contains European and US databases on a number of materials in addition to a variety of European- and US-developed impact assessment methodologies. LCA was successfully conducted for five seed production units and it was found that the environmental impact for the production of germinated oil palm was not significant. The characterised results of the LCIA for the production of 1000 germinated oil palm seeds showed that fossil fuel was the major impact category followed by respiratory inorganics and climate change.
authors.affiliation: Analytical Research Group, Analytical and Quality Development Unit, Product Development and Advisory Services Division, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Halimah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Muhamad
authors.affiliation: Analytical Research Group, Analytical and Quality Development Unit, Product Development and Advisory Services Division, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Tan Yew
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Ai
authors.affiliation: Analytical Research Group, Analytical and Quality Development Unit, Product Development and Advisory Services Division, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Nik Sasha Khatrina
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Khairuddin
authors.affiliation: Analytical Research Group, Analytical and Quality Development Unit, Product Development and Advisory Services Division, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohd Din
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Amiruddin
authors.affiliation: Analytical Research Group, Analytical and Quality Development Unit, Product Development and Advisory Services Division, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Choo Yuen
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: May
keywords: Environmental Impact; Germinated Oil Palm Seeds; LCA; LCI; LCIA