Rinwood Pelita (Mukah) Plantation Sdn Bhd is Konzen Clean Energy Sdn Bhd’s (KCE) partner in the development of the biogas Clean Development Mechanism project at Rinwood Palm Oil Mill (Rinwood). It is the first biogas CDM project with closed CSTR (Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor) anaerobic system in Sarawak. The project was registered with UNFCCC in Feb 2009 and site construction started in Nov 2009. Targeted completion date is in end of 2010.

At most palm oil mills in Malaysia, Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) is discharged from the mill and dumped into a series of open lagoons for anaerobic and aerobic treatments. With the high concentration of organic content in POME, the open lagoon anaerobic process will emit methane gas (a type of Green House Gas or GHG) to the environment. The project aims to treat POME by installing a Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR) anaerobic digester developed by KCE to trap and destroy the methane gas.

The closed anaerobic digester developed by Konzen adopts a series of treatment processes. It also features waste heat recovery and continues biogas mixing. Besides flaring, the biogas recovered can also be utilized for electricity power generation. At Rinwood, the potential power generation is up to 2.5 MW. The electricity generated can be utilized by the palm oil mill or sold to the grid. The robust and versatile system can be incorporated into the existing aerobic pond treatment for system improvement or upgrading.

The estimated GHG emissions reduction from the project is 43,152 t-CO2/year. The project is expected to achieve co-benefits through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the improvement of the existing POME treatment plant.