KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia based Aqua Eco (AquaEco) director Andrew Liew has announced a world first with the invention of a ‘green tech’ palm oil system to enhance oil extraction yields in line with the government’s national industry objectives.
According to Liew, who is also the green technology company’s principal shareholder, the system – called AquaEco-SRORS – is a world first because it is the “first proven and commercially viable palm oil raw sludge filtration system.”
He said this new invention will increase OER (oil extraction rate) revenue for millers by about RM3.8 million (US$850,000).
“AquaEco-SRORS enables the extraction of up to 80 percent of the oil in the raw palm oil sludge,” Liew said. “This translates to an improvement of 0.4 percent – 0.6 percent in OER [accounting for the RM3.8 million revenue increase].”
“In addition, there is reduction of bio-gas emission by about 70 percent [estimated average depending on the mill’s processes], and the output of an oil-free filtrate with no suspended solids – which is discharged into waste water treatment ponds,” he said.
“This is a really big deal for palm oil millers as this technology drastically reduces the high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) in waste water- this uplift the entire state of the industry to be much cleaner and environmentally friendly,” Liew added.