The Oil Palm Governance: Challenges of Sustainability Policy in Indonesia

Soil physicochemical properties change by age of the oil palm crop

For decades there have been controversies related to the changes generated by oil palm plantations in the physicochemical properties of the soil, soil biota, and ecological interactions. Therefore, the present investigation evaluated root diameter and biomass at three ages of oil palm cultivation. Besides, we evaluated the effect of the ages on the physicochemical parameters of the soil in comparison with pasture plots. To know the diameter, fresh, and dry biomass of roots, soil sampling was carried out around the oil palm (3-, 5-, and 15-years-old) at distances of 1, 2, and 3 m from the trunk plant. Also, to know the changes in the properties of the soil, the sampling was carried out randomly in the same plots and the pasture plot (control). The results showed that both the diameter and the fresh and dry root biomass increased in 15-year-old plantations compared with 3- and 5-year-old. In addition, correlation analysis and principal component analysis indicated that the parameters evaluated are associated with the adult age of the oil palm. Also, the results of soil physicochemical showed that low soil fertility was associated with an increase in the age of the palm.

Understanding the bioeconomy through its instruments: standardizing sustainability, neoliberalizing bioeconomies?

Sustainability standards have been one of the hopefuls for decades when it comes to ensuring the sustainability of biomass for the bioeconomy, especially in the wake of their evolvement from voluntary, non-governmental to hybrid, public-private governance instruments in recent years. In addition to doubts regarding their legitimacy and effectiveness, however, they have also been associated with a neoliberalization of nature that integrates natural resources into a free market logic. Drawing on a conceptual framework that builds on political ecology and the political sociology of policy instruments, this paper challenges this notion. To this end, it examines sustainability standards in three countries/regions particularly prominent for the bioeconomy-the EU, Brazil, and Indonesia-to illustrate how these can be differentiated in terms of their neoliberal orientation, and what can be inferred from this for the orientation and state of the respective bioeconomies. The results show that the introduction of sustainability standards is not necessarily accompanied by a neoliberalization of nature. Rather, it is shown that the standards and their specific designs-and thus also their intrinsic understanding of sustainability as integration-are primarily intended to serve the material interests of the state and the respective industrial factions, for which neoliberal configurations are sometimes seen as rather obstructive, sometimes as rather useful. The sustainability standards, and thus the bioeconomies for which they stand, therefore, rather serve as instruments to stay on the path of modernization and industrial development already taken or envisaged, or, put differently, as strategies to avoid social-ecological transformation.

The Experimental Study of Pangium Edule Biodiesel in a High-Speed Diesel Generator for Biopower Electricity

Despite the rapid development of electric vehicles, the shrinking number of fossil fuels that are the source of electricity remains conventional. The availability of energy sources and technology is sometimes naturally limited, high-priced, and might be politically circumscribed. This leads to an increased desirability of biodiesel due to its modest and economically higher energy density in comparison to batteries. The palm oil industry accounts for 23% of total deforestation in Indonesia. Contrary to palm oil, pangium edule (PE) is considered more sustainable and it intercrops with most of the forest’s vegetation while supplying biodiesel feedstock. A relatively higher pangium edule methyl ester (PEME) was delivered through PE feedstock, provided that it was processed with a heterogeneous catalyst, K2O/PKS-AC. This feedstock consumed a lower alcohol ratio and had a reasonably swift production process without sacrificing biodiesel quality. Therefore, this study aims to assess the performance of the PE biodiesel blend in a power generator. Furthermore, PEME was blended with diesel fuel in the variation of B0, B20, B30, B40, and B100. It was also tested with four-stroke single-cylinder diesel power generators to produce electricity. The B30 blend stands out in this experiment, achieving the highest engine power of 0.845 kW at a low load and dominating at a higher load with a minimum fuel consumption of 1.33 kg/h, the lowest BSFC of 0.243 kg/kWh, and second in BTE values at 21.16%. The result revealed that the main parameters, which include actual and specific fuel consumption, and the thermal efficiency of PE biodiesel performed satisfactorily. Although there was a slight decrease in the total power delivered, the overall performance was comparable to petroleum diesel.