GS Caltex to launch palm oil waste recycling project in Indonesia

(GS Caltex)

South Korean oil refining giant GS Caltex Corp. is launching an international initiative to produce biofuel feedstock and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using palm oil mill effluent (POME) from palm plantations in Indonesia.

The company announced on Tuesday that it was selected to carry out a project under the government’s “2025 International Greenhouse Gas Reduction Feasibility Study Support Program.”

POME, which is a byproduct of palm oil processing, is rich in organic matter and releases large amounts of methane during decomposition. Methane is a greenhouse gas approximately 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide and is considered one of the primary contributors to climate change.

GS Caltex is seeking to introduce a POME evaporation and concentration treatment facility for the first time in Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of palm oil.

This technology helps suppress the decomposition of POME to reduce methane emissions while recovering POME oil, which is then recycled as biofuel feedstock. The recovered POME oil will be used in the production of next-generation biofuels such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), while the remaining sludge and water will be reused as fertilizer and irrigation water for palm plantations to minimize overall waste.

GS Caltex plans to conduct a feasibility study over the next six months to assess the project’s greenhouse gas reduction potential and economic viability.