The drivers of industry 4.0 in a circular economy: The palm oil industry in Malaysia

Huge generation of oil palm biomass has stimulated the development of biorefineries for synthesis of bioproducts. By targeting the palm oil industry and the biorefineries as the consumers of these products, a sustainable circular economy can be created by recycling the biomass wastes to the said consumers. To evaluate the techno-economic feasibility of the sustainable circular economy, a mathematical model demonstrating the biomass network with consideration of recycling is developed in this work. Besides, Process Graph (P-graph) is incorporated to perform the combinatorial optimization of the biomass network, which targets three common resources: fertilizer, steam, and electricity for regeneration and recycling. Although the result shows that the linear economy model is preferred in terms of profitability, the circular economy model shows potential in reducing 39.292% of the imported steam and 13.469% of the imported electricity, while being 0.642% lower in terms of the gross profit. Three scenarios are then proposed to identify the potential bottleneck that can hinder the implementation of the sustainable circular economy approach, with the aid of sensitivity analysis. This work is expected to benefit the biomass-based industry sectors and the policymakers on future development and transition to the sustainable circular economy.

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A review of industry 4.0 revolution potential in a sustainable and renewable palm oil industry: HAZOP approach

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews ◽

10.1016/j.rser.2020.110223 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 135 ◽

pp. 110223 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Chun Hsion Lim ◽

Steven Lim ◽

Bing Shen How ◽

Wendy Pei Qin Ng ◽

Sue Lin Ngan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Palm Oil ◽

Industry 4.0 ◽

Oil Industry

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Expanding N. I. Palm Oil Industry Depends on U. S.

Far Eastern Survey ◽

10.1525/as.1938.7.13.01p0576c ◽

1938 ◽

Vol 7 (13) ◽

pp. 153-154

Author(s):

G. vE.

Keyword(s):

Palm Oil ◽

Oil Industry

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PEMETAAN TEKNOLOGI INDUSTRI KELAPA SAWIT NASIONAL DAN KEBIJAKAN PENGEMBANGANNYA

Jurnal Sains dan Teknologi Indonesia ◽

10.29122/jsti.v13i1.876 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Subiyanto Subiyanto

Keyword(s):

Palm Oil ◽

Government Policy ◽

Value Chain ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Value Added ◽

Oil Industry ◽

Missing Value ◽

Technology Capability ◽

The Government

Palm oil industry in Indonesia has been growing rapidly. But, unfortunately the growth is only effective on upstream industry with low value products, such that potential downstream value added are not explored proportionally. The government is therefore in the process of developing an appropriate policy to strengthen the national palm oil downstream industry. This paper proposes that an approriate policy for developing palm oil downstream industry could be derived from the maps of value chain and existing technology capability of the industry. The result recommends that government policy should emphasize on the supply of raw materials, infrastructure and utilities, as well as developing the missing value chain industry, especially ethoxylation and sulfonation.

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Emerging Industrial Revolution: Symbiosis of Industry 4.0 and Circular Economy: The Role of Universities

Science Technology and Society ◽

10.1177/0971721820912918 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 25 (3) ◽

pp. 505-525 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Seeram Ramakrishna ◽

Alfred Ngowi ◽

Henk De Jager ◽

Bankole O. Awuzie

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Industry 4.0 ◽

Business Models ◽

Industrial Revolution ◽

New Technologies ◽

Production Systems ◽

Fourth Industrial Revolution ◽

New Jobs

Growing consumerism and population worldwide raises concerns about society’s sustainability aspirations. This has led to calls for concerted efforts to shift from the linear economy to a circular economy (CE), which are gaining momentum globally. CE approaches lead to a zero-waste scenario of economic growth and sustainable development. These approaches are based on semi-scientific and empirical concepts with technologies enabling 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and 6Rs (reuse, recycle, redesign, remanufacture, reduce, recover). Studies estimate that the transition to a CE would save the world in excess of a trillion dollars annually while creating new jobs, business opportunities and economic growth. The emerging industrial revolution will enhance the symbiotic pursuit of new technologies and CE to transform extant production systems and business models for sustainability. This article examines the trends, availability and readiness of fourth industrial revolution (4IR or industry 4.0) technologies (for example, Internet of Things [IoT], artificial intelligence [AI] and nanotechnology) to support and promote CE transitions within the higher education institutional context. Furthermore, it elucidates the role of universities as living laboratories for experimenting the utility of industry 4.0 technologies in driving the shift towards CE futures. The article concludes that universities should play a pivotal role in engendering CE transitions.

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The “ReWaste4.0” Project—A Review

Processes ◽

10.3390/pr9050764 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. 764

Author(s):

Renato Sarc

Keyword(s):

Circular Economy ◽

Industry 4.0 ◽

Waste Treatment ◽

Digital Communication ◽

Review Article ◽

Plant Performance ◽

Energy Materials ◽

Treatment Processes ◽

Mixed Waste ◽

Further Development

ReWaste4.0 is an innovative and cooperative K-Project in the period 2017–2021. Through ReWaste4.0 the transformation of the non-hazardous mixed municipal and commercial waste treatment industry towards a circular economy has started by investigating and applying the new approaches of the Industry 4.0. Vision of the ReWaste4.0 is, among others, the development of treatment plants for non-hazardous waste into a “Smart Waste Factory” in which a digital communication and interconnection between material quality and machine as well as plant performance is reached. After four years of research and development, various results have been gained and the present review article summarizes, links and discuss the outputs (especially from peer-reviewed papers) of seven sub-projects, in total, within the K-project and discusses the main findings and their relevance and importance for further development of the waste treatment sector. Results are allocated into three areas, namely: contaminants in mixed waste and technical possibilities for their reduction as well as removal; secondary raw and energy materials in mixed waste and digitalization in waste characterization and treatment processes for mixed waste. The research conducted in ReWaste4.0 will be continued in ReWaste F for further development towards a particle-, sensor- and data-based circular economy in the period 2021–2025.

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