Palm Oil-Based Fuels are Not the Answer: Putting Our Eggs in the Wrong Basket

    Have you ever experienced a loss of innocence, the feeling of growing to understand the world around you and the resulting change in your mentality that comes along with it? It is a common experience, especially for those reaching adolescence. This loss of innocence is rooted in the inherent ignorance we possess as children. Children simply don't understand the complex reality of the world, and the evil it can possess. This ignorance is shed as they encounter harsh realities, personal betrayal, moral complexity, and a loss of idealized beliefs. By the time I became a college student, I thoroughly believed I had fully experienced my own loss of innocence. However, I once again encountered that old familiar feeling during my senior year of college in the most unexpected place.

    I was first approached by my friend Aaron during my junior year, who asked if I wanted to do a research project with him during our senior year. The project in question related to biofuels. Specifically, a way to synthesize jet fuel from a palm oil feedstock. The topic of the project made sense to me. After all, there is a pressing need for alternative energy supplies to replace petroleum. More than half of the world's current population will live in a world of drastically reduced petroleum usage. This claim is made with the assumption that individuals aged forty and under will live into the 2050s, which is commonly modeled to be the decade that oil supplies are expected to no longer meet global demand given the current rate of petroleum depletion [1]. As of now, humanity is consuming oil at an unsustainable rate, at about 100 million barrels of oil a day [2]. Most facets of modern living are enabled by oil: fuels synthesized from oil are used to generate electricity and power cars, trucks, trains, and planes. Oil and other fossil fuels are also the predominant fuel used to generate electricity. Over the next several years, petroleum depletion will radically change how the world operates; apart from struggling over the same pool of limited fossil fuel resources, humanity will be forced to find and develop alternative energy sources entirely. As a prospective chemical engineer, I knew all of this at the time. I was more than happy to accept Aaron's offer. I felt as if I would be helping the world wean off petroleum and transition towards a more sustainable, renewable resource. This idealism did not last long once I started the project.

    In theory, palm oil is sustainable and renewable. The palm oil trees can sequester CO2 from the atmosphere, and more can always be grown. This is in comparison to petroleum, which is completely non-renewable and has no CO2 sequestering capabilities. As the industry operates now, the process of refining and combusting petroleum leads to large quantities of greenhouse gases being released into the Earth's atmosphere; in the United States, 74% of anthropogenic CO2 emission rates are due to the consumption of fossil fuels [3]. "Palm oil has to be better than that," I thought to myself during my first few weeks working on the project. The first inkling of my ignorance came when conducting exploratory research for the project. I was surprised to find that as of 2019, the EU no longer classifies palm oil as a sustainable fuel source [4]. I was quick to dismiss what this fact meant, but as I continued my research, I was shocked by what I read.

    To start, palm oil plantations contribute heavily to deforestation.  The palm oil industry contributes to 2.6% of the world's deforestation [5]. Often, the deforestation occurs in areas of biodiverse tropical forests, especially in Southeast Asia. This destroys complex ecosystems and important habitats for endangered/vulnerable species. 193 different endangered/vulnerable species are experiencing habitat loss that is directly attributable to the palm oil industry. The use of fire to clear land has further negative environmental impacts. Large amounts of carbon dioxide are released in the process. Clearing dense tropical forests also removes a critical carbon sink. So while it is true that palm trees sequester CO2, they do a worse job in comparison to the trees that would have already been there [6].

    Speaking of greenhouse gases, after the environmental engineer in my research team conducted a lifecycle analysis (LCA), she determined that producing fuel from palm oil releases more CO2 into the atmosphere in comparison to petroleum [7]. 

 

Figure 1: LCA of Palm Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) vs Traditional Jet Fuel

    How is this possible? One of the major issues with biofuels is the energy-intensive processing required to create them. Oftentimes, these energy demands are met by fossil fuels. Industrial farming also requires the use of fertilizer, which is very energy intensive and has a large carbon footprint. Growing, harvesting, and transporting the palm fruit bundles also requires heavy machinery, which further releases CO2 into the air.

    It is safe to say at this point I was having doubts about the project. I was feeling the harsh reality and loss of idealism that I hadn't felt for so long once again. This feeling only compounded the further I researched. Aside from the dubious claims that palm oil is sustainable, the working conditions at palm oil plantations are terrible. Human rights violations occur often, including exploitation of impoverished workers. Workers are subjected to long hours and high production quotas. Often they are threatened with wage cuts or job loss if they fail to meet expectations. Many are paid based on output, resulting in withheld wages in cases of poor weather and equipment failure. Additionally, working conditions are often dangerous. Toxic pesticides are used in palm oil plantations, with little to no protective gear issued to the workers. This leads to serious health issues such as poisoning and long-term disabilities. Child workers are not an uncommon sight at a palm oil plantation. Often children will drop out of school to help their parents meet a certain quota. The countries that produce palm oil often crush any attempts to unionize, since they are very anti-communist. Overall, these conditions reflect systemic labor exploitation, unsafe workplaces, and violations of basic workers’ rights [8, 9].

    The final nail in the coffin for me was when I saw the results of our experiments.  The fuels that we produced had to be blended with traditional petroleum fuels in order to work. This was due to the complex blend of hydrocarbons required for a jet fuel to meet standards. Even if this transition were to happen, it was still reliant on petroleum, which was what this entire project was trying to avoid. 

 

Figure 2: Comparison of Hydrocarbons between SAF and JP-4 

    As I further my understanding of palm oil-based fuels, the more I understood how my initial optimism was built on ignorance. What I once saw as a promising sustainable alternative I now see as a messy "solution" entangled with deforestation, high greenhouse gas emission rates, and the violation of basic human rights. This loss of innocence made me confront the harsh reality that not all sustainable alternatives are what they appear to be. If humanity is to survive a future without fossil fuels, environmental responsibility and human dignity must be taken into account. This realization has inspired me to search for better, green alternatives. Algal oil is very promising, as it offers a more renewable path. Algal oil-based fuels avoid large-scale land use and do not compete with food production. It can also be produced in a more sustainable and ethical manner. Investing in and advancing these next-generation biofuels is not just a technical challenge, but a moral imperative. If we are to truly move beyond petroleum, we must be willing to question flawed solutions and commit to innovations that align with both our environmental goals and our ethical standards.