Circular Economy Approach on Decarbonization by Repurposing Used Cooking Oil for Nickel Smelter – A Case Study of PT Megah Surya Pertiwi, Obi Island, North Maluku, Indonesia

Abstract This research was instigated by the world’s endeavours to fight dependency on fossil energy sources. While coal prevails as a beneficial energy source, countries worldwide have strived to reduce coal usage in the future under the Net Zero Emission Pledge. Questions linger on how to minimize coal usage, play down its impact on the environment, and maintain economic advantages. This quantitative study focused on the repurposing of used cooking oil for alternative energy sources at PT Megah Surya Pertiwi (PT MSP), the first downstream company of Harita Nickel that processes nickel saprolite ore to Ferronickel using the Rotary Kiln Electric Furnace (RKEF) technology in Obi Island, North Maluku, Indonesia. As the company’s employment grows, wastes, including used cooking oil (UCO), accumulate. The result showed that repurposing UCO in PT MSP has lowered the consumption of coal by 2,206 tons (7.53%), diverted 2,980 tCO2e indirect GHG emission (Scope 1), and saved the total cost up to IDR 1,408,231,332.