Development of an LCA-Based Environmental Scorecard Framework for Sustainable Palm Oil Mill Waste Management

The sustainable management of palm oil mill biomass is essential for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and promoting resource recovery. This study evaluated five palm oil mill waste management practices at a single palm oil mill (n = 1). It developed an LCA-based environmental scorecard to benchmark the relative environmental performance of the practices assessed. A gate-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed for a palm oil mill in Malaysia with a processing capacity of approximately 60 t fresh fruit bunches (FFB) h−1, using 1000 kg crude palm oil (CPO) as the functional unit. OpenLCA was used to assess environmental impacts using the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) method, with Global Warming Potential (GWP) selected as the principal impact category. The evaluated practices included EFB biofertilizer production, Direct EFB mulching, EFB stockpiling, POME open-pond treatment, and POME closed anaerobic digestion with biogas recovery. EFB biofertilizer production recorded the lowest GWP (4746.3 kg CO2-eq/1000 kg CPO), followed by Direct EFB mulching (4756.1 kg CO2-eq/1000 kg CPO) and closed anaerobic digestion (4800.9 kg CO2-eq/1000 kg CPO), while EFB stockpiling recorded the highest GWP (8396.0 kg CO2-eq/1000 kg CPO). Closed anaerobic digestion reduced GHG emissions by 30.1% compared with open-pond treatment (6868.1 kg CO2-eq/1000 kg CPO). The proposed scorecard converts quantitative GWP results into a simplified ranking framework to support operational decision-making. It is intended as a climate-focused screening and benchmarking tool rather than a comprehensive multi-impact assessment.