The production of palm oil biodiesel in Indonesia has the potential to negatively impact the environment if not managed properly. Therefore, we conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) study on the production of palm oil biodiesel to assess the environmental performance in Indonesia. Using an LCA approach, we analyzed the environmental indicators, including the carbon footprint, as well as the harm to human health, ecosystem diversity, and resource availability in palm oil biodiesel production. The functional unit in this study was 1 ton of biodiesel. The life cycle of palm oil biodiesel production consists of three processing units, namely the oil palm plantation, palm oil production, and biodiesel production. The processing unit with the greatest impact on the environment was found to be the oil palm plantation. The environmental benefits, namely the use of phosphate, contributed 62.30% of the 73.40% environmental benefit of the CO₂ uptake from the oil palm plantation processing unit. The total human health damage of the life cycle of palm oil biodiesel production was 0.00563 DALY, while the total ecosystem’s diversity damage was 2.69 × 10⁻⁵ species·yr. Finally, we concluded that the oil palm plantation processing unit was the primary contributor of the carbon footprint, human health damage, and ecosystem diversity damage, while the biodiesel production processing unit demonstrated the highest damage to resource availability.

Energy balance analysis study for the production process of biodiesel needs to be done to find out whether a production process of biodiesel activity has a surplus energy or minus energy. This study aims to analyse the balance of energy of the plantation of palm, production of palm oil, and production process units of biodiesel with the life cycle assessment in Banyuasin - Indonesia. The results of this study indicate that the largest energy input in the plantation of palm, production of palm oil, and production process units of biodiesel sequentially is the use of urea as N-fertilizer, electricity, and methanol. The value of NEB and NER in the production process of palm biodiesel sequentially is 5871 MJ and 1.17. Finally, the production process of palm biodiesel in Banyuasin area has a positive energy balance. The activity of production of palm biodiesel is proper to operate because it produces an energy surplus.

The current laboratory-scale production of biodiesel from multiple feedstocks has the potential to be a large-scale industrial process. Thus, the energy balance of the production of biodiesel from multiple feedstocks must be studied. This study compares the energy balance of the production of biodiesel from multiple feedstocks to the production of biodiesel from palm oil in Indonesia. The energy balance study indicates that the biodiesel multi-feedstock plant is feasible to operate. The renewability of biodiesel from multiple feedstocks is 3.31 and that of palm oil biodiesel is 6.23. It is due to the fact that the energy content and demand of multi-feedstock biodiesel are much lower than palm oil biodiesel. The energy content of biodiesel from multiple feedstocks (and its co-products) is less than that of biodiesel from palm oil (and its co-products), 109,041 MJ vs 130,370 MJ, respectively. The energy demands for the production of biodiesel from multiple feedstocks and biodiesel from palm oil are 35 × 10³ MJ and 23 × 10³ MJ, respectively. Energy demands, including fossil and biomass, are attributable to plantation operations, including the usage of fertilisers. Plantations of multiple crops use more energy than plantations of oil palm alone because they require more fertilisers. It is not suggested to produce multi-feedstock biodiesel from sunflower, canola, and soybean since its energy balance is not better than biodiesel from palm oil.

This study assessed the life cycle of biodiesel production from crude palm oil at three Indonesian biodiesel plants. The LCA stage is based on ISO 14040, which determines the goal, scope, inventory, impact assessment, and interpretation of the areas under study. However, the main of the research was to compare the carbon footprint biodiesel production processed. Furthermore, the study facilitated and utilized the Greenhouse Gas Protocol V1.02 as a method of life cycle impact assessment, with CO₂eq evaluated using fossil fuel, land transformations, and biogenic. The results showed that palm cultivation using crude oil produced the highest pollution source in all categories with the highest at CO₂eq. Also, palm cultivation using crude oil production at A, B, and C caused impact categories of 3.2 ton, 3.02 ton, and 2.85-ton fossil CO₂eq. These were also extracted from the transportation and production process of crude palm oil in plants that use diesel fuel. Finally, in the production of biodiesel from biodiesel plants A, B, and C, in all categories, the highest impact source of pollution is caused by crude palm oil production.