Meeting the sustainable development goals in a tropical climate

Abstract

This article reflects on the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies (FACS) Citation Award Lecture delivered in the Industrial Technology Research Institute Symposium on CO 2 Utilization and Green Technology during the 18th Asian Chemical Congress held in Taipei, December 12, 2019. Malaysia produces sizable amounts of palm oil and palm kernel oil, with palm fronds and tree trunks as the main waste. At the Malaysia Japan International Institute of Technology, the biomass was decomposed to produce fine chemicals, used as substrate for mushroom growth, and converted to bio-coke for heat energy. A notable difference has been found regarding the emission of greenhouse gases from a natural peat forest and those from the oil palm plantation converted from peatlands, where in the palm plantation, water table is lowered and aerobic processes occurs, resulting in more CO 2 being released compared to CH 4. The introduction of fertilizers to the plantation resulted in more N 2 O being released. The team has also pioneered a project to plant temperate vegetables. Cooling pipes (16-18 C with circulating water cooled by chiller) were embedded within each thermal conditioning soil plot. Lettuce and radish, the experimental plants, showed good growth in the thermal conditioning soil due to nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which were destroyed at a higher temperature. K E Y W O R D S bioorganic chemistry, green chemistry 2 | CHALLENGES IN RECENT UNSUSTAINABLE PRACTICES Recent unsustainable practice was detected with a toxic pollution incident on March 7, 2019, where illegal chemical waste was dumped at the Kim Kim River in Pasir Gudang of Johor in Malaysia. The marine oil waste emitted flammable methane and benzene fumes. The