Refinery of Palm Oil                                                                                                                                     Jit Kang’s Homepage

                                                                                            Introduction to Palm Oil: From dust to dawn

The economical history of the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) began in the rain

forests of western Africa in the late 19th century. Since its introduction into Malaysia in

the early 20th century until the early sixties its impact on the economy was marginal. For

many years the economy of Malaysia had depended for its wealth and prosperity upon

rubber. In 1961, Malaysia embarked on an intensive agricultural diversification program,

and the crop that has achieved the most notable success since then is palm oil. Within a

relatively short period, Malaysia became the world's largest commercial producer and

exporter of palm oil in 1966. Diversification into oil palm means that the country is now

less dependent on the fortunes of rubber as a plantation crop.

 

Palm Oil a Cost Effective ProductPalm oil is obtained from the flesh of the palm fruit. Each palm tree produces

approximately one fruit bunch, containing as many as 3000 fruitlets, per month. In

addition, each palm tree continues producing fruit economically for up to 25 years. This

ensures a constant stable supply, as compared with other annual crops.

            Naturally, palm oil is characterized as stabilized oil due to its chemical

composition. As such, it can be used in most food applications without hydrogenation,

thus, reducing production cost by as much as 30%. Palm oil also is priced competitively

and can represent a saving of upto several cents per pound, compared to other edible oils.

            Palm oil is available in a variety of forms: crude palm oil, palm olein, palm

stearin, RBD palm oil, fractionated palm olein and pal mid-fraction. While most of the oil

Malaysia exports is RBD palm oil and RBD palm olein, the range of products is available

to suit a variety of manufacturing needs and in forms that are ready-to-use and require no

further processing.

 

Palm Oil Composition 

Palm oil is extracted from the mesocarp of the fruit of the palm Elaeis guineensis.

There are a few varieties of this plant but Tenera, which is a hybrid of the Dura and the

Pisifera, present abundantly through out the whole Peninsular.

            The mesocarp comprises about 70 - 80% by weight of the fruit and about 45 -50%

of this mesocarp is oil. The rest of the fruit comprises the shell, kernel, moisture and

other non fatty fiber.The extracted oil is known as crude palm oil (CPO) which until quite

recently was known as the golden commodity.

            Palm oil like all natural fats and oils comprises mainly Triglyceries, mono and

diglycerides. Free fatty acids, moisture, dirt and minor components of non oil fatty matter

referred to collectively as unsaponifiable matter.

 

1. Tryglyceride

            It is a chemical compound of one molecule of glycerol bound to three molecules

of Fatty Acid.

            CH2 – OH        +          R1-COOH                   CH2 – COOR1 

            CH – OH         +          R2-COOH                   CH – COOR2      +   3H2O             CH2 – OH        +          R3-COOH                   CH2 – COOR3             Glycerol                       Fatty Acid                    Triglyceride                  Water 

The fatty acids could be of the same type or they could be different. The property

of a triglyceride will depend on the different fatty acids that combine to form the

triglyceride.

            The fatty acids themselves are different depending on their chain length and

degree of saturation. The short chain fatty acids are of lower melting point and are more

soluble in water. Whereas, the longer chain fatty acids have higher melting points. The

melting point is also dependent on degree of non-saturation. Unsaturated acids will have

a lower melting point compared to saturated fatty acids of similar chain length.

            The 2 most predominant fatty acids in palm oil are C16:0(saturated) palmitic acid

and C18:1 (unsaturated) oleic acid. Typical fatty acid composition of palm oil is given as:

 

            C12:0   Lauric               -   0.2%

            C14:0   Myrstic             -   1.1%

            C16:0   Palmitic            - 44.0%

            C18:0   Stearic              -   4.5%

            C18:1   Oleic                - 39.2%

            C18:2   Linoleic            - 10.1%

            Others                          -   0.9%

 

2. Mono and di-glycerides and FFA

            In the presence of heat and water the triglycerides break up by a process known as

hydrolysis to form free fatty acids thus yielding mono and di-glycerides and FFA which

is of crucial importance to the refiners.

Hydrolysis can be represented as below:

 CH2 – COOR1            +                                              CH2 – OH

 

CH – COOR2             +          H2O                            CH – COOR2             +          R1COOH

 

CH2 – COOR3            +                                              CH2 – COOR3

Triglyceride                              Water                           Diglyceride                               FFA

 

            Mono and diglycerides account for about 3 to 6% by weight of the glycerides in

the oil. Good oils having lower amount of mono and diglycerides is said to be of great

importance in the fractionation process because they act as emulsifying agents inhibiting

crystal formation and making filtration difficult.

            The amount of mono and diglycerides and FFA is reduced in the process of

refining as can be seen from their concentration in the DFA(Distillate Fatty Acid).

 

3. Moisture and Dirt

            This is a result of milling practice. Good milling will reduce moisture and dirt in

palm oil but normally it is in the range of 0.25%.

 

4. Minor Component

 These are classified into one category because they are fatty in nature but are not

really oils. They are referred to as unsaponifiable matter and they include the following:

a.       Carotineoids

b.      Tocopherols

c.       Sterols

d.      Polar Lipids

e.       Impurities

 

            As a conclusion, palm oil is one of the most widely consumed edible oils in the

world today. Beside, it contains more monounsaturated fatty acids than many other

vegetable oils. Recent scientific studies indicate that consumption of monounsaturated

has some beneficial effects in order to maintain a healthy life style. In addition, compared

with other vegetable oils, palm oil is a rich source of the anti-oxidant vitamin E

containing about 360 – 600 ppm in its refined form. There are certain reports show that:

        Palm oil did not increase baseline serum cholesterol

        Palm oil did not affect LDL/HDL ratio.

        The vitamin E found in palm oil behaved as an anti-oxidant.

 Physical Refinery: The first step toward edibility  

Palm oils consist mainly of glycerides and, like other oils in their crude form,

small and variable portions of non-glyceride components as well. In order to render the

oils to an edible form, some of these non-glycerides need to be either removed or reduced

to acceptable levels.

            In term of solubility study – glycerides are of two broad types: oil insoluble and

oil soluble. The insoluble impurities consisting of fruit fibres, nut shells and free moisture

mainly, are readily removed. The oil soluble non-glycerides which include free fatty

acids, phospholipids, trace metals, carotenoids, tocopherols or tocotrienols, oxidation

products and sterols are more difficult to remove and thus, the oil needs to undergo

various stages of refining.

            Not all of the above non-glyceride components are undesirable. The tocopherols

and tocotrienols not only help to protect the oil from oxidation, which is detrimental to

flavour and keep ability of the finished oil, but also have nutritional

attributes, and carotene, the major constituents of carotenoids, are precursors of

vitamin A. The other impurities generally are detrimental to the oil’s flavour, odour,

colour and keep ability and thus influence the oil’s usefulness.

            The aim of refining is therefore to convert the crude oil to quality edible oil by

removing objectionable impurities to the desired levels in the most efficient manner. This

also means that, where possible, losses in the desirable component are kept minimal. The

impurities which are contained in the crude palm oil (CPO) is shown in table 1.0: 

Substances ContentFree Fatty Acid (FFA) 3 - 5%Gums (phospholipids, phosphotides) 300 ppmDirt 0.01%Shell TraceMoisture and Impurities 0.15%Trace metal 0.50%Oxidation Products TraceTotal Carotenoids 500 - 1000 mg/ke

 

Table 1.0 Composition of CPO

 

General speaking, the refining routes of palm oil is quite identical. There are two

routes are taken to process crude oil into refined oil; which are chemical (basic) refining

and physical refining. The methods differ basically in the way the fatty acids are removed

from the oil. Physical refining, which eliminates the need for an effluent plant for the

soap stock, involves subjecting the oil to steam distillation under higher temperature and

vacuum for removal of the free fatty acids. The physical refining is used to remove the

free fatty acids. The refining of physical plant is practiced to subject the oil to steam

distillation. The typical refining process is shown inFigure 1.0.

 

Physical Refinery Process Description            The raw material which is used by physical plant is crude palm oil (CPO) from

the CPO storage tank. CPO is feed at the flow rate about 35-60 tons/hour. The initial

temperature of CPO is at 40 – 60°C. The feed is pumped through the heat recovery

system, that is plate heat exchanger to increase the temperature around 60 – 90°C.

            After that, there is about 20% of the CPO feed to into the slurry and mix with the

bleaching earth (6 – 12kg/ton CPO) to form slurry (CPO + Bleaching earth). The agitator

inside the slurry tank will mixed the CPO and bleaching earth completely. Then, the

slurry will go into the bleacher.

            At the same time, another 80% of the CPO is pumped through another plate heat

exchanger (PHE) and steam heater to increase the CPO temperature to 90 – 130°C (it is a

desired temperature for the reaction between CPO and phosphoric acid). Then, the CPO

feed is pumped to static mixers and the phosphoric acid is dosed at 0.35 – 0.45 kg/ton.

Inside there, the intensive mixing is carried out with the crude oil for precipitation up the

gums. The precipitation of gums will ease the later filtration process, avoid the scale

formation in deodorizer and heating surface. The degumming CPO then will go into

bleacher.

            In the bleacher, there are 20% slurry and 80% degummed CPO will mix together

and the bleaching process occur. The practice of bleaching involves the addition of

bleaching earth to remove  any undesirable impurities (all pigments, trace metals,

oxidation products) from CPO and this improves the initial taste, final flavor

and  oxidative stability of product. It also helps to overcome problems in subsequent

processing by adsorption of soap traces, pro-oxidant metal ions, decomposes peroxides,

colour reduction, and adsorbs other minor impurities. The temperature inside the bleacher

must be around 100°C – 130°C to get the optimum bleaching process for 30 minutes of

bleaching period. The low pressure steam is purged into bleacher to agitate the

concentrated slurry for a better bleaching condition.

            The slurry containing the oil and bleaching earth is then passed through

the Niagara filter to give a clean, free from bleaching earth particles oil. The temperature

must be maintain at around 80 – 120°C for good filtration process. In the Niagara filter,

the slurry passes through the filter leaves and the bleaching earth is trapped on the filter

leaves. Actually, the bleaching earth must be clear from Niagara filter after45minutes in

operation to get a good filtration. Bleached palm oil (BPO) from Niagara filter is then

pumped into buffer tank as a temporary storage before further processing.

            Usually, a second check filter, trap filter is used in series with the Niagara filter to

double ensure that no bleaching earth slips occur. The presence of bleaching earth fouls

deodorizer, reduces the oxidative stability of the product oil and acts as a catalyst for

dimerizaition and polymerization activities. So, the “blue test” is carried out for each

batch of filtration to ensure the perfect filtration process. This test indicates whether any

leaking is occurring in Niagara filter or trap filter. Hence, any corrective actions can be

taken intermediately.

            The BPO comes out from the filter and passes through another series of heat

recovery system, Schmidt plate heat exchanger and spiral (thermal oil: 250 – 305°C) heat

exchanger to heat up the BPO from 80 – 120°C until 210 – 250°C.

            The hot BPO from spiral heat exchanger then proceeds to the next stage where the

free fatty acid content and the color are further reduced and more important, it is

deodorized to produce a product which is stable and bland in flavor.

            In the pre-stripping and deodorizing column, deacidification and deodorization

process happen concurently. Deodorization is a high temperature, high vacuum and steam

distillation process. A deodorizer operates in the following manner: (1) dearates the oil,

(2) heat up the oil, (3) steam strips the oil and (4)cools the oil before it leaves the system.

All materials if contact are stainless steel.

            In the column, the oil is generally heated to approximately 240 – 280°C under

vacuum. A vacuum of less than 10 torr is usually maintained by the use of ejectors and

boosters. Heat bleaching of the oil occurs at this temperature through the thermal

destruction of the carotenoid pigments. The use of direct steam ensures readily removal

of residue free fatty acids, aldehydes and ketones which are responsible for unacceptable

odor and flavors. The lower molecular weight of vaporized fatty acids rises up the

column and pulls out by the vacuum system. The fatty acid vapor leaving the deodorizer

are condensed and collected in the fatty acid condenser as fatty acid. The fatty acids then

is cooled in the fatty acid cooler and discharged to the fatty acid storage tank with

temperature around 60 – 80°C as palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD), a by-product from

refinery process.

            The bottom product of the pre-stripper and deodorizer is Refined, Bleached,

Deodorized Palm Oil (RBDPO). The hot RBDPO (250 – 280°C) is pumped through

Schmidt PHE to transfer its heat to incoming BPO with lower temperature. Then, it

passes through another trap filters to have the final oil polishing (120 – 140°C) to prevent

the earth traces from reaching the product tank. After that, the RBDPO will pass through

the RBDPO cooler and plate heat exchanger to transfer the heat to the CPO feed. The

RBDPO then is pumped to the storage with temperature 50 – 80°C.

 

Palm Fatty Acid Distillation Plant            The separation of liquid mixture into their several components is one of the major

process of the chemical industries, and distillation is the most widely used method of

achieving this end: it is the key operation of the oil refinery. Though out the chemical

industry the demand for pure products, coupled with a relentless pursuit of greater

efficiency, has necessitated continued research into techniques of distillation. The

distillation column is used in this purpose.

            The distillation column which have to be designed with a larger range in capacity

than any other types of chemical engineering equipment, with single columns from 0.3 to

10m in diameter and from 3m to upwards of 75m in height. The purpose of designing is

to achieve the desired product quality at minimum cost, but also to provide constant

purity of product even though there may be some variation in feed composition. The

vertical cylindrical column provides in a compact form, with the minimum of ground

utilization, a large number of separate stages of vaporization and condensation.

            In practice, distillation may be carried out by either of two principal methods. The

first method is based on the production of a vapor by boiling the liquid mixture to be

separated and condensing the vapors without allowing any liquid to return to the still.

There is then no reflux. The second method is based on the return of part of condensate to

the still under such condition that this returning liquid is brought into intimate contact

with the vapor on their way to the condenser. Either of these methods may be conducted

as a continuous process or as a batch process.

 

PFAD Plant Description

a) Feed Raw Material                           - Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD)

b) i) Major Product Produced               - Distillate Fatty Acids (DFA)

   ii) By Product Produced                    - Precut-Lighter Fatty Acid Component

- Residue

 

PFAD Process Description

The feed Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD) from storage tank with temperature

around 50 – 100°C will first passes through a heat exchanger network.

The temperature of PFAD will increase to approximately 200 –220°C. Then the hot feed

will enters to the Degasifier for separating some impurities and light fatty acid presented

in the feed under vacuum system.

            After that, the heavy components of fatty acid (C10, C12, C14, C16 & C18) come

out from the bottom of Degasifier will go into column C for more separation between

light and heavy components of fatty acids. Before that, there are three distillation column

are used in distillation process. The products of these 3 columns are as follow:

                        1. Column A: Precut

                        2. Column B: Distillate Fatty Acid (DFA)

                        3. Column C: Residue

            In column C, the feed with temperature 220 – 255°C will further heating by

thermal oil boiler until temperature become 240 – 300°C under vacuum system. The fatty

acids will evaporate under the vacuum condition and separation of light fatty acid and

heavy fatty acid will occur. At the top of column C, the light fatty acid (precut with lower

carbon number <C16) from the evaporation become vapor is continuously pulled out by

the vacuum system. The precut then passed through the heat exchangers and cooled down

by the soft water and PFAD feed before going to storage.

            At the same time, the heavy fatty acid from the bottom of Column C (C16 & C18)

is pumped to Column B for further separation. There is high temperature inside the

column B which is supplied by thermal oil reboiler (290 – 310°C) will contribute to the

vaporization of fatty acids. Therefore the temperature will increase (220 – 250°C) during

the distillation process because of the higher boiling point of the fatty acids feed. The

light fatty acid (DFA) from the vaporization of fatty acid is pulled out by the vacuum

system into a reflux holder. When the refluks is overflow, the excess DFA is pumped to

the heat exchangers and cooled down by the soft water and the PFAD feed. The DFA

then is further cooled down in spiral heat exchanger (hot water/DFA) and plate heat

exchanger (Cooling tower water/DFA) before sending to storage at 60 – 90°C.

            On the other hand, the bottom product of column B is residue, the heavy fatty

acids component is pumped to the heat exchanger (Residue/PFAD feed and Residue/Hot

Water) before going to storage tank. The uncompleted distillate will recycles back to

column B for further separation.

 

Fractionation: Value added process?The demand for liquid oils has increased in recent years, mainly for salad and

cooking uses and an important property for such oils is low cloud point, which is the

temperature at which turbidity appears when the oil is cooled under standard conditions.

Liquids oils with a low cloud point are desirable because of the widespread use of

household refrigeration.

            In order to cater for a wide range of markets, the Malaysian refiners start to offer

product which are “harder”(Stearin) and “more liquid”(olein) than palm oil. These are

accomplished trough a simple process of fractionation which is based on two

fundamental operations:

1)      Crystallization

2)      Filtration

Fractionation of palm oil can be described as follow. The triglycerides found in the oil

have different melting points. At certain temperature, the lower melting temperature

triglycerides will crystallize into solid separating the oils into both liquid (Olein) and

solid (Stearin) fraction. The fraction can then be separated by filtration.

            It is worth mentioning that in palm oil fractionation, palm olein is the premium

product and the palm stearin is the discount product. In Malaysia, fractionation of palm

oil into palm olein and palm stearin is accomplished using two types of processes which

are “Viz Dry” and “Detergent Fractionation”.

 

Fractionation Plant Descriptiona)   Feed Raw Material                         -  Refined Bleached deodorised Palm Oil (RBDPO)                                                              b)   i)    Major Product Produced          -  Refined Bleached Deodorised Palm Olein (Olein)       ii)  By Product Produced               -  Refined Bleached Deodorised Stearin (Stearin)

 

Fractionation Process Description          The dry fractionation is used to separate the palm olein and palm stearin

from the RBDPO produced by physical treatment. The RBDPO is passed through the

further fractionation process to get various grade of palm olein and palm stearin. Usually,

there are three types of olein are produced: (1) normal grade olein, (2) super grade olein

and (3) olein with cloud point 7 – 8°C. 

Crystallization Process

            Firstly, the RBDPO feed must pass the quality specification, colour<2.6R and

FFA< 0.075 is fed into the heat exchanger. The RBDPO feed is heated up by hot waters

around 75°C. After that the oil is kept homogenized at about 70°C in homogenizes before

the start of crystallization. The idea is to destroy any crystals present and to induce

crystallization in a controlled manner in the crystallizer.

            After that, the oil is pumped to the crystallizer. The crystallization system is a

batch type and is equipped with special crystallizers operating alternatively. These

crystallizers are made up of vertical cylindrical vessel full of thermo-regulated water

which submerged barrels containing the oil to be fractionated: each of these barrels is

fitted with a mechanical agitator. An automatic station controls the temerature in the

various crystallizers.

            The crystallization process is carried out to remove the higher melting glycerides

which cause liquid oils to become cloudy and more viscous at low temperature. There are

3 factors (temperature, time and agitation), have a fundamental importance on the

formation and character of the crystal:

1.      The lowering of temperature causes, because of supersaturating the higher melting

component to separate from a solution.

2.      Agitation facilitates the formation of small crystals.

3.      Time with a gradual decrease in temperature and stillness, promotes the formation of

longer crystals.

The solution is pumped batch-wise into the crystallizer according to a pre-established

programme. In the crystallizer, the crystal formation and growth occurs as the oil is

agitated and cooled sing chilled water and cool water filled in the jackets or cooling coils

of the crystallizer. Cooling can be governed by controlling either the oil or water

temperature.

 

Filtration Process

            After the crystallization process, the slurry from buffer tank passses through the

filtration process for the physical separation between RBD palm stearin and RBD palm

olein. Presently, the membrane filter is used for this filtration. Another alternative for this

purpose is by employing drum filter for separation.

            The membrane filter is pressure filter where the filter pack comprising

alternatively plates and frames, or a series of chamber is compressed between one fixed

and one movable cover or bulk-head. The filter media are located between each

individual element. Cake will build up in the hollow space between the elements and fall

out of the press when the filter pack is opened. Composition of the filter pack is by means

of electrically driven hydraulic system (75 bar), which controls the entire mechanical

parts of units, head plates, filter plates, plate shifting device with the built in panel board.

 

Hydrogenation            Hydrogenation is the most widely used method of all the oil modification

processes, to reduce the degree of unsaturated in the fatty acid groups of the glycerides. It

is a catalytic process whereby the number of double bonds are reduced and by the same

time isomerization of the residual fatty acids is promoted. Liquid oils with unsaturated

triglycerides are thus transformed into fats containing a higher % age of saturated

triglycerides: Hydrogenation is often called hardening of oils and soft fats.

            Catalytic hydrogenation, which has been known in fat technology since the

beginning of this century, is used increasingly for the preparation of ‘tailor-made’ fats.

Depend on the condition of the reaction, the basic reaction can be shown as follows:

 

        H    H                                                         H   H

                         R - C = C - R + H2                                     R- C – C –

R       Hydrogenation

                                                                                                   H  H

 

            The complex system consists of three phases: liquid oil, gaseous hydrogen and

solid catalyst. Hence there are many different internal surfaces through which the

hydrogen molecules have to pass until they reach the double bonds of the unsaturated

triglycerides adsorbed on the catalyst surface. As soon as the unsaturated bonds are

saturated, the triglyceride moves off the catalyst surface, thus enabling the next

unsaturated molecule to be adsorbed and processed.

            The overall hydrogenation rage depends on the quality of the reactant involved,

the degree of refining of the oil to be hydrogenated, the activity and nature of the catalyst.

In addition reaction parameters such as hydrogen pressure, catalyst concentration,

reaction temperature, stirring, etc have an influence. In spite of these numerous reaction

parameters that affecting the quality of the desired product, fat-technologist have resolved

the operating conditions required for the preparation of tailor-made fats. This process is

established mainly to add value to by byproducts from the refinery. The raw materials are

from refinery: Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD) and Refined Bleached Deodorized

(RBD). Basically, stearin is the main raw material for this plant.

 

Hydrogenation Process DescriptionThere are various kind of oils used as the feed of this plant depends on the market

demands, there are DFA, PFAD, RBDSt, precut and split residue. Firstly, the fatty acid

feed from the storage tank (60 – 70°C) is pumped to the feed preheater. In the feed

preheater, the fatty acid feed is heated up by the hot hydrogenated FA from plant until

140 – 170°C, before entering the reactor for hydrogenation process.

            Then, the hot feed is transferred to the reactor autoclave for reaction. The reactor

consisted of the nickel catalyst which play an important role in the reaction as follow:

1.      To avoid modifiers, such as sulphur, likely to give higher “trans” acid contents.

2.      Comparatively high temperature to accelerate reduction of poly-unsaturated without

formation of saturates.

3.      Reduced the hydrogen gas pressure.

4.      Lowering the iodine value to improve stability and good yield of liquid oil when

winterized.

5.      To remove materials responsible for clouding and solidification at low temperatures.

 Safety

Plantains frying in vegetable oil

Vegetable oil is far less toxic than other fuels such as gasoline, petroleum-based diesel, ethanol,

or methanol, and has a much higher flash point (approximately 275-290 °C)[3]. The higher flash

point reduces the risk of accidental ignition. Some types of vegetable oil are edible.

[edit]Transportation

For transportation the energy density and cost to store the energy are important. If the density is

low or the cost is too high it is not practical to make vehicles with reasonable range. Vegetable oil

and biodiesel are close to regular diesel.

Another potential issue for new fuels is the Catch-22 conundrum: if there needs to be expensive

new infrastructure before people will make cars running on a new fuel, and there needs to be new

cars before people will build the infrastructure, how can the transition ever be made? With

vegetable oil this is not nearly the problem that it is with some other fuels. The transition from

petroleum oil based transportation to vegetable oil based transportation could be gradual and

easy compared to hydrogen, ethanol, and most other alternatives. Vegetable oil is used for

transportation in four different ways:

Vegetable oil blends - Mixing vegetable oil with diesel lets users get some of the

advantages of burning vegetable oil and is often done with no modification to the vehicle.[4]

Biodiesel - If vegetable oil is transesterified it becomes biodiesel. Biodiesel burns like

normal diesel and works fine in any diesel engine. The name just indicates that the fuel came

from vegetable oil.

Straight vegetable oil - Straight vegetable oil works in diesel engines if it is heated first.

[5] Some diesel engines already heat their fuel, others need a small electric heater on the fuel

line. How well it works depends on the heating system, the engine, the type of vegetable oil

(thinner is easier), and the climate (warmer is easier). Some data is available on results users

are seeing.[6] As vegetable oil has become more popular as a fuel, engines are being

designed to handle it better. The Elsbett engine is designed to run on straight vegetable oil.

[7] However, as of the start of 2007, it seems that there are not any production vehicles

warrantied for burning straight vegetable oil, although Deutz offer a tractor and John

Deere are known to be in late stages of engine development. There is a German rapeseed oil

fuel standard DIN 51605. At this point straight vegetable oil is only a niche market although

the market segment in Germany is rapidly growing with large haulage vehicle fleets adopting

the fuel, largely for economic reasons. A growing number of decentralised oil mills provide a

large part of this fuel.[8]

Vegetable oil refining - Vegetable oil can be used as feedstock for an oil refinery. There it

can be transformed into fuel by hydrocracking (which breaks big molecules into smaller ones

using hydrogen) or hydrogenation (which adds hydrogen to molecules). These methods can

produce gasoline, diesel, or propane. Some commercial examples of vegetable oil refining

are NExBTL, H-Bio, and theConocoPhilips Process.[9]

The transition can start with biodiesel, vegetable oil refining, and vegetable oil blends, since

these technologies do not require the capital outlay of converting an engine to run on

vegetable oils. Because it costs to convert vegetable oil into biodiesel it is expected that

vegetable oil will always be cheaper than biodiesel. After there are production cars that

can use straight vegetable oil and a standard type available at gas stations, consumers will

probably choose straight vegetable oil to save money. So the transition to vegetable oil

can happen gradually.

[edit]Market / cost / price / taxes

Availability of biodiesel around the World is increasing. It is estimated that by 2010 the market for

biodiesel will be 7.5 billion litres (2 billion USgallons) in the U.S and 9.5 billion litres (2.5 billion

USgallons) in Europe. [11] Biodiesel currently has 3% of the diesel market in Germany and is the

number 1 alternative fuel.[12] The German government has a Biofuels Roadmap in which they

expect to reach 10% biofuels by 2010 with the diesel 10% coming from fuel made from vegetable

oil. [13]

From 2005 to 2007 a number of types of vegetable oil have doubled in price. The rise in

vegetable oil prices is largely attributed to biofuel demand. [14]

Much of the fuel price at the pump is due to fuel tax. If you buy vegetable oil at the grocery store it

does not have such high taxes. So at times people have bought vegetable oil at the store for their

cars because it was cheaper. They did this in spite of the fact that packaging by the gallon adds

to the cost and it was illegal to use in a car since no fuel tax had been paid on it. [15]

Since vegetable oil (even as biodiesel) does not contribute to greenhouse gas, governments may

tax it much less than gasoline as they have done with ethanol. [16]This would help them

reach Kyoto protocol targets.

[edit]Production in sufficient quantity

African Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis

The World production of vegetable oil seed is forecast to be 418 million tonnes in 2008/09. After

pressing this will make 131 million tonnes of vegetable oil. [17] Much of this is from Oil Palm,

and palm oil production is growing at 5% per year. At about 7.5 lb/USgal (900 g/L) this is about 38

billion USgallons (144 billion L). Currently vegetable oil is mostly used in food and some industrial

uses with a small percentage used as fuel. The major fuel usage is by conversion to biodiesel

with about 3 billion gallons in 2009. [18]

In 2004 the US consumed 530 billion litres (140 billion USgal) of gasoline and 150 billion litres (40

billion USgal) of diesel. [19] Inbiodiesel it says oil palm produces 5940 litres per hectare (635

USgal/acre) of palm oil each year. To make 180 billion US gallons of vegetable oil each year

would require 1,150,000 square kilometres (443,000 sq mi) or a square of land 1070 kilometres

(666 miles) on a side.

"The gradual move from oil has begun. Over the next 15 to 20 years we may see biofuels

providing a full 25 percent of the world's energy needs. While the move is good for reducing

greenhouse emissions, soaring oil prices have encouraged most countries to 'go green' by

switching to greater use of biofuels." - Alexander Müller, Assistant Director-General of

Sustainable Development at the FAO.[20]

Algaculture could potentially produce far more oil per unit area. [21] Results from pilot algaculture

projects using sterile CO2 from power plant smokestacks look promising.

Genetic modifications to soybeans are already being used. Genetic modifications and

breeding can increase vegetable oil yields. From 1979 to 2005 the soybean yield in

bushels per acre more than doubled. [22] A company has developed a variety of camelina

sativa that yields 20% more oil than the standard variety. [23]

Impact on developing countries

Demand for fuel in rich countries is now competing against demand for food in poor countries.

Cars, not people, used most of the increase in world grain consumption in 2006. The grain

required to fill a 25-gallon SUV gas tank with ethanol will feed one person for a year. [105]

Several factors combine to make recent grain and oilseed price increases impact poor countries

more:

The World Bank estimated that in 2001 there were 2.7 billion people who lived

in poverty on less than US$ (PPP) 2 per day.[106] This was nearly half the 2001 world

population of 6 billion.

While rich people buy processed and packaged foods like Wheaties, where prices don't

change much if wheat prices go up, poor people buy more grains like wheat and feel the full

impact of grain price changes.[107][108]

Poor people spend a higher portion of their income on food, so higher food prices hurt

them more, unless they are farmers. If a poor person spends 60% of their money on food and

then the food prices double, they will experience immediate hardship. So higher grain and

oilseed prices will affect poorer countries more.[109][110]

Aid organizations that buy food and send it to poor countries are only able to send half as

much food on the same budget if prices double. But the higher prices mean there are more

people in need of aid. [111]

The impact is not all negative. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recognizes the

potential opportunities that the growing biofuel market offers to small farmers and aquaculturers

around the world and has recommended small-scale financing to help farmers in poor countries

produce local biofuel [86].

On the other hand, poor countries that do substantial farming have increased profits due to

biofuels. If vegetable oil prices double, the profit margin could more than double. In the past rich

countries have been dumping subsidized grains at below cost prices into poor countries and

hurting the local farming industries. With biofuels using grains the rich countries no longer have

grain surpluses to get rid of. Farming in poor countries is seeing healthier profit margins and

expanding.[24]

Interviews with local peasants in southern Ecuador[112] provide strong anecdotal evidence that the

high price of corn is encouraging the burning of tropical forests. The destruction of tropical forests

now account for 20% of all greenhouse gas emmisons 

Oil price increases

Oil price increases since 2003 resulted in increased demand for biofuels. Transforming vegetable

oil into biodiesel is not very hard or costly so there is a profitable arbitrage situation if vegetable

oil is much cheaper than diesel. Diesel is also made from crude oil, so vegetable oil prices are

partially linked to crude oil prices. Farmers can switch to growing vegetable oil crops if those are

more profitable than food crops. So all food prices are linked to vegetable oil prices, and in turn to

crude oil prices. A World Bank study concluded that oil prices and a weak dollar explain 25-30%

of total price rise between January 2002 until June 2008.[21]

Demand for oil is outstripping the supply of oil and oil depletion is expected to cause crude oil

prices to go up over the next 50 years. Record oil prices are inflating food prices worldwide,

including those crops that have no relation to biofuels, such as rice and fish.[56]

In Germany and Canada it is now much cheaper to heat a house by burning grain than by using

fuel derived from crude oil. [57][58][59] With oil at $120/barrel a savings of a factor of 3 on heating

costs is possible. When crude oil was at $25/barrel there was no economic incentive to switch to

a grain fed heater.

From 1971 to 1973, around the time of the 1973 oil crisis, corn and wheat prices went up by a

factor of 3.[60] There was no significant biofuel usage at that time.

[edit]US government policy

Further information: Agricultural policy of the United States

Some argue that the US government policy of encouraging ethanol from corn is the main cause

for food price increases.[24][61][62][63][64][65] US Federal government ethanol subsidizes total $7 billion

per year, or $1.90 per gallon. Ethanol provides only 55% as much energy as gasoline per gallon,

realizing about a $3.45 per gallon gasoline trade off.[66] Corn is used to feed chickens, cows, and

pigs. So higher corn prices lead to higher prices for chicken, beef, pork, milk, cheese, etc.

U.S. Senators introduced the BioFuels Security Act in 2006. "It's time for Congress to realize

what farmers in America's heartland have known all along - that we have the capacity and

ingenuity to decrease our dependence on foreign oil by growing our own fuel," said U.S. Senator

for Illinois Barack Obama.[67]

Two-thirds of U.S. oil consumption is due to the transportation sector.[68] The “Energy

Independence and Security Act of 2007” has a significant impact on U.S. Energy Policy.[69] With

the high profitability of growing corn, more and more farmers switch to growing corn until the

profitability of other crops goes up to match that of corn. So the ethanol/corn subsidies drive up

the prices of other farm crops.

The US - an important export country for food stocks - will convert 18% of its grain output to

ethanol in 2008. Across the US, 25% of the whole corn crop went to ethanol in 2007.[5] The

percentage of corn going to biofuel is expected to go up. [70]

Since 2004 a US subsidy has been paid to companies that blend biofuel and regular fuel. [71] The

European biofuel subsidy is paid at the point of sale. [72] Companies import biofuel to the US,

blend 1% or even 0.1% regular fuel, and then ship the blended fuel to Europe, where it can get a

second subsidy. These blends are called B99 or B99.9 fuel. The practice is called "splash and

dash". The imported fuel may even come from Europe to the US, get 0.1% regular fuel, and then

go back to Europe. For B99.9 fuel the US blender gets a subsidy of $0.999 per gallon.[73] The

European biodiesel producers have urged the EU to impose punitive duties on these subsidized

imports. [74] US lawmakers are also looking at closing this loophole. [75][76]

The US had arranged things so that Japan had to buy rice from US farmers even if they did not

want it and they could not re-export that rice. This led to huge stockpiles of unused rice in Japan.

This policy may be changing.[77]

Palm oil is an edible plant oil derived from the pulp[1] of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis.

Palm oil is naturally reddish because it contains a high amount of beta-carotene (though boiling

palm oil destroys the beta-carotene rendering the oil colourless). Palm oil is one of the few

vegetable oils relatively high in saturated fats (like palm kernel oil and coconut oil). It is thus semi-

solid at typical temperate climate room temperatures, though it will more often appear as liquid in

warmer countries.

Palm oil contains several saturated and unsaturated fats in the forms of lauric (0.1%, saturated),

myristic (0.1%, saturated), palmitic (44%, saturated), stearic (5%, saturated), oleic (39%,

monounsaturated), linoleic (10%, polyunsaturated), and linolenic (0.3%, polyunsaturated) acids.

[2] Like any vegetable oils, palm oil is designated as cholesterol-free,[3][4], however saturated

fat intake increases LDL cholesterol.[5]

Palm oil is a very common cooking ingredient in southeast Asia and the tropical belt of Africa. Its

increasing use in the commercial food industry in other parts of the world is buoyed by its cheaper

pricing,[6] the high oxidative stability of the refined product[7][8].

Palm oil contains more saturated fats than other vegetable oils. The palm fruit yields two distinct

oils - palm oil and palm kernel oil.[9]

History

Palm oil (from the African Oil Palm, Elaeis guineensis) is long recognized in West

African countries, and is widely use as a cooking oil. European merchants trading with West

Africa occasionally purchased palm oil for use in Europe, but as the oil was bulky and cheap,

palm oil remained rare outside West Africa. In the Asante Confederacy, state-owned slaves built

large plantations of oil palmtrees, while in the neighbouring Kingdom of Dahomey,

King Ghezo passed a law in 1856 forbidding his subjects from cutting down oil palms.

Palm oil became a highly sought-after commodity by British traders, for use as an

industrial lubricant for the machines of Britain's Industrial Revolution, as well as forming the basis

of soap products, such as Lever Brothers' (now Unilever). "Sunlight Soap", and the

American Palmolive brand.[10] By c. 1870, palm oil constituted the primary export of some West

African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria, although this was overtaken by cocoa in the 1880s.

[citation needed]

Oil palms were introduced to Java by the Dutch in 1848[11] and Malaysia (then the British colony

of Malaya) in 1910 by Scotsman William Sime and English banker Henry Darby. The first few

plantations were established and operated by British plantation owners, such as Sime Darby and

Boustead. The large plantation companies remained listed in London until the Malaysian

government engineered the "Malaysianisation" policy throughout the 1960s and 1970s.[12]

In December 2006, the Malaysian government initiated merger of Sime Darby Berhad, Golden

Hope Plantations Berhad and Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad to create the world’s largest listed oil

palm plantation player.[13] In a landmark deal valued at RM31 billion, the merger involved the

businesses of eight listed companies controlled by Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and the

Employees Provident Fund (EPF). A special purpose vehicle, Synergy Drive Sdn Bhd, offered to

acquire all the businesses including assets and liabilities of the eight listed companies. With

543,000 hectares of plantation landbank, the merger resulted in the new oil palm plantation entity

that could produce 2.5 million tonnes of palm oil or 5% of global production in 2006. A year later,

the merger completed and the entity was renamed Sime Darby Berhad.[14]

Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) was formed on July 1, 1956 when the Land

Development Act came into force with the main aim of eradicating poverty. Settlers were each

allocated 10 acres of land (about 4 hectares) planted either with oil palm or rubber, and given 20

years to pay off the debt for the land.[15] After Malaysia achieve independence in 1957, the

government focused on value adding of rubber planting, boosting exports, and alleviating poverty

through land schemes. In the 1960s and 1970s, the government encouraged planting of other

crops, to cushion the economy when world prices of tin and rubber plunged. Rubber estates gave

way to oil palm plantations. In 1961, Felda's first oil palm settlement opened, measuring only 375

hectares of land. As of 2000, 685,520 hectares of the land under Felda's programmes were

devoted to oil palms.[15] By 2008, Felda's resettlement broadened to 112,635 families and they

work on 853,313 hectares of agriculture land throughout Malaysia. Oil palm planting took up 84%

of Felda's plantation landbank.[16]

[edit]Research

In the 1960s, research and development (R&D) in oil palm breeding began to expand after

Malaysia's Department of Agriculture established an exchange program with West African

economies and four private plantations formed the Oil Palm Genetics Laboratory.[17] The

government also established Kolej Serdang, which became the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia

(UPM) in the 1970s to train agricultural and agro-industrial engineers and agro-business

graduates to conduct research in the field.

In 1979, following strong lobbying from oil palm planters and support from the Malaysian

Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) and UPM, the government set up the

Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia (Porim).[18] B.C. Sekhar was instrumental in Porim's

recruitment and training of scientists to undertake R&D in oil palm tree breeding, palm oil nutrition

and potential oleochemicaluse. Sekhar, as founder and chairman, strategised Porim to be a

public-and-private-coordinated institution. As a result, Porim (renamed Malaysian Palm Oil Board

in 2000) became Malaysia's top research entity with the highest technology commercialisation

rate of 20% compared to 5% among local universities. While MPOB has gained international

prominence, its relevance is dependent on it churning out breakthrough findings in the world's

fast-changing oil crop genetics, dietary fat nutrition and process engineering landscape.

[edit]Nutrition

Further information: palmitic acid

The approximate concentration of fatty acids (FAs) in palm oil is as follows:[19]

Fatty acid content of palm oil

Type of fatty acid pct

Palmitic C16    44.3%

Stearic C18    4.6%

Myristic C14    1.0%

Oleic C18    38.7%

Linoleic C18    10.5%

Other/Unknown    0.9%

green: Saturated; blue: Mono unsaturated; orange: Poly unsaturated

Fatty acid content of palm kernel oil

Type of fatty acid pct

Lauric C12    48.2%

Myristic C14    16.2%

Palmitic C16    8.4%

Capric C10    3.4%

Caprylic C8    3.3%

Stearic C18    2.5%

Oleic C18    15.3%

Linoleic C18    2.3%

Other/Unknown 0.4%

green: Saturated; blue: Mono unsaturated; orange: Poly unsaturated

[edit]Red Palm Oil

Red palm oil not only supplies fatty acids essential for proper growth and development, but it is

packed with an assortment of vitamins, antioxidants, and other phytonutrients important for good

health. Red palm oil gets its name from its characteristic dark red color. The color comes from

carotenes such as beta-carotene and lycopene—the same nutrients that give tomatoes and

carrots and other fruits and vegetables their rich red and orange colors.

Red palm oil is the richest dietary source of provitamin A carotenes (beta-carotene and alpha-

carotene). It has 15 times more provitamin A carotenes than carrots and 300 times more than

tomatoes. This has made it a valued resource in the treatment of vitamin A deficiency.[20] People

who do not consume enough vitamin A in their diet suffer from blindness, weaken bones, lower

immunity, and adversely affect learning ability and mental function. Just one teaspoon a day of

red palm oil supplies children with the daily recommend amount of vitamin A.[21] Nursing mothers,

by adding red palm oil into their diet, can double or triple the amount of vitamin A in breast milk.[22]

Red palm oil contains by far more nutrients than any other dietary oil. In addition to beta-

carotene, alpha-carotene, and lycopene it contains at least 20 other carotenes along

with tocopherols andtocotrienols (members of the vitamin E family), vitamin

K, CoQ10, squalene, phytosterols, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and glycolipids.[23] In a 2007 animal

study, South African scientists found consumption of red palm oil significantly protected the heart

from the adverse effects of a high-cholesterol diet.[24]

Since the mid-1990s, red palm oil is cold-pressed and bottled for use as cooking oil and blend

into mayonaise and salad oil.[25] It also gives an attractive colour to french fries.[26] Red palm oil

antioxidants like tocotrienols and carotenes are also fortified into foods for specific health use and

anti-aging cosmetics.[27][28][29]

In a 2004 joint-study between Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research and Malaysian Palm Oil

Board, the scientists found cookies, being higher in fat content than bread, are better providers of

red palm oil phytonutrients.[30]

In a 2009 study, scientists in Spain tested the acrolein emission rates from red palm and olive

oils, were much lower than that of poly-unsaturated oils like sunflower. The total carotenoid

content of red palm oil, 480 mg/L, makes it perfect for developing functional foods round the world

and gives the oil a high oxidative stability and long shelf life. Sensory tests have shown that red

palm oil french fries were scored positively by regular consumers. The color was initially

considered unusual and got low scores. However, when the flavor was evaluated red palm oil

fries got higher scores than olive or sunflower fries. Red palm oil generated lower amounts of

toxic volatiles, acrolein, than sunflower and is an excellent source carotenoids.[31]

[edit]Refined, Bleached, Deodorized Palm Oil

Palm oil products are made using milling and refining processes: first using fractionation, with

crystallization and separation processes to obtain solid (stearin), and liquid (olein) fractions. By

melting and degumming, impurities can be removed and then the oil filtered and bleached. Next,

physical refining removes smells and coloration, to produce refined bleached deodorized palm oil,

or RBDPO, and free sheer fatty acids, used as an important raw material in the manufacture

of soaps, washing powder and other hygiene and personal care products. RBDPO is the basic oil

product which can be sold on the world's commodity markets, although many companies

fractionate it out further into palm olein, for cooking oil, or other products.[32]

Splitting of oils and fats by hydrolysis, or under basic conditions saponification, yields fatty acids,

with glycerin (glycerol) as a byproduct. The split-off fatty acids are a mixture of fatty acids ranging

from C4 to C18 depending on the type of oil/fat.[33][34]

[edit]Uses

Resembling coconut oil, palm kernel oil is packed with myristic and lauric fatty acids and therefore

suitable for the manufacture of soaps, washing powders and personal care products. Lauric acid

is very important in soap making. A good soap must contain at least 15 per cent laurate for quick

lathering while soap made for use in sea water is based on virtually 100 per cent laurate.[35]

[edit]Biodiesel, biomass and biogas

Palm oil, like other vegetable oils, can be used to create biodiesel for internal combustion

engines. Biodiesel has been promoted as a form of biomass that can be used as a renewable

energy source to reduce net emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Therefore,

biodiesel is seen as a way to decrease the impact of the greenhouse effect and as a way of

diversifying energy supplies to assist national energy security plans.

Palm is also used to make biodiesel, as either a simply-processed palm oil mixed

with petrodiesel, or processed through transesterification to create a palm oil methyl ester blend

which meets the international EN 14214 specification, with glycerin as a byproduct. The actual

process used varies between countries and the requirements of different export markets. Next-

generation biofuel production processes are also being trialled in relatively small quantities.

The IEA predicts that biofuels use in Asian countries will remain modest. But as a major producer

of palm oil, the Malaysian government is encouraging the production of biofuel feedstock and the

building of biodiesel plants that use palm oil. Domestically, Malaysia is preparing to change from

diesel to bio-fuels by 2008, including drafting legislation that will make the switch mandatory.

From 2007, all diesel sold in Malaysia must contain 5% palm oil. Malaysia is emerging as one of

the leading biofuel producers with 91 plants approved and a handful now in operation, all based

on palm oil.[36]

On 16 December 2007, Malaysia opened its first biodiesel plant in the state of Pahang, which has

an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes and also produces by-products in the form of 4,000 tonnes

of palm fatty acid distillate and 12,000 tonnes of pharmaceutical grade glycerine.[37] Neste Oil of

Finland plans to produce 800,000 tonnes of biodiesel per year from Malaysian palm oil in a

new Singapore refinery from 2010, which will make it the largest biofuel plant in the world,[38] and

170,000 tpa from its first second-generation plant in Finland from 2007-8, which can refine fuel

from a variety of sources. Neste and the Finnish government are using this paraffinic fuel in some

public buses in the Helsinki area as a small scale pilot.[39][40]

Some scientists and companies are going beyond using palm fruit oil and are proposing to

convert fronts, empty fruit bunches and palm kernel shells harvested from oil palm plantations

into renewable electricity,[41] cellulosic ethanol,[42] biogas,[43] biohydrogen [44]  and bioplastic.[45] Thus,

by using both the biomass from the plantation as well as the processing residues from palm oil

production (fibers, kernel shells, palm oil mill effluent), bioenergy from palm plantations can have

an effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Examples of these production techniques have

been registered as projects under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism.

By using palm biomass to generate renewable energy, fuels and biodegradable products, both

the energy balance and the greenhouse gas emissions balance for palm biodiesel is improved.

For every tonne of palm oil produced from fresh fruit bunches, a farmer harvests around 6 tonnes

of waste palm fronds, 1 tonne of palm trunks, 5 tonnes of empty fruit bunches, 1 tonne of press

fiber (from the mesocarp of the fruit), half a tonne of palm kernel endocarp, 250 kg of palm

kernel press cake, and 100 tonnes of palm oil mill effluent. Oil palm plantations incinerate

biomass to generate power for palm oil mills. Oil palm plantations yield large amount of biomass

that can be recycled into medium density fibreboards and light furniture.[46] In efforts to reduce

greenhouse gas emissions, scientists treat palm oil mill effluent to extract biogas. After

purification, biogas can substitute to natural gas for use at factories. Anaerobic treatment of palm

oil mill effluent, practiced in Malaysia and Indonesia, results in domination of Methanosaeta

concilii. It plays an important role in methane production from acetate and the optimum condition

for its growth should be considered to harvest biogas as renewable fuel.[47]

However, regardless of these new innovations, first generation biodiesel production from palm oil

is still in demand globally. Palm oil is also a primary substitute for rapeseed oil in Europe, which

too is experiencing high levels of demand for biodiesel purposes. Palm oil producers are investing

heavily in the refineries needed for biodiesel. In Malaysia companies have been merging, buying

others out and forming alliances in order to obtain the economies of scale needed to handle the

high costs caused by increased feedstock prices. New refineries are being built across Asia and

Europe.[48]

As the food vs. fuel debate mount, research direction turn to biodiesel production from waste. In

Malaysia, an estimated 50,000 tonnes of used frying oils, both vegetable oils and animal fats are

disposed off yearly without treatment as wastes. In a 2006 study[49] researchers found used frying

oil (mainly palm olein), after pre-treatment with silica gel, is a suitable feedstock for conversion to

methyl esters by catalytic reaction using sodium hydroxide. The methyl esters produced have fuel

properties comparable to those of petroleum diesel and can be used in unmodified diesel

engines.

A 2009 study by scientists at Universiti Sains Malaysia concluded that palm oil, compared to

other vegetable oils, is a healthy source of edible oil and at the same time, available in quantities

that can satisfy global demand for biodiesel. Oil palm planting and palm oil consumption

circumvents the food vs. fuel debate because it has the capacity to fulfill both demands

simultaneously.[50] By 2050, a British scientist estimates global demand for edible oils will probably

be around 240 million tonnes, nearly twice of 2008's consumption. Most of the additional oil may

be palm oil, which has the lowest production cost of the major oils, but soya bean oil production

will probably also increase. An additional 12 million hectares of oil palms may be required, if

average yields continue to rise as in the past. This need not be at the expense of forest; oil palm

planted on anthropogenic grassland could supply all the oil required for edible purposes in 2050.

[51]

[edit]Market

According to Hamburg-based Oil World trade journal, in 2008, global production of oils and fats

stood at 160 million tonnes. Palm oil and palm kernel oil were jointly the largest contributor,

accounting for 48 million tonnes or 30% of the total output. Soybean oil came in second with 37

million tonnes (23%). About 38% of the oils and fats produced in the world were shipped across

oceans. Of the 60.3 million tonnes of oils and fats exported around the world, palm oil and palm

kernel oil make up close to 60%; Malaysia, with 45% of the market share, dominates the palm oil

trade.[52]

[edit]Regional production

Palm oil output in 2006

[edit]Malaysia

In 2008, Malaysia produced 17.7 million tonnes of palm oil on 4.5 million hectares of land.

[52] While Malaysia's palm oil production is less than Indonesia, it is still the largest exporter of

palm oil in the world. About 60% of palm oil shipments from Malaysia head to China,

the European Union, Pakistan, United States and India. They are mostly made into cooking

oil, margarine, specialty fats and oleochemicals. According to the World Bank and the Asian

Development Bank, Malaysia is the world’s second largest palm oil producer. The report stated

that the industry currently employed 570,000 people with export earnings of more than RM68bil

last year, said the report.[53]

Malaysia recently in began turning up its campaign to fight misinformation against palm oil

production in a series of forums in the United States. The government has pointed out to the

unfair calculation of carbon emissions for palm oil based on comparisons with carbon stocks of

the pristine rain forests as the starting point.[54]

[edit]Indonesia

Growers in Indonesia are also increasing production of palm oil to meet the global demand

spurred by biofuels, with the government looking for it to become the world's top producer of palm

oil. FAO data show production increased by over 400% between 1994 - 2004, to over 8.66 million

tonnes (metric). In 2007, Indonesia became the top producer of palm oil, surpassing Malaysia.[55]

In additional to servicing its traditional markets, it is looking to produce biodiesel. There are

new mills and refineries being built by major local companies, such as PT. Astra Agro Lestari

terbuka (150,000 tpa biodiesel refinery), PT. Bakrie Group (a biodiesel factory and new

plantations), Surya Dumai Group (biodiesel refinery) and global companies such

as Cargill (sometimes operating through CTP Holdings of Singapore, building new refineries and

mills in Malaysia and Indonesia, expanding its Rotterdam refinery to handle 300,000 tpa of palm

oil, acquiring plantations in Sumatra, Kalimantan,Indonesian Peninsula and Papua New Guinea)

and Robert Kuok's Wilmar International Limited (with plantations and 25 refineries across

Indonesia, to supply feedstock to new biodiesel refineries in Singapore, Riau, Indonesia, and

Rotterdam).[48]

However, fresh land clearances, especially in Borneo, are contentious for their environmental

impact.[56][57] NGOs and many international bodies are now warning that, despite thousands of

square kilometres of land standing unplanted in Indonesia, tropical hardwood forest are being

cleared for palm oil plantations. Furthermore, as the remaining unprotected lowland forest

dwindles, developers are looking to plant peat swamp land, using drainage that unlocks the

carbon held in their trees and begins an oxidation process of the peat which can release 5,000 to

10,000 years worth of stored carbon. Drained peat is also at very high risk of forest fire, and there

is a clear record of fire being used to clear vegetation for palm oil development in Indonesia.

Drought and man-made clearances have led tomassive uncontrolled forest fires over recent

years, covering parts of Southeast Asia in haze and leading to an international crisis with

Malaysia. These fires have been variously blamed on a government with little ability to enforce its

own laws while impoverished small farmers and large plantation owners illegally burn and clear

forests and peat lands in order to reap the developmental benefits of environmentally-valuable

land[58][59]

[edit]Colombia

In the 1960s about 18,000 hectares were planted with palm. Colombia has now become the

largest palm oil producer in the Americas, and 35% of its product is exported as biofuel. In 2006

the Colombian plantation owners' association, Fedepalma, reported that oil palm cultivation was

expanding to a million hectares. This expansion is being part-funded by the United States Agency

for International Development in order to resettle disarmed paramilitary members on cultivatable

land, and by the Colombian government which proposes to expand land use for exportable cash

crops to 7m hectares by 2020, including oil palms. However, while Fedepalma states that its

members are following sustainable guidelines,[60] there have been claims that some of these new

plantations have been appropriated on land owned by Afro-Colombians driven away through

poverty and civil war, while armed guards intimidate the remaining people to depopulate the land,

while coca production and trafficking follows in their wake.[61]

[edit]Other producers

Benin

Palm is native to the wetlands of Western Africa and south Benin already hosts many palm

plantations. Its government's 'Agricultural Revival Programme' has identified many thousands of

hectares of land as suitable for new oil palm plantations to be grown as an export crop. In spite of

the economic benefits, NGOs such as Nature Tropicale claim this policy is flawed as biofuels will

be competing with domestic food production in some existing prime agricultural sites. Other areas

comprise peat land, whose drainage would have a deleterious environmental impact. They are

also concerned thatgenetically-modified plants will be introduced for the first time into the region,

jeopardizing the current premium paid for their non-GM crops.[62]

Kenya

Kenya's domestic production of edible oils covers about a third of its annual demand, estimated at

around 380,000 metric tonnes. The rest is imported at a cost of around US$140 million a year,

making edible oil the country's second most important import after petroleum. Since 1993 a

new hybrid variety of cold-tolerant, high-yielding oil palm has been promoted by the Food and

Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in western Kenya. As well as alleviating the

country's deficit of edible oils while providing an important cash crop, it is claimed to have

environmental benefits in the region, as it does not compete against food crops or native

vegetation and it provides stabilisation for the soil.[63]

Ghana

Ghana has a lot of palm nuts vegetation which can be build a sector of its own within the

agricultural sector of the Black star region. Although Ghana has palm tree of different species

ranging from local palm nuts to other species locally called agric. It is only maketised within the

nation locally and other neighbouring countries. Because of low funds and other economic

constraints the local farmers and traders are finding hard to cope but it is lucrative.

[edit]Impacts

[edit]Social

Not only does the palm represent a pillar of these nations' economies but it is a catalyst for rural

development and political stability. Many social initiatives use profits from palm oil to finance

poverty alleviation strategies. Examples include the direct financing of Magbenteh hospital in

Makeni, Sierra Leone, through profits made from palm oil grown by small local farmers,

[64] the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance's Food Security Program, which draws on a women-run

cooperative to grow palm oil, the profits of which are reinvested in food security,[65] or the UN

Food and Agriculture Organisation's hybrid oil palm project in Western Kenya, which improves

incomes and diets of local populations,[66] to name just a few.

[edit]Environmental

Main article: Environmental impact of palm oil

Palm oil is under increasing scrutiny in relation to its effects on the environment. Some of the

impacts include deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

[edit]Medical

Palm oil is applied to wounds, just like iodine tincture, to aid the healing process. This is not just

done for its oily qualities; like coconut oil, unrefined palm oil is supposed to have additional

antimicrobial effects, but research does not clearly confirm this.[67]

[edit]Blood cholesterol controversy

The United States' Center for Science in the Public Interest said palm oil which is high in

saturated and low in polyunsaturated fat, promotes heart disease.[68] CSPI report cited research

that go back to 1970[69] and metastudies.[70][71] CSPI also said The National Heart, Lung and Blood

Institute,[72] World Health Organization (WHO), and other health authorities have urged reduced

consumption of palm oil. WHO states there is convincing evidence that palmitic acid consumption

contributes to an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.[73] A 2005 research in

Costa Rica suggests consumption of non-hydrogenated unsaturated oils over palm oil.[74]

In a response to the WHO's 2002 draft report, Dr. David Kritchevsky[75] of The Wistar Institute,

Philadelphia highlighted there are no data showing palm oil consumption causing atherosclerosis.

When palm oil was charged in public advertisements as being an underlying cause of heart

disease in the United States, the FDA said that there was so little palm oil in the American diet

that its putative effects were not worth pursuing. Atherosclerosis is a disease of multi-factorial

etiology. While saturated fats contribute to atherosclerosis risks, palm oil is not the sole dietary

source of saturated fat, even in Asia. Dietary palm oil raises cholesterol levels only if dietary

cholesterol intake exceeds 250-300 mg/day.

Similarly, Malaysia's Institute for Medical Research's head of Cardiovascular Disease Unit

Cardiovascular, Diabetes and Nutrition Centre Dr Tony Ng Kock Wai[76] highlighted the cholesterol

impact of saturated fats is affected by its amount at the sn-2 position. Despite the high palmitic

acid content (41%) of palm oil, only 13-14% is present at the sn-2 position.[77] He expressed

surprise that WHO/FAO Expert Group concerned has chosen to ignore this.

[edit]Comparison with animal saturated fat

Not all saturated fats are equally cholesterolemic.[78] Palmitic acid does not behave like

other saturated fats, and is neutral on cholesterol levels because it is equally distributed among

the three “arms” of the triglyceride molecule.[79] Studies have indicated that palm oil consumption

reduces blood cholesterol when compared to other sources of saturated fats like coconut oil,

dairy and animal fats.[80]

Diets incorporating palm oil do not raise plasma total and LDL cholesterol levels to the extent

expected from its fatty acid composition.[81] Palm oil, although high in saturated fats, behaves as

healthful as olive oil in being cholesterol neutral because the high concentrate of oleic fatty acid at

sn-2 position expresses monosaturates character.[82]

In 1996, Dr Becker of University of Massachusetts stressed that saturated fats in the sn–1 and -3

position of triacylglycerols exhibit different metabolic patterns due to their low absorptivity. Dietary

fats containing saturated fats primarily in sn–1 and -3 positions (e.g., cocoa butter, coconut oil,

and palm oil) have very different biological consequences than those fats in which the saturated

fats are primarily in the sn–2 position (e.g., milk fat and lard). Differences in stereospecific fatty

acid location should be an important consideration in the design and interpretation of lipid

nutrition studies and in the production of specialty food products.[83]

Dr German and Dr Dillard of University of California and Nestle Research Center in Switzerland,

in their 2004 review, highlighted research on how specific saturated fats contribute to coronary

artery disease and on the role each specific saturated faty acid plays in other health outcomes is

not sufficient to make global recommendations for all persons to remove saturated fats from their

diet. No randomized clinical trials of low-fat diets or low-saturated fat diets of sufficient duration

have been carried out. There is a lack of knowledge of how low saturated fat intake can be

without the risk of potentially deleterious health outcomes. The influence of varying saturated fatty

acid intakes against a background of different individual lifestyles and genetic backgrounds

should be the focus in future studies.[84]

Palm oil's natural mix of antioxidants and balanced composition of fatty acids, makes it a safe,

stable and versatile edible oil with many positive health attributes.[85] The idea of which foods,

nutrients and supplements are "healthy" is often being amended as new scientific data is

presented and then simplified for the consumers. What was once perceived as a healthy diet is

often no longer considered as such and vice versa. Dietary recommendations change with time

and evidence available.

Charts : Intertek Reports2009:

Economical history of palm oil

The economical history of the Palm Oil began in the rain forests of Western Africa in the late 19th century. Since its introduction into Malaysia in the early 20th century until the early 60s, its impact on the economy was marginal. For many years the economy of Malaysia had depend for its wealth & prosperity upon Rubber. In 1961, Malaysia embarked on an intensive agriculture diversification program, and the crop that has achieved the most notable success since then is Palm Oil. Within a relatively short period, Malaysia become the world's largest commercial producer & exporter of Palm Oil in 1966. Diversification into Palm Oil means that the country is now less dependent on the fortunes of Rubber as a plantation crop.

The year 1974 marked the beginning of a succession of refineries which were set up trough out the country. Within 2 years, a total of 15 refineries were in operation, making Malaysia the Palm Oil refining country in the world. Today, 3 decades after the interception of the Palm Oil refining industry, refined & process Palm Oil accounts for almost 90% of the total Palm Oil exports.The rapidly increasing Palm Oil refining & fractionation capacity consolidated Malaysia's position not only as a leading producer, but also as a major marketing factor in the national trades of Oil & Fats. This position has been achieved trough, among other factors, stringent observance of quality control & the capacity of local refiners to meet the high standards demanded by the world market.

Much of the success of the of the industry was contributed by the fact that it was possible to open market which were once dominated by other vegetable Oil & Fats. However, there is now a marked shift of concentrations away of the industrialized countries to the non-traditional or developing countries such as India, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Several Latin American & African countries are also buyers of Malaysian Palm Oil.

Currently, there are 46 refineries in operation. A majority of the operating refineries are in one way or another associated with Palm Oil plantation & milling sectors or both. Some of the refineries have also tied up with manufacturers of specialties products & oleo chemicals.

The Future of the Global Refining

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# # #

venture in India

N E W S S O U R C E :

biz.thestar.com.my

R E L A T E D P A L M O I L N E W S

Bursa Malaysia plans Islamic palm oil trading by mid-year A worthwhile venture for palm oil players Pakistan government plans to enhance palm oil production India to buy more palm oil from Malaysia MM Vitaoils goes upstream, planning own palm oil plantations

NEW DELHI: With crude palm oil (CPO) price hitting a record, leading Malaysian companies are stepping up

overseas ventures. The latest is MM Vitaoils Sdn Bhd, which is considering a hefty venture in India.

The edible oil specialist said it was prepared to invest RM163mil to take its downstream activities to India,

which is now emerging as a major edible oil consumer in the world.

“We are planning to duplicate our successful downstream activities in palm oil industries in India. It will

involve an estimated US$50mil,” Vitaoils general manager (operations) Dina Talib told the Press Trust of

India.

“Having our own CPO will result in us building our refinery as well in India,” Dina said.

Besides buying an edible oil refinery in India, she said the company would consider a joint venture with a

local partner for its India plans.

India is a leading buyer of CPO from Malaysia, with about 500,000 tonnes imported annually, largely for its

own downstream activities.

CPO prices are hovering at about RM3,500 per tonne in the global market and Malaysia is second largest

palm oil exporter in the world, with 15.82 million tonnes last year.

With its expansion, Vitaoils will join the list of leading Malaysian plantation companies that are slowly

breaking into the India market and subsequently looking at the populous South Asian region, with nearly 1.3

billion people.

The Shah Alam-based Vitaoils, with over 20 brand names under its belt, mainly for cooking oil, vegetable

ghee and margarine, has expanded its export base to West Asia, Europe and Africa. – Bernama

Tagged as: CPO, Crude Palm Oil, Europe, India, Malaysia, Palm Oil, Plantation

Malaysia likely to set up palm oil refineries in India

REPORTS FROM THE MPOB INTERNATIONAL PALM OIL CONGRESS (PIPOC) 2005

Ruchi Ahuja / Kuala Lumpur September 28, 2005

Fast losing market share and favourable tariffs on crude palm seen as trigger. Malaysia is considering is considering helping private palm oil players to set up refineries in India as tariff duty towards exports (to India) of crude palm oil is cheaper vis-à-vis refined oils. The move is also aimed at tackling the country’s fast depleting market share in the Indian palm oil market. “Malaysian palm oils now merely constitute 40 per cent of the total exports to India,” said Y B Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui, the Malaysian minister of plantation industries and commodities on the sidelines of the MPOB International Palm Oil Congress (PIPOC). “We have been unable to do much about it. The Indian market has a tariff differential in favour of soyoils, thereby, making palm oils exports less profitable.” Globally, while palm oils are cheaper vis-à-vis soyoil, India’s duty tariff differential in favour of the latter makes imports (of the latter) cheaper and thereby holds a pivotal position in governing edible oil prices. “Further, we are also losing our market share to Indonesia largely owing to their fast rising production and lower rates,” he said.. Indonesia is soon likely to surpass Malaysia to become the world’s number one producer of palm oil. While industry analysts (at the GLOBOIL2005 in Mumbai) were expecting that to happen over 5-6 years, the Malaysian minister feels it likely to be in less than five years. “They have more land and they are fast increasing the plantation areas so they will soon surpass us in production,” the minister said. Putting a figure of 800,000 hectares to the Malaysian’ privately-owned plantations in Indonesia (out of the total 4 million hectares), the minister said, “This figure is likely to go nowhere but up.” Malaysia intends to become a market leader in value-added high quality palm oil products.

 “That will be the focus area for us.” Industry experts feel that under this focus area, India is likely to be a major export market for Malaysia following the former’s preference to crude products vis-à-vis the refined.