Palm kernel oil
Encyclopedia
Palm kernel oil is an edible plant oil
derived from the kernel
of the oil palm
Elaeis guineensis. It should not be confused with the other two edible oils derived from palm fruits: coconut oil
, extracted from the kernel of the coconut, and palm oil
, extracted from the pulp of the oil palm fruit.
Palm kernel oil, coconut oil, and palm oil are three of the few highly saturated vegetable fats. Palm kernel oil, which is semi-solid at room temperature
, is more saturated than palm oil and comparable to coconut oil. Like all vegetable oils, these three palm-derived oils do not contain cholesterol (found in unrefined animal fats), although saturated fat
intake increases both LDL and HDL cholesterol.
Palm kernel oil is a common cooking ingredient; its increasing use in the commercial food industry throughout the world is buoyed by its lower cost, the high oxidative stability (saturation
) of the refined product when used for frying, and its lack of cholesterol and trans fatty acids, both viewed as being heart-healthy attributes.
Oil from the African oil palm
Elaeis guineensis has long been recognized in West Africa
n countries. European merchants trading with West Africa occasionally purchased palm kernel oil for use in Europe
, but since the oil was bulky and cheap, palm kernel oil remained rare outside West Africa. In the Asante Confederacy, state-owned slaves built large plantations of oil palm trees, while in the neighbouring Kingdom of Dahomey
, King Ghezo
passed a law in 1856 forbidding his subjects from cutting down oil palms.
Palm kernel oil became a highly sought-after commodity by British
traders, for use as an industrial lubricant
for machinery during Britain's Industrial Revolution
. Oil from the oil palm formed the basis of soap
products, such as Lever Brothers
' (now Unilever
) "Sunlight soap
", and the American Palmolive brand. By , palm kernel oil constituted the primary export of some West African countries such as Ghana
and Nigeria
, although this was overtaken by cocoa in the 1880s.
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. 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.
The USDA has published historical production figures for palm kernel oil for years beginning October 1 and ending September 30:
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). B.C. Sekhar was instrumental in Porim's recruitment and training of scientists to undertake R&D in oil palm tree breeding, oil palm nutrition and potential oleochemical
use. 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.
Palm kernel oil is composed of fatty acids, esterified with glycerol just like any ordinary fat. It is high in saturated fatty acids, about 80%. The oil palm gives its name to the 16-carbon saturated fatty acid palmitic acid
found in palm kernel oil, palm oil, and coconut oil.
The approximate concentration of fatty acids (FAs) in palm kernel oil is as follows:
, or under basic conditions saponification
, yields fatty acids, with glycerin (glycerol) as a byproduct. The split-off fatty acids are a mixture ranging from C4 to C18, depending on the type of oil/fat.
Resembling coconut oil, palm kernel oil is packed with myristic and lauric fatty acids and therefore suitable for the manufacture of soap
s, 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.
Derivatives of palmitic acid were used in combination with naphtha
during World War II
to produce napalm
(aluminum naphthenate and aluminum palmitate).
for internal combustion engine
s. Biodiesel has been promoted 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 kernel oil mixed with petrodiesel, or processed through transesterification
to create a palm kernel oil methyl ester blend, which meets the international EN 14214
specification, with glycerin as a byproduct. The actual process used to make biodiesel
around the world varies between countries, and the requirements of different export markets. Next-generation biofuel
production processes are also being tested in relatively small trial quantities.
The IEA
predicts that biofuels usage in Asian countries will remain modest. But as a major producer of palm kernel oil, the Malaysian government is encouraging the production of biofuel
feedstock and the building of biodiesel
plants that use palm kernel 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% oil 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 oil palm oil.
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 byproducts in the form of 4,000 tonnes of palm fatty acid distillate and 12,000 tonnes of pharmaceutical grade glycerine.
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, 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 paraffin
ic fuel in some public buses in the Helsinki area as a small scale pilot.
Regardless of these new innovations, first generation biodiesel production from oil palm is still in demand globally. Oil palm producers are investing heavily in the refineries needed for biodiesel. In Malaysia, companies have been merging, buying others out and forming alliances 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.
As the food vs. fuel debate mounts, research direction is turning to biodiesel production from waste. In Malaysia, an estimated 50,000 tonnes of used frying oils, both vegetable oils and animal fats, are disposed of yearly without treatment as wastes. In a 2006 study, researchers found used frying oil (mainly palm olein), after pretreatment 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.
to resettle disarmed paramilitary
members on arable 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,
there have been claims that some of these new plantations have been appropriated on land owned by Afro-Colombian
s 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.
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, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as Nature Tropicale, claim that this policy is flawed, because 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 genetically-modified plants will be introduced for the first time into the region, jeopardizing the current premium paid for their non-GM crops.
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.
Ghana
Ghana has a lot of palm nut vegetation, which can be built into a sector of its own within the agricultural sector of the Black Star region. Although Ghana has palm trees of different species, ranging from local palm nuts to other species locally called agric, it is only marketed within the nation locally and other neighbouring countries. Because of low funds and other economic constraints, the local farmers and traders are finding it hard to cope, but it is lucrative.
Vegetable fats and oils
Vegetable fats and oils are lipid materials derived from plants. Physically, oils are liquid at room temperature, and fats are solid. Chemically, both fats and oils are composed of triglycerides, as contrasted with waxes which lack glycerin in their structure...
derived from the kernel
Palm kernel
Many plants and trees like olive, soybean, canola, sunflower and coconut palm produce one type of oil. The fruits of the oil palm tree, however, yields two distinct oils - palm oil and palm kernel oil....
of the oil palm
Oil palm
The oil palms comprise two species of the Arecaceae, or palm family. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African Oil Palm Elaeis guineensis is native to West Africa, occurring between Angola and Gambia, while the American Oil Palm Elaeis oleifera is native to...
Elaeis guineensis. It should not be confused with the other two edible oils derived from palm fruits: coconut oil
Coconut oil
Coconut oil is an edible oil extracted from the kernel or meat of matured coconuts harvested from the coconut palm . Throughout the tropical world, it has provided the primary source of fat in the diets of millions of people for generations. It has various applications in food, medicine, and industry...
, extracted from the kernel of the coconut, and palm oil
Palm oil
Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the...
, extracted from the pulp of the oil palm fruit.
Palm kernel oil, coconut oil, and palm oil are three of the few highly saturated vegetable fats. Palm kernel oil, which is semi-solid at room temperature
Room temperature
-Comfort levels:The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers has listings for suggested temperatures and air flow rates in different types of buildings and different environmental circumstances. For example, a single office in a building has an occupancy ratio per...
, is more saturated than palm oil and comparable to coconut oil. Like all vegetable oils, these three palm-derived oils do not contain cholesterol (found in unrefined animal fats), although saturated fat
Saturated fat
Saturated fat is fat that consists of triglycerides containing only saturated fatty acids. Saturated fatty acids have no double bonds between the individual carbon atoms of the fatty acid chain. That is, the chain of carbon atoms is fully "saturated" with hydrogen atoms...
intake increases both LDL and HDL cholesterol.
Palm kernel oil is a common cooking ingredient; its increasing use in the commercial food industry throughout the world is buoyed by its lower cost, the high oxidative stability (saturation
Saturated fat
Saturated fat is fat that consists of triglycerides containing only saturated fatty acids. Saturated fatty acids have no double bonds between the individual carbon atoms of the fatty acid chain. That is, the chain of carbon atoms is fully "saturated" with hydrogen atoms...
) of the refined product when used for frying, and its lack of cholesterol and trans fatty acids, both viewed as being heart-healthy attributes.
History
Oil palm
The oil palms comprise two species of the Arecaceae, or palm family. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African Oil Palm Elaeis guineensis is native to West Africa, occurring between Angola and Gambia, while the American Oil Palm Elaeis oleifera is native to...
Elaeis guineensis has long been recognized in West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
n countries. European merchants trading with West Africa occasionally purchased palm kernel oil for use in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, but since the oil was bulky and cheap, palm kernel oil remained rare outside West Africa. In the Asante Confederacy, state-owned slaves built large plantations of oil palm trees, while in the neighbouring Kingdom of Dahomey
Dahomey
Dahomey was a country in west Africa in what is now the Republic of Benin. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a powerful west African state that was founded in the seventeenth century and survived until 1894. From 1894 until 1960 Dahomey was a part of French West Africa. The independent Republic of Dahomey...
, King Ghezo
Ghezo
Ghezo was the ninth King of Dahomey , considered one of the greatest of the twelve historical kings. He ruled from 1818 to 1858. His name before ascending to the throne was Gakpe....
passed a law in 1856 forbidding his subjects from cutting down oil palms.
Palm kernel oil became a highly sought-after commodity by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
traders, for use as an industrial lubricant
Lubricant
A lubricant is a substance introduced to reduce friction between moving surfaces. It may also have the function of transporting foreign particles and of distributing heat...
for machinery during Britain's Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. Oil from the oil palm formed the basis of soap
Soap
In chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid.IUPAC. "" Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. . Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford . XML on-line corrected version: created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN...
products, such as Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers was a British manufacturer founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James Darcy Lever . The brothers had invested in and promoted a new soap making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson, it was a huge success...
' (now Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
) "Sunlight soap
Sunlight (cleaning product)
Sunlight is a brand of household soap originally produced by the British company Lever Brothers in 1884. It was the world's first packaged, branded laundry soap. Designed for washing clothes and general household use, the success of the product led to the name for the company's village for its...
", and the American Palmolive brand. By , palm kernel oil constituted the primary export of some West African countries such as Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
and Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, although this was overtaken by cocoa in the 1880s.
In December 2006, the Malaysian government initiated merger of Sime Darby
Sime Darby
Sime Darby is Malaysia's leading multinational conglomerate involved in five core sectors: plantations, property, industrial, motors and energy & utilities, with a growing presence in healthcare...
Berhad, Golden Hope Plantations Berhad and Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad to create the world’s largest listed oil palm plantation player. 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
Sime Darby
Sime Darby is Malaysia's leading multinational conglomerate involved in five core sectors: plantations, property, industrial, motors and energy & utilities, with a growing presence in healthcare...
Berhad.
The USDA has published historical production figures for palm kernel oil for years beginning October 1 and ending September 30:
| Year | Production, Million Tonne |
| 2005/06 | 4.40 |
| 2006/07 | 4.48 |
| 2007/08 | 4.90 |
| 2008/09 | 5.00 |
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. 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). B.C. Sekhar was instrumental in Porim's recruitment and training of scientists to undertake R&D in oil palm tree breeding, oil palm nutrition and potential oleochemical
Oleochemical
Oleochemicals are chemicals derived from plant and animal fats. They are analogous to petrochemicals derived from petroleum.The formation of basic oleochemical substances like fatty acids, fatty acid methyl esters , fatty alcohols, fatty amines and glycerols are by various chemical and enzymatic...
use. 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.
Nutrition
Many processed foods contain palm kernel oil as an ingredient.Palm kernel oil is composed of fatty acids, esterified with glycerol just like any ordinary fat. It is high in saturated fatty acids, about 80%. The oil palm gives its name to the 16-carbon saturated fatty acid palmitic acid
Palmitic acid
Palmitic acid, or hexadecanoic acid in IUPAC nomenclature, is one of the most common saturated fatty acids found in animals and plants. Its molecular formula is CH314CO2H. As its name indicates, it is a major component of the oil from palm trees . Palmitate is a term for the salts and esters of...
found in palm kernel oil, palm oil, and coconut oil.
The approximate concentration of fatty acids (FAs) in palm kernel oil is as follows:
Uses
Splitting of oils and fats by hydrolysisHydrolysis
Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction during which molecules of water are split into hydrogen cations and hydroxide anions in the process of a chemical mechanism. It is the type of reaction that is used to break down certain polymers, especially those made by condensation polymerization...
, or under basic conditions saponification
Saponification
Saponification is a process that produces soap, usually from fats and lye. In technical terms, saponification involves base hydrolysis of triglycerides, which are esters of fatty acids, to form the sodium salt of a carboxylate. In addition to soap, such traditional saponification processes...
, yields fatty acids, with glycerin (glycerol) as a byproduct. The split-off fatty acids are a mixture ranging from C4 to C18, depending on the type of oil/fat.
Resembling coconut oil, palm kernel oil is packed with myristic and lauric fatty acids and therefore suitable for the manufacture of soap
Soap
In chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid.IUPAC. "" Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. . Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford . XML on-line corrected version: created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN...
s, 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.
Derivatives of palmitic acid were used in combination with naphtha
Naphtha
Naphtha normally refers to a number of different flammable liquid mixtures of hydrocarbons, i.e., a component of natural gas condensate or a distillation product from petroleum, coal tar or peat boiling in a certain range and containing certain hydrocarbons. It is a broad term covering among the...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to produce napalm
Napalm
Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...
(aluminum naphthenate and aluminum palmitate).
Biodiesel, biomass and biogas
Palm kernel oil, like other vegetable oils, can be used to create biodieselBiodiesel
Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids with an alcohol....
for internal combustion engine
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
s. Biodiesel has been promoted as a renewable energy source to reduce net emissions of carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
into the atmosphere. Therefore, biodiesel is seen as a way to decrease the impact of the greenhouse effect
Greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is a process by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases, and is re-radiated in all directions. Since part of this re-radiation is back towards the surface, energy is transferred to the surface and the lower atmosphere...
and as a way of diversifying energy supplies to assist national energy security
Energy security
Energy security is a term for an association between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption. Access to cheap energy has become essential to the functioning of modern economies. However, the uneven distribution of energy supplies among countries has led...
plans.
Palm is also used to make biodiesel
Biodiesel
Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids with an alcohol....
, as either a simply-processed palm kernel oil mixed with petrodiesel, or processed through transesterification
Transesterification
In organic chemistry, transesterification is the process of exchanging the organic group R″ of an ester with the organic group R′ of an alcohol. These reactions are often catalyzed by the addition of an acid or base catalyst...
to create a palm kernel oil methyl ester blend, which meets the international EN 14214
EN 14214
EN 14214 is a European Standard that describes the requirements and test methods for FAME - the most common type of biodiesel.The technical definition of biodiesel is a fuel suitable for use in compression ignition engines that is made of fatty acid monoalkyl esters derived from biologically...
specification, with glycerin as a byproduct. The actual process used to make biodiesel
Biodiesel
Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids with an alcohol....
around the world varies between countries, and the requirements of different export markets. Next-generation biofuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...
production processes are also being tested in relatively small trial quantities.
The IEA
International Energy Agency
The International Energy Agency is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis...
predicts that biofuels usage in Asian countries will remain modest. But as a major producer of palm kernel oil, the Malaysian government is encouraging the production of biofuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...
feedstock and the building of biodiesel
Biodiesel
Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids with an alcohol....
plants that use palm kernel 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% oil 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 oil palm oil.
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 byproducts in the form of 4,000 tonnes of palm fatty acid distillate and 12,000 tonnes of pharmaceutical grade glycerine.
Neste Oil
Neste Oil
Neste Oil is a Finnish oil refining and marketing company producing mainly transportation fuels and other refined petroleum products. Neste Oil shares are quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.- History :...
of Finland plans to produce 800,000 tonnes of biodiesel per year from Malaysian palm oil in a new Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
refinery from 2010, which will make it the largest biofuel plant in the world, 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 paraffin
Paraffin
In chemistry, paraffin is a term that can be used synonymously with "alkane", indicating hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. Paraffin wax refers to a mixture of alkanes that falls within the 20 ≤ n ≤ 40 range; they are found in the solid state at room temperature and begin to enter the...
ic fuel in some public buses in the Helsinki area as a small scale pilot.
Regardless of these new innovations, first generation biodiesel production from oil palm is still in demand globally. Oil palm producers are investing heavily in the refineries needed for biodiesel. In Malaysia, companies have been merging, buying others out and forming alliances 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.
As the food vs. fuel debate mounts, research direction is turning to biodiesel production from waste. In Malaysia, an estimated 50,000 tonnes of used frying oils, both vegetable oils and animal fats, are disposed of yearly without treatment as wastes. In a 2006 study, researchers found used frying oil (mainly palm olein), after pretreatment 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.
Market
According to Hamburg-based Oil World trade journal, global production of oils and fats in 2008 stood at 160 million tonnes. Palm kernel oil and palm 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.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 oil palm cultivation was expanding to a million hectares. This expansion is being funded, in part, by the United States Agency for International DevelopmentUnited States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas...
to resettle disarmed paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
members on arable 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,
there have been claims that some of these new plantations have been appropriated on land owned by Afro-Colombian
Afro-Colombian
Afro Colombians refers to Colombians of African ancestry, and the great impact they have had on Colombian culture. Notable Afro-Colombians include Colombian scientists like Raul Cuero, writers like Manuel Zapata Olivella and politicians:...
s driven away through poverty and civil war, while armed guards intimidate the remaining people to depopulate the land, while coca
Coca
Coca, Erythroxylum coca, is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. The plant plays a significant role in many traditional Andean cultures...
production and trafficking follows in their wake.
Other producers
BeninPalm 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, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as Nature Tropicale, claim that this policy is flawed, because biofuels will be competing with domestic food production in some existing prime agricultural sites. Other areas comprise peat land
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
, whose drainage would have a deleterious environmental impact. They are also concerned genetically-modified plants will be introduced for the first time into the region, jeopardizing the current premium paid for their non-GM crops.
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.
Ghana
Ghana has a lot of palm nut vegetation, which can be built into a sector of its own within the agricultural sector of the Black Star region. Although Ghana has palm trees of different species, ranging from local palm nuts to other species locally called agric, it is only marketed within the nation locally and other neighbouring countries. Because of low funds and other economic constraints, the local farmers and traders are finding it hard to cope, but it is lucrative.
External links
- Palm Oil - Production, Consumption, Exports, and Imports Statistics by Country
- Blood on the Palms: Afro-Colombians fight new plantations by David Bacon, July/August 2007 Dollars & SenseDollars & SenseDollars & Sense is a magazine dedicated to providing left-wing perspectives on economics.Published six times a year since 1974, it is edited by a collective of economists, journalists, and activists committed to the ideals of social justice and economic democracy.It was initially sponsored by the...