Oil palm by-products

Energy Potential from Oil Palm By-products. Apart from cmde palm oil and pahn kernel, a palm oil mill also produces a large quantity of biomass as byproducts. In general, an EFB contains about 20% palm oil, 6-7% palm kernel,... 

W. Killman and S. C. Lim, in Proceedings of the National Symposium on Oil Palm By-products for Agro-Based Industries, Kuala Lumpur PORIM Bulletin No. 11, pp. 18-42 (1985). 

Efforts will be concentrated on optimum utilisation of oil palm by-products so as to maximise income to the industry, thus reducing the unit cost of production. 

Soybean meal is the most frequently used source of supplemental protein in the United States (5). Cottonseed meal is another important protein supplement. Both meals are by-products from oil extraction of the seeds. Canola meal is derived from rapeseed low in emcic acid [112-86-7] and glucosinolates. Linseed (derived from flax seed), peanut, sunflower, safflower, sesame, coconut, and palm kernel meals are other sources of supplemental protein that are by-products of oil extraction (4). 

The composition of common fats and oils are found in Table 1. The most predominant feedstocks for the manufacture of fatty acids are tallow and grease, coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, and cottonseed oil. Another large source of fatty acids comes from the distillation of cmde tall oil obtained as a by-product from the Kraft pulping process (see Tall oil Carboxylic acids, fatty acids from tall oil). 

Cocoa butter has the desired "melt in the mouth property and is of high commercial value in comparison with palm oil. On the other hand, palm oil is more abundant than cocoa butter. The question is, can we convert palm oil to a product which has the desired properties of cocoa butter The answer is yes, by using lipases. 

The raw materials for the manufacture of soap, the alkali salts of saturated and unsaturated C10-C20 carboxylic acids, are natural fats and fatty oils, especially tallow oil and other animal fats (lard), coconut oil, palm kernel oil, peanut oil, and even olive oil. In addition, the tall oil fatty acids, which are obtained in the kraft pulping process, are used for soap production. A typical formulation of fats for the manufacture of soap contains 80-90% tallow oil and 10-20% coconut oil [2]. For the manufacture of soft soaps, the potassium salts of fatty acids are used, as are linseed oil, soybean oil, and cottonseed oil acids. High-quality soap can only be produced by high-quality fats, independent of the soap being produced by saponification of the natural fat with caustic soda solution or by neutralization of distilled fatty acids, obtained by hydrolysis of fats, with soda or caustic soda solutions. Fatty acids produced by paraffin wax oxidation are of inferior quality due to a high content of unwanted byproducts. Therefore in industrially developed countries these fatty acids are not used for the manufacture of soap. This now seems to be true as well for the developing countries. 

Other assays have been used to evaluate the antioxidant activity against H202 of several plant-based products, namely, fruit juices from different cultivars of berries (Wang and Jiao 2000), fractions rich in phenolics isolated from the aqueous by-products obtained during the milling of oil palm fruits (Balasundram and others 2005), cherry laurel fruit and its concentrated juice (Liyana-Pathirana and others 2006), and strawberries and blackberries treated with methyl jasmonate, allyl isothiocyanate, essential oil of Melaleuca alternifolia, and ethanol (Chanjirakul and others 2007). 

Biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester (FAME)) production is based on transesterification of vegetable oils and fats through the addition of methanol (or other alcohols) and a catalyst, giving glycerol as a by-product (which can be used for cosmetics, medicines and food). Oil-seed crops include rapeseeds, sunflower seeds, soy beans and palm oil seeds, from which the oil is extracted chemically or mechanically. Biodiesel can be used in 5%-20% blends with conventional diesel, or even in pure form, which requires slight modifications in the vehicle. 

Oilseeds, oil fruits, their products and by-products rapeseed, expeller and hulls soybean as bean, toasted, expeller and hulls sunflower seed as seed and expeller cotton as seed and seed expeller linseed as seed and expeller sesame seed as expeller palm kernels as expeller pumpkin seed as expeller olives, olive pulp vegetable oils (from physical extraction). (Turnip rapeseed expeller was delisted in 2004.)... 

Methyl Ester-Based Processes. The fatty methyl esters are produced predominantly by the transesterification of fats and oils with methanol in the presence of an alkaline catalyst under very mild reaction conditions.l5a,b They are used in the production of lauric-type (Cl2) alcohols. The short-chain fatty methyl esters (C8-Cl0), produced as by-products via the fractional distillation of crude lauric-type (coconut, palm kernel) methyl esters, are converted to fatty acids via acidic or alkaline hydrolysis (Fig. 36.12). The hydrolysis of short-chain fatty methyl esters by stream splitting or Twitchell-type processes is not very efficient because of unfavorable equilibrium constants.16a,b... 

AgroResin is a biodegradable packaging material from by-products of the palm oil industry. It can also be made from agricultural fibres, such as wheat straw. It is compatible with existing moulded pulp manufacturing processes. AgroResin has received Din-Certco certification for products made of compostable materials (DIN EN 13432 2000-12). 

Palm-kernel oil is produced from the kernels of the oil palm, usually by solvent extraction and is an important lauric oil (see also coconut oil. Section 5.3). Its fatty acid composition is detailed in Table 2(b). Annual production is about 2.3 million tons. The kernels originate mainly in the oil palm growing areas of Malaysia and Indonesia and are crushed almost entirely in the country of origin (28, 29). 

Palm oil is an edible oil referred to by the FAOAVHO Codex Alimentarius (1) as being derived from the fleshy mesocarp of the oil palm fruit. In the unprocessed form palm oil is reddish brown in color, and it has a semisolid consistency at ambient temperature. Readers should not confuse palm oil with palm kernel oil, which is another product obtained from the kernel of the oil palm fruit while palm oil is derived from the mesocarp or fruit flesh. The two oils have different chemical composition and physical characteristics, and they are used and marketed separately according to their own supply and demand situations. 

Many countries plant oil palm to produce the oil to fulfill their local consumption. In contrast, Malaysia and to a certain extent Indonesia are unique in that the production of pahn oil is meant for export. For these countries, palm oil production for export purposes is found to be highly viable, and oil palm has become a favorite cash crop to replace other traditional crops such as rubber. The viability of palm oil for export is determined by the ability of the oil palm to be grown successfully in the country concerned. High yield of the palm throughout the year is essential to achieve viability for the export market. 

Crude palm oil used to be the main form of export in the past. With the establishment of refineries especially in Malaysia during the mid-1970s and 1980s, refined palm oil products have replaced the crude as the main form of palm oil export. A wide range of processed or semiprocessed products are exported, and these include the different fractions of processed pahn oil known as palm olein (liquid) and palm stearin (solid). The availability of refineries also led to the production of specialty fats products aimed at the confectionery markets. A similar trend has been seen in the export of pahn kernel oil. Palm kernel oil is a coproduct to palm oil produced at a ratio of 10-13 tons of palm kernel oil for every 100 tons of palm oil. Even the export of refined palm kernel oil has begun to decline as more is being used locally by the oleochemical industry that has been estabhshed in recent years. 

Apart from the production of CPO and palm kernel oU (PKO), the oil palm industry also generates large quantities of by-products in the form of biomass. The bulk of the by-products derived from the palm oil industry are basically Ugnocellulosic and organic in nature and with a high plant nutrient content. With proper handling and management, these by-products could be utilized and converted into value-added products. 

Utilization of By-product. Oil Palm Trunks and Fronds. Under normal plantation practices, the pruned fronds are placed along the palm interrows and act as mulch. Besides conserving soil moisture and reducing soil surface erosion, the fronds on decomposition return organic matter and slowly release plant nutrients to the soil (Table 27). 

Refining of Other Palm Products. Beside crude palm oil, crude palm olein, crude palm stearin, cmde kernel oil, crude palm kernel olein, and crude palm kernel stearin can also be refined by either chemical or physical processes described before. The basic unit operations and processing conditions for crude palm olein and stearin are similar to those of palm oil. However, in refining palm kernel products, due to the virtual absence of carotenoids, the earth dosage required in the bleaching stage is lower, usually less than 1.0%. Furthermore, due to the presence of shorter chain (C8-C14) fatty acids, the deodorization temperature required is about 230-250°C. Typical achievable quality of RBD/NBD palm kernel oil is given in Table 34. 

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