Palm oil production

Chong, C.L. 2001. Crystallization of palm oil products. In, Crystallization and Solidification Properties of Lipids (N. Widlak, R. Hartel, S. Narine, eds.), pp. 110-119, AOCS Press, Champaign, IL. 

This chapter will provide the reader with an understanding of the role of the palm oil industry in the international oils and fats market, the technology involved in extracting and processing of the oil, and the various quality parameters useful in understanding the applications of palm oil products. Some of the common applications of palm oil in food and nonfood end products are described. 

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. 

Global palm oil production edged up just 1.0 million tons in 2001/02 to... 

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. 

The major importers of palm oil used to be the developed countries of the European Economic Community (EEC), the United States, and Japan. They accounted for about 75% of the imports of palm oil in the early 1970s. With the increasing exports of refined palm oil products, many developing countries, which did not have refining capacities, were able to import processed palm oil for direct consumption with minimal or no further refining. This helped to expand the market for palm... 

Other characteristics of palm oleins and palm stearin are shown in Table 17. The different types of palm oil products available for export are illustrated in Table 18. 

In the palm oil trade, test methods for palm oil product analysis were traditionally based on the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) test methods. Where test methods are not available under the AOCS, other test methods were used, drawn... 

Quality Assurance Measures in Plantation and Milling. Availability of good-quality crude palm oil is a prerequisite for the production of good-quality refined palm oil products. The criteria for good-quality crude palm oil are ... 

Von Zeddelman and Wurziger (96) Germany Hardened groundnut oil and palm oil products best... 

Another use of a palm oil product is in infant food formulations. The low-melting olein has been found to be very suitable for use in infant food formulations when blended with other vegetable oils. Low-melting olein contains 10-15% palmitic acid in the 2-position of the glycerol chain. This contributes to the high digestibility of the product (106). 

Apart from the products mentioned, there are many other foods that contain palm oil and palm kernel oil products. These include soup mixes, cake and dessert mixes, rendang or curry mixes, sardines, baked beans, breakfast cereals, shrimp-paste powder, bouillon, peanut butter, and beverages. Palm oil products have also been used as a spray oil on biscuits. 

Epoxidized Palm Oil and Products, Polyols, Polyurethanes, and Polyacrylates. Epoxidized palm oil and palm oil products (EPOP) can be produced by reacting palm oil, palm stearin, or palm olein with peracids. Preformed peroxyacetic and peroxyformic acids, as well as peroxyacetic acid and peroxyformic acid generated in situ, were studied by Ahmad and co-workers (118,119) to find suitable methods for the production of EPOP. The best procedures were found to be preformed peroxyacetic acid and peroxyformic acid generated in situ (Table 46). 

Prospects. The amount of palm oil/palm oil products used in the production of soaps is expected to increase in the near future especially in the developing countries. Besides being price competitive and exhibiting good performances, soaps from palm oil/palm oil products are acceptable by all religions. 

There is a strong competition between products derived from oleochemicals and those derived from petrochemicals. With the current awareness on environmental issues and preference for environmentally friendly products, the utilization of palm oil/palm oil products for nonfood applications via the oleochemicals route is also expected to increase. Due to the ready availability of raw materials, technology, capital, and market demand, the nonfood applications of palm oil/palm oil products are expected to have a bright future. 

Ah. Gapor and co-workers. International Conference on Palm Oil Product Technology in the Eighties, Kuala Lumpur, June 22-24, 1981. 

D. Whiting, Market Development of Palm Oil Products, Geneva, International Trade Center, UNCTAD/GATT, 1982, pp. 108-113. 

Palm oil production has increased significantly in the last 10 years and may soon exceed that of all other edible oils. Pahn oil is also the only p type whose crystal habit is not changed by interesterification. Interesterification has no effect on the oils in the p classification either however, randomization in the presence of another oil can moderate their p tendency (13). 

Oh, F.C.H., and K.G. Berger, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Palm Oil Product Technology in the Eighties, edited by E. Pushparajah and M. Rajadurai, Incorporated Society of Planters, Kuala Lumpur, 1983, pp. 383-395. 

For the work reported here, the polymorphic forms of the crystals of all the palm oil products at the temperatures measured are either in the 3 or 3 form or a mixture of both. The 3 polymorphic crystal form is plate-like while the 3 crystal form is spherulitic with needle-like projections from the center of the crystal as can be seen from the electron microscope pictures published by van Putte and Bakker (12). Therefore it can be seen that for the P polymorph, although the final overall shape of the crystal assumes the shape of a sphere in three dimensions, the plates or leaves that form the crystal are thin. This shows that as far as the actual growing sites of the crystal are concerned, growth is in two and not in three dimensions. 

The transformation of crystals from the P to the P form takes place in the solids present in a fat. However, the rate of this transformation is greatly influenced by the amount of liquid oil in the fat. A suitable method to estimate the p stability of a fat is temperature cycling. An example is given in Table 9, where palm oil products were subjected to temperature cycling between 4 and 20°C. A cycle may take two or more days. The polymorphic forms can be measured at the end of each cycle. A product such as hydrogenated palm oil or palm olein will show no presence of P polymorphs after four cycles. Palm oil and palm stearin will... 

Polymorphic Forms of Some Palm Oil Products Temperature Cycled Between 4 and 20 C ... 

Trading with Malaysia holds many attractions. It is the most prosperous country in the Far East, after Japan. Economically progressive, it has plenty of natural resources, including timber, tin, rubber, petrol and gas, palm oil products, and spices. Indeed, one can say that Malaysia is also a land of plenty. It enjoys a parliamentary democracy, constitutional monarchy and freedom of the press. It has a well-structured healthcare system, and its registration regulations are tailored to encourage multinationals to invest in the country. 

The production levels of virtually all the commodities have increased during the past 20 years and further increases are expected in the coming years. However they have not all increased equally some have lost market share and four have become increasingly dominant. The latter are soybean oil, palm oil (and palmkemel oil), rapeseed oil, and sunflowerseed oil. The percentage share of world production of these oils is summarised in Table 1.4. Palm oil and palmkemel oil are combined in this Table. Although palmkemel oil is a minor oil, it is produced from the same source as palm oil and it is therefore appropriate to combine these for this discussion. In the past 20 years both palm oil and rapeseed oil have increased considerably to take up positions two and three in order of production level. It is considered that palm oil production will exceed that of soybean oil towards the end of the forty-year period. 

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