Palm-based Production Research Articles

Entirely oil palm-based production of 1,3-propanediol with Lentilactobacillus diolivorans

Entirely oil palm-based production of 1,3-propanediol with Lentilactobacillus diolivorans

The Effect of Logistics Performance Index Indicators on Palm Oil and Palm-Based Products Export: The Case of Indonesia and Malaysia

Palm oil is one of the most traded vegetable oils in the global market due to its versatile usage and having a lower price than competitor products. Trade is related to logistics performance as it connects the exporter and importer countries; thus, improving the indicators of logistics also improves the performance of trade, especially in agricultural export. Currently, no study has revealed the effect of logistics performance on palm oil export by considering all the indicators. This study investigates the impact of all the indicators of the logistics performance index on palm oil and palm-based products. Using a panel data regression approach, the extended gravity model is applied in this study to examine Indonesia and Malaysia as the leading exporters of palm oil and palm-based products. The results reveal that all the Logistics Performance Index indicators affect palm oil and palm-based products export in Indonesia and Malaysia. The critical indicators of the Logistics Performance Index in Indonesia are timeliness and tracking and tracing. However, competence and quality of trade infrastructure are the main indicators of Malaysia’s palm oil and palm-based products. The future direction of this research is to explore other agricultural commodities and extend the period of the analysis.

Chemical properties of biochar from date palm seed (Phoenix dactylifera L.) under low temperature pyrolysis as soil amendment candidate

The waste of date palm seeds is abundant in Indonesia, however, the seeds are still regarded as trash from the manufacture of date palm-based products. Dates seed, when processed further, can be a useful resource, one of which is as a raw material in the production of Biochar. The utilization of date palm seeds into biochar is one strategy that can be applied. The purpose of this study was to determine the chemical properties of biochar derived from the seeds of palm date (Phoenix dactylifera L.). Making biochar is done by burning the seeds using a furnace with a temperature of 250°C and 350°C, then ground and sieved with a size of 350 micrometers carried out at the Research Center for Limnology and Water Resources. Chemical property analysis using X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (XRF) at the Lampung Advanced Characterization Laboratory- BRIN. The results show there are four macronutrients found in date palm seed biochar namely P, K, Ca, and S. Most composition is Potassium (K). The potassium content of biochar burned at 250 °C is 66.24% while the biochar burned at 350 °C contains 67.189%. In addition, the phosphorus (P) content of biochar burned at a temperature of 250 °C is 6.574% while the biochar burned at a temperature of 350 °C contains 7.429%. Increasing the temperature increases the percentage of Potassium and Phosphorus, but the opposite results in Sulfur (S) and Calcium (Ca).

Intraregional Export Flows and Export Efficiency in Palm Oil and Palm-Based Products: Southeast Asia and Latin America Regions Compared

ABSTRACT Arguably, leveraging the intraregional market is important for a commodity like palm oil that constantly faces challenges to sustain global demand in extraregional markets. The article, therefore, compares intraregional export potentials for palm oil in two regions that are at the frontier for palm oil expansion, Southeast Asia and Latin America. The study employs a stochastic frontier gravity model to estimate intraregional export performance. The results indicate large untapped potentials and low-efficiency levels in both regions. The evidence further suggests that the export potential limiting factors have increased over time.

Intraregional Trade Flows and Trade Efficiency in Palm Oil and Palm-Based Products: Southeast Asia and Latin America Regions Compared

Arguably, leveraging on the intraregional market is important for a commodity like palm oil that has been constantly facing challenges to sustain global demand in extra-regional markets. The paper therefore compares intraregional export potentials for palm oil in two regions that are at the frontier for palm oil expansion, Southeast Asia and Latin America. The paper employs a stochastic frontier gravity model to estimate intraregional export performance against the maximum possible level of potential export over the 1990 to 2016 period. Though intraregional exports of palm oil and palm-based products are more intensive in Latin America relative to Southeast Asia, the results indicate large untapped export potentials in both regions due to non-tariff measures and ‘behind the border’ factors. The evidence further suggests that this export potential limiting factors have increased over time. An intraregional focus for this commodity is therefore justified on grounds that there is tremendous scope for export expansion. However, to facilitate intraregional exports, the regulations should be streamlined within the regions.

Process simulation of integrated palm oil mill, refinery and oleochemical processes

Processes involved in the palm oil industry can be categorized into three main operations; upstream operation (planting and milling), midstream operation (physical/chemical refining), and downstream operation (palm-based oleochemical processing). For the last few years, some industrial key players have emphasized a change from stand-alone operations towards an integrated manufacturing facility. This has become the basis idea for integration of palm-based production processes. It includes material integration, shared energy and utility resources and waste-to-feed utilization. Integrated process however, involves a complex network; thus, the process has to be simulated to analyze its feasibility in terms of process throughput and material, energy and utility consumption. Hence, this paper addresses the basis to simulate the integrated palm oil process using process simulator Aspen Plus V8.6 for its dynamic capabilities in adjusting process variables to meet the required capacity for a target product. This study is critical in providing a basis and overview of the typical processes in palm oil industry and the possible interrelations associated with the proposed integrated facility for palm oil-based production.

Physico-chemical Properties and Performance of High Oleic and Palm-Based Shortenings

Solid fat from fractionation of palm-based products was converted into cake shortening at different processing conditions. High oleic palm stearin with an oleic content of 48.2 % was obtained from fractionation of high oleic palm oil which was produced locally. Palm product was blended with different soft oils at pre-determined ratio and further fractionated to obtain the solid fractions. These fractions were then converted into cake shortenings named as high oleic, N1 and N2 blends. The physico-chemical properties of the experimental shortenings were compared with those of control shortenings in terms of fatty acid composition (FAC), iodine value (IV), slip melting point (SMP), solid fat content (SFC) and polymorphic forms. Unlike the imported commercial shortenings as reported by other studies and the control, experimental shortenings were trans-free. The SMP and SFC of experimental samples, except for the N2 sample, fell within the ranges of commercial and control shortenings. The IV was higher than those of domestic shortenings but lower when compared to imported and control shortenings. They were also observed to be beta tending even though a mixture of beta and beta' was observed in the samples after 3 months of storage. The shortenings were also used in the making of pound cake and sensory evaluation showed the good performance of high oleic sample as compared to the other shortenings.

Differential scanning calorimetric analysis of palm oil, palm oil based products and coconut oil: effects of scanning rate variation

Abstract This study explored the thermal behaviour of coconut oil and palm oil and products based on them, by monitoring peak transition temperatures, transition enthalpies, offset- (T off ) and onset-temperatures (T on ) by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at different scanning rates. Triacylglycerol (TAG) profiles and iodine value (IV) analyses were used to compliment the DSC data. An increase in heating rate, generally, was associated with an increase in peak size, peak transition and offset temperatures. Meanwhile, the peak transition and onset temperatures increased with decreasing cooling rates. Decreased heating or cooling rate also caused a narrowing of the melting endotherms or crystallisation exotherms. Transitions for oil samples with low scanning rate (1 °C/min) were composed of more peaks, resulting from the contribution of a number of TAG components in the oil. Generally, coconut oils and palm-based products may be differentiated with their T off and T on values in the DSC melting and crystallisation curves, respectively. On the basis of the results of this study, DSC can provide information about the nature of TAG interaction in these oil samples. Recognition of the pattern of interactions among TAG in coconut- and palm-based products can be helpful in many physical processes in the palm oil industry.

New Palm-Based Products.

An oil palm is perennial crop. The palm begins to bear fruits 2-3 years after planting and has an economic life of about 25 years. Among the oil crops, the oil palm is the most prolofic oil producing plant. In Malaysia, the commercial planting material is Tenera which yields about 4 tonnes of palm oil, 0.5 tonne palm kernel oil (PKO) and 0.6 tonne Palm kernel cake (PKC) per hectare per year on the average. An oil palm fruit yields two types of oil, crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel oil (PKO). CPO and PKO are extracted from the mesocarp and kernel of the oil palm fruit respectively. They are chemically different and have between them practically the entire range of long, medium and short chain fatty acids. CPO contains mainly palmitic (C16:0) and oleic acid (C18:1), the two most common fatty acids in nature, and is about 50% saturated, while PKO contains mainly lauric acid (C12:0) and is more than 80% saturated. Based on their chemical and physical properties, two large industries have been established namely palm-based food industry and oleochemical industry. In addition, the presence of healthy components such as carotenes and vitamin E as well as its high content of monounsaturates has made palm oil a nutritious edible oil. About 80% of palm oil find its way into food products, leaving about 20% for non-applications. MPOB’s R&D efforts have, over the last few years, producers many new palm-based products. The food products include Trans-free vanaspati, santan power, Trans-free margarine, pourable margarine, microencapsilated palm oil-based products, non-dairy ice cream, shortnings, cocoa butter substitute, reduced fat spread, Trans fatty acid free food formulation, palm olein salad dressing, etc. There are many useful minor components in crude palm oil. Among the more important ones are carotenes, tocols (30% tocopherols and 70% tocotrienools), sterols and squalene. Until recently, many of these minor components have been lost during refining :- all carotenes are destroyed and about 30% of vitamin E is condensed in palm fatty acid distillate, a by-product during refining of palm oil. Process have been developed to recover these minor components and these have contributed to the emergence of nutraceutical industry that produces tocopherol and tocotrienol capsules, carotene rich palm oil and palm carotene concentrate. Palm oil also finds many of its applications in olelchemical industry. Coconut oil and tallow are the traditional raw materials for oleochemicals. However, because of their similarity in fatty acid composition, palm oil, palm stearin and palm kernel oil have been accepted as better alternatives. In fact, palm oil and palm kernel oil offer more advantages: •They are more reliable in supply and delivery. •They are more cost-effective. •As vegetable oils, their derivatives and applications are fully acceptable to people for whom animal fats may be subjected to religious taboos. Lately MPOB has embarked on an extensive R&D programme in palm biomass utilization. It has been shown that oil palm biomass offers great potential for producing medium density fibre board (MDF), thermofoable plastic composites, pulp and paper, furniture etc. Putting knowledge in converting our resources into value added end products is consisitent with national government’s effort to transform the nation from a resource-based industry into a manufacturing-based industry so that the country will become a fully developed industrialized nation by the year 2000.