Analysis of Palm Oil Extraction and Biodiesel Production.

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Title: Analysis of palm oil extraction and biodiesel production. 1.0 Introduction Indonesia and Malaysia are the major exporting countries of palm oil (Gunston, 2011). Malaysia accounts for 39% of world palm oil manufacture and 44% of world exports. Palm oil is one of the major oils consumed not only in Asian region regions, but also in the worldwide. Palm oil consists more than 90% triacylglycerols, 2–7% diacylglycerols, 0.1 % monoacylglycerols, 3–5 % free fatty acids and 1% minor components. The minor components are a complex mixture of carotenoids, tocols (tocopherols and tocotrienols), squalene, sterols, and phospholipids (Puah et al., 2007). The oil palm fresh fruit bunches are unique crop product. This is due to two types of oil can be obtained from this raw material which is palm oil from the flesh of the fruit and palm kernel oil from the seed or kernel. The palm fruit contains a kernel which is the seed. The kernel is enclosed by the fruit wall made up of a hard shell (endocarp), fibrous fruit pulp or oil-bearing tissue (mesocarp) and the skin as shown in Figure 1 (Hamdan et al., 2000). Figure 1. Cross-section of an oil palm fruitlet. Main difference between palm and palm kernel oils is their fatty acid component. Palm oil is about 50% saturated with palmitic (C16:0) and oleic (C18:1) acids. However, palm kernel oil is more than 80% saturated with lauric acid (C12:0). Fractionation separates palm oil into palm olein (liquid) and palm stearin (solid). A second fractionation gives superolein, palm mid-fraction, and hard stearin. Similarly, fractionation separates palm kernel oil in palm kernel olein and palm kernel stearin (Nor Aini and Yusoff, 2000). Therefore, palm oil is widely used for industrial frying of snack foods due to its stability. Palm kernel oil and its products are commonly used in the production of specialty fats, or confectionary fats,

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