Over the past few decades, the global demand for vegetable oils has grown exponentially. From 2000-2001 to 2020-2021, the worldwide consumption of vegetable oils more than doubled from 87 million tonnes to 208 million tonnes. Vegetable oil production has kept up with this demand - by the end of 2024, it is estimated to reach 222.8 million tonnes.
Among all the vegetable oil varieties available in the world, palm oil is the most important. It accounts for a major portion of global vegetable oil consumption. Investment in the palm oil production process has also scaled up to meet this demand.
Palm oil is derived from the ripened mesocarp of the fruit of Elaeis guineensis or the oil palm tree. Native to West Africa, oil palms are now extensively cultivated in plantations in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and other regions in the equatorial belt. Today, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia, and Nigeria are the leading producers of palm oil.
Palm oil is rich in palmitic acid, β-carotene and vitamin E. To diversify its applications in the food industry, crude palm oil is generally fractionated into liquid palm olein and solid palm stearin. In addition to palm oil, the oil palm is also the source of palm kernel oil, extracted from the inside kernel of the fruit. The global dominance of palm oil and palm kernel oil is indisputable. Together, these two oils accounted for 32% of global oils and fats production even a decade ago, in 2012.
There is good reason for palm oil's popularity - palm oil and its derivatives are so versatile that they are used to make margarine, chocolate, soap, shampoo, body lotion, deodorants, toothpaste, oatmeal, cereal, pet care products, dishwashing liquid, and household cleaning products.
Additionally, at an estimated 58.431 million metric tons (MT) of production per year, the oil palm tree also has the highest oil yield per unit of cultivated land area. For comparison, one hectare of an oil palm plantation can produce up to 10 times more oil than other popular oilseed crops.
Addressing the controversy surrounding palm oil manufacturing
Before we get into the how of the palm oil production process, we need to address the why. After all, palm oil manufacturing in India, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries is not without controversy.
In a consumer survey conducted in the UK, 41% of people thought palm oil was 'environmentally unfriendly'; at 15%, soybean oil ranked a distant second. We cannot deny that such consumer perceptions affect consumers' purchase decisions. Many manufacturers of consumer products, like chips, are responding to customers' concerns by finding substitutes for palm oil.
These concerns are not unfounded. Oil palm cultivation for palm oil production lines has been associated, directly and indirectly, with deforestation, tropical biodiversity loss, competition for limited water resources, greenhouse gas emissions, and habitat loss.
Governments, researchers, and owners and operators of palm oil production lines are aware of the consequences of palm oil production - and they are taking important measures to ensure the safety and sustainability of the process.
Malaysia and Indonesia actively promote making the palm oil production process sustainable and an integral part of the transition to net-zero emissions. Researchers have devised methods to use palm oil by-products to produce biofuels, biofertilizers, and electricity; they have also engineered solutions to capture greenhouse gas emissions for later use. Operators of palm oil processing plants in India and beyond return "waste" like oil palm fronds and empty fruit bunches to plantations, which can use them as nutrient-rich mulch.
The palm oil industry also has sustainability standards to hold palm oil refinery plants, cultivators, and processors to account. Introduced in 2004, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was the first industry standard concerning sustainability. Ever since, standards like Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil and Malaysia Sustainable Palm Oil have followed suit. Such standards and certifications audit existing practices and lead the charge on sustainability in the palm oil production process.
The imperative to continue palm oil production
Palm oil production is not without its concerns, but there are important imperatives to continue its production, albeit in more environmentally- and socially-friendly ways.
The global population is estimated to reach 9.8 billion by 2050. Concurrently, the amount of arable land per person is projected to fall to 0.15 hectares per person by 2050, compared to 0.38 hectares in 1970. As we mentioned right at the beginning, the global consumption of vegetable oils has grown at an unprecedented rate. Within this scenario, an important question we must ask is how we can meet this growing demand without hurting our planet.
The answer lies in palm oil.
Palm oil has economic, industrial and land use benefits. Compared to other vegetable oils, palm oil has the lowest production costs. Its versatility means that it has applications across industrial sectors, from food to fuel to consumer products. Most importantly, it has an extremely high yield - this translates to lesser land requirements to produce large quantities of oil.
For every hectare of land, manufacturers can produce 2.9 tonnes of palm oil annually. Comparatively, the same area can produce only 0.7 tonnes of rapeseed oil or sunflower oil - that's four times less than the palm oil yield. Furthermore, coconut oil and groundnut oil yields can be 10 to 15 times less than those of palm oil.
Compared using a different perspective, in 2017, palm oil accounted for 36% of vegetable oil production but only 8.6% of land use for vegetable oils. For reference, sunflower oil accounted for 9% of oil and 8.3% of land; coconut oil made up 1.4% of global vegetable oil production, but 3.6% of land. Olive oil, sesame seed oil, and soybean oil also used a larger proportion of land for raw material cultivation compared to their contribution to global oil yields.
For this reason, palm oil has been referred to as a "land-sparing" oil. Switching from palm oil to alternatives like sunflower or soybean oil would require more land use; it would also exacerbate the environmental challenges that come with oilseed cultivation.
If not palm oil, then what?
Our World in Data explains the implications of a global shift away from palm oil:
"Let's give these numbers some context. Currently, the world devotes around 322 million hectares to oilseed crops. That's an area similar to the size of India. If global oil were supplied solely from palm, we'd need 77 million hectares, around four times less. If we got it from rapeseed, we'd need an area similar to the size we use today; from coconuts, an area the size of Canada; and in the most extreme case, we'd have to devote 2 billion hectares to sesame seeds - a bit more than Canada, the USA, and India combined."
How can we meet the growing global demand for vegetable oils without compromising the health of people and the planet?
The answer lies in sustainable oil palm cultivation; it lies in increased efficiency in the palm oil production process; and it lies in producing palm oil within a circular economy.
Extracting oil from the oil palm tree is a multi-stage process.
It begins with the cultivation and harvest of the fruit from mature trees anywhere between the ages of four and 30 years. After the preparation of the fruit, it is transferred to a palm oil extraction machine. The crude palm oil is eliminated of its impurities in a palm oil refinery plant. Finally, the palm oil production process culminates in the fractionation of the refined oil into a solid fraction and a liquid fraction, each of which has distinct applications.
Palm oil processing units
Depending on the throughput and complexity of the chosen palm oil production process, a palm oil processing unit may be one of four types. Its operation could rely on traditional methods, small-scale mechanical units, medium-scale mills, or large industrial mills.
When production volumes and complexity levels are low, palm oil processing plants in India, Africa and other regions may be small-scale: their daily throughput may range from a few hundred kilograms to 8 tonnes FFB (fresh fruit bunches). Such palm oil processing units ordinarily supply crude oil to domestic markets.
On the other hand, large-scale palm oil production lines, fitted with equipment for multiple stages of the process, typically handle anywhere between 3 and 60 tonnes of FFB per hour. Such operations are characterised by automation, mechanical handling systems, continuous operations, and high-quality process control systems. Sophisticated large-scale installations of palm oil production lines can achieve extraction rates as high as 24% palm oil per bunch. Often, such plants supply international palm oil refinery plants.
Different palm oil processing units may differ in their levels of mechanization, materials transfer mechanisms, and scale. Nonetheless, to a large extent, they all follow the same palm oil production process.
Let's dive right in.
The journey starts on a plantation: cultivation and harvest
Cultivation and harvest. One of the biggest advantages of oil palms is that they are perennial. They do not need to be replanted yearly, which eliminates a large part of the labour involved in cultivating most oilseeds.
Within 4 to 6 years of planting, oil palms begin to produce fruit for harvest. They continue to be productive for the rest of their lives, which last roughly 28 to 30 years. The palm fruits grow in dense bundles, wedged snugly between the branches of the tree. They are harvested from the tall trees using extension poles or by chopping off surrounding branches.
When fully ripened, the fruit is a bright red-orange colour and its mesocarp contains 56 to 70% edible oil.
Preparing the palm fruit for palm oil extraction machines
PALM FRUIT PREPARATION
Step 1: inspection. When they arrive at a palm oil processing unit, the palm fruits are first inspected and subjected to quality assessments to ensure that only good quality fruit makes it to the palm oil production line.
Step 2: sterilization. Then, the FFBs are sterilized, with high-pressure steam destroying bacteria and deactivating enzymes.
Step 3: cooking. Palm fruits are extremely hard to the touch, so they must be softened before they can be processed further. They are cooked or digested under high-pressure, high-temperature steam (typically 300 psi at 140°C to break down their oil-bearing cells. This makes the fruit pliable, oily, and ready for the next step of palm fruit preparation.
Step 4: threshing. The final preparatory step is threshing, which involves separating the fruit from the bunch. The threshing process yields a mix of palm fruits and empty fruit bunches (EFB).
Time for palm oil extraction machines
PALM OIL EXTRACTION
Now we come to the central step in the palm oil production process: extraction. Separated palm fruits are processed to extract crude palm oil. Fibres and the palm kernel get left behind.
There are two commonly used methods for palm oil extraction.
Approach 1: wet method. The wet method uses hot water to leach oil out of the digested mash.
Approach 2: dry method. The dry method uses mechanical presses to squeeze oil out from the mix of oil, fibre, moisture, and kernels.
In this method, extraction may be carried out through a batch or continuous process. Batch systems may use either a screw press or a hydraulic press, operated either manually or using a motor. The raw material is placed in a metal cage which can accommodate volumes of 5 to 30 kilograms; the metal plunger, either screw or hydraulic, is used to press the palm fruit through the cage, with pressure increasing gradually. Continuous processes, on the other hand, use screw presses in cylindrical perforated cages. The digested fruit is continuously conveyed through the system, with the pressure of the screw expelling oil through the perforations.
Regardless of the palm oil extraction machine employed, the crude palm oil contains some impurities. A simple clarification process - involving centrifuges or settling tanks - is used to separate unwanted water, cell debris, fibres, and other solids from the oil.
The role of palm oil refinery plants
PALM OIL REFINING
Crude palm oil comprises the products of hydrolysis and oxidation as well as unwanted flavours and colours. Palm oil refinery plants are designed to eliminate these undesirable components.
Palm oil refining involves four major steps.
Step 1: degumming. Degumming, carried out to remove gums and other impurities, improves the appearance and stability of the oil.
Step 2: neutralisation. Neutralisation, involving the use of an alkali like NaOH, neutralizes free fatty acids (FFAs).
Step 3: pre-treatment and bleaching. Bleaching helps eliminate pigments (and some other odours and impurities) to give a clear oil.
Step 4: deodorization. Finally, deodorization using equipment like Kumar's EcoPack Deodorizer eliminates volatile compounds using steam and vacuum.
The final step: fractionation
FRACTIONATION
The last step in the palm oil production process is fractionation. Olein, the liquid fraction of palm oil, is used to make cooking oil. Stearin, the solid fraction, is used to make confectionery, shortening, and margarine. To separate these two fractions, the refined oil is cooled under controlled conditions, crystallised, and then the two fractions are separated via filtration.
R&D across disciplines - chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and biochemistry - has resulted in the development of this complex, effective, and efficient palm oil production process. This process has developed over the years, incorporating higher levels of mechanization, automation, and better oil yields and quality.
This evolution continues - in plantations that aim to enhance their cultivation techniques, at palm oil processing units which prioritise sustainable sourcing, and at our OM Innovation Centre where we commit to making the process as resource-efficient as possible. This evolution is made possible by the interventions of well-meaning governments and the pressures of sustainability-conscious consumers. Each of these stakeholders is an important part of the journey towards a more sustainable palm oil production process - one which results in healthier, happier and safer people and ecosystems.
The palm oil production process in a circular economy
A circular economy is a model of resource production and consumption that involves keeping materials and products in circulation for as long as possible. It involves reusing, repairing, recycling, refurbishing, sharing, and leasing materials and products.
Employing the principles of circular economy - like using "waste" as a resource - extends the life cycle of items, with accompanying benefits like reduced material use and the elimination of waste and pollution.
On the whole, employing the circular economy approach to any system is a reliable path to greater environmental sustainability. This holds even for the palm oil production process.
The path to net-zero: Designing palm oil production lines for sustainability
As we've seen, the palm oil production process has multiple stages. From cultivation to harvest, from extraction to refining to fractionation, and even beyond… every step of the way, there are opportunities to use palm oil making machines for the better of the planet.
Let's consider palm oil mill effluent, for instance.
Palm oil mill effluent - POME, for short - is a liquid by-product generated during the production of crude palm oil. When POME decomposes in the absence of oxygen, biogas (which is mainly constituted of methane) forms naturally. Methane is a greenhouse gas, with the potential to do 25 times more harm to our atmosphere than carbon dioxide. So if this biogas is not collected well in a controlled manner, it gets released directly into the atmosphere. As you can imagine, this further exacerbates global warming and climate change.
Sustainable palm oil processing units see this as an opportunity rather than a challenge.
Methane has its problems but it also has very useful applications, especially when it comes to the by-products of palm oil production lines. The gas is an important source of renewable energy. This is why many palm oil manufacturers capture the biogases emitted during their operations and process them in covered lagoons. After anaerobic digestion, gas turbines are used to convert the released gases into electricity. Depending on internal consumption needs, the generated electricity may be used to operate palm oil making machines or exported to national grids so that the general public can access green energy.
This isn't just a theoretical concept or a pipe dream. Indonesia and Malaysia are leading producers of palm oil and concomitantly, they also boast impressive biogas production. Indonesia produced roughly 56 million cubic metres of biogas in 2020. In the same year, 125 of the 452 oil mills in Malaysia operated biogas plants.
In addition to the methane released from POME, the effluent can also be used to produce green fuels. The residual oil from POME, called palm sludge oil, serves as feedstock for biodiesel and hydrotreated vegetable oil - both of these are effective alternatives to diesel obtained from fossil fuels. Companies like Neste already use POME oil to make renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. Further, POME can also be treated via aerobic composting to obtain compost fertilizer.
With Malaysia alone producing roughly 53 million cubic metres of POME yearly, the scope for value addition from palm oil processing units is massive - enough to sustain an entire clean fuel and fertilizer industry.
The productive use of by-products from palm oil production places this process within a circular economy. It inspires confidence that palm oil production can mitigate its harm to the environment as well as contribute to sustainable energy production. With such innovative applications of palm oil by-products, the path to net-zero emissions in the oils and fats industry seems not only clearer but also achievable.
Other value additions associated with palm oil processing units
POME isn't the only useful by-product of the palm oil production process. After all, palm oil and palm kernel oil are only a small proportion, about 10%, of all the components of the oil palm tree. POME and empty fruit bunches (EFB) can make up as much as 80% of total mill residues.
Mesocarp fibres and palm kernel shells are used as biomass fuel for steam and electricity generation. Often, such steam and electricity are transferred back to the palm oil production line to power the process.
Empty fruit bunches can be turned into pellets, briquettes and dried long fibres - again, these serve as feedstocks for energy generation, significantly cutting fossil fuel consumption. Additionally, the dried long fibres are also used to manufacture mattresses.
Technologies to carry out all of these processes exist, but their adoption is still low due to cost, complexity, low-efficiency biomass conversion technologies, and the need for highly skilled operators for such systems.
That's where an experienced and innovation-oriented engineering partner can help.
The importance of having a good EPCC partner for your palm oil processing unit
The palm oil value chain can be complex. From ensuring sustainable production to downstream value addition, the journey is long and full of diverse processes and technologies. But having a good view of the entire value chain is the only way to ensure that you are not only participating in but also actively supporting a circular economy.
The palm oil value chain may also differ in different parts of the world, based on economy, geography, culture, infrastructure, politics, and the environment. This means that effectively decarbonizing the value chain will require tailored strategies for each context.
The palm oil value chain can be complex, which is why you shouldn't underestimate the importance of a skilled, proactive and creative engineering partner.
Right at the start of the value chain is oil palm cultivation. To avoid further deforestation for oil palm plantations while still meeting the growing global demand for vegetable oils, we need to increase crop yields. Engineering partners can suggest more effective management patterns and crop varieties to achieve this. They can also modify the palm oil production process to extract more value from the same produce.
The EPCC company that manufactures your palm oil making machines or palm oil refinery plant can develop new processes to enhance oil yield and minimise energy consumption. If your processing facility is decades old and due for an upgrade, it is advisable to invest in such resource-efficient systems for the future. If you're setting up a new plant, too, investing in green technologies will help you ensure equipment longevity and process sustainability.
Well-established EPCC companies can also be your link to other players in the palm oil value chain. Leveraging their network can help you find opportunities for downstream value addition, adding to your revenue as well as the circular economy.
From using artificial intelligence for process optimisation to developing new sustainable products, the right EPCC partner can be essential to your net-zero targets.
Kumar's OM Innovation Centre is the hallmark of such innovation in the edible oil industry. While palm oil extraction and refining processes have remained largely unchanged over the years, Kumar's incremental innovations in technology - resulting in lower water and energy consumption, energy recovery, and higher oil yields - have led to tremendous gains for our customers all over the world.
If you're looking for a reliable partner in your sustainable palm oil production journey, Kumar Metal Industries is the EPCC company for you.
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