Crude Palm Oil Milling Process


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An Introduction To Palm Trees

A palm tree symbolizes life and its continuance, as well as joy and happiness. Dante mentions that Christians travelling to the Holy Land were known as “palmeros.” palm trees have been a part of myths as well as religion. The palm tree in the primal garden, the Garden of Eden, was known to be the tree of Life. Palm trees were also where the Goddess Astarte or Tamar resided.

A festival known as “palm Sunday” is celebrated by Christians to commemorate the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem just a few days before his crucifixion. People welcomed Jesus by waving palm fronds and carpeting his path with palm leaves.

The palm family of trees has approximately 202 genera and 2,600 species. The palms are native to tropical and subtropical climates, and commonly known palms are date, coconut, and areca nut. Known to have existed around 80 million years ago, palms are among the oldest varieties of flowering plants.

The trunks of the palm have been used since ancient times to build catamarans or special boats. Dates are harvested from palms. Palms produce coir ropes, mats, and bags, and palm oil is extracted from palms, along with palm wine.

In the US, different species of palm are native to Florida, California, Hawaii, Southern Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. In fact, South Carolina is popularly known as the Palmetto State after the palms that line the coast.

As with all other things, many species of palm are facing extinction and are under threat from urbanisation, natural disasters, hybridization, and a lack of knowledge amongst common folk. Destruction of natural habitats, forest clearing operations, mining, clearing of mangroves, and dumping of trash are all detrimental to the survival of palms. Like other plants, palms are also prone to destruction by nature and disease.

Ornamental palms are a luxury and can cost from fifty to several hundred dollars.

Today the palm, the “Prince among trees,” needs care and attention. Otherwise, a tree that has lasted centuries will not remain for centuries to come.

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Money Grows on Oil Palm Trees

Elaeis guineensis or more commonly known are the palm tree has its roots in West Africa. The tree was growing wildly in the region and later has been developed into an agriculture crop. The palm tree was first introduced to Malaysia in early 1870s. During that time, the country was known as Malaya. It was not until the year 1917 that palm trees was planted as a commercial crop in a rural area call Tennamaran in Selangor. That project was the initial step in making Malaysia as one of the top producer of palm oil in the world.

The palm oil industry in Malaysia grew very quickly in the 1950s to 1960s. The rapid growth was the result of the Malaysian government effort to reduce the country economic dependency on rubber and tin. Another of the country major project is reduce poverty in the nation thus land settlement schemes for growing palm oil trees was introduced to small land owners. The combined effort has produced hundred of plantation sites in a short time frame. Until today, the palm oil tree plantation estate management system consists mainly of small land holders.

Presently, there are more than 3.5 million hectares of land in Malaysia which has palm oil cultivation. In the year 2004, Malaysia has produced more than 14 millions tonnes of palm oil. Malaysia currently accounts for 51 % of world palm oil production and 62% of the total global exports. As the biggest producer and exporter of palm oil and palm oil products, Malaysia has an important role to play in fulfilling the growing global need for oils and fats in general. With the current increase on the demand for palm oil, Malaysia is in the right position to take advantage of such opportunity.

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Palm Oil Processing Flow Chart

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The Benefits of Using Palm Oil

Palm oil is a natural raw material which can be used almost anywhere and is thus one of the most popular agricultural commodities. The versatile oil has been used from washing liquids and soap to margarine and cosmetics production. Almost every consumables product contains palm oil. In the European countries, the crude palm is also a primary substitute for rapeseed oil.

Palm Oil For Bio-diesel
In Europe, there is a high demand on crude palm oil for bio-diesel purposes. Many major producers are investing heavily in the refineries needed for the process to convert crude palm into bio-diesel. Due to the current high prices of fossil crude oil, bio-diesel is deemed as the alternative fuel source to gasoline for vehicles.

Edible Oil For Food Production
Palm oil is an important and versatile raw material for both food and non-food industries. It contributes to the economic development of the producing countries and to the diets of millions of people around the world. The oil is approximately 50% saturated fat and 50% unsaturated fat. Due to such a unique characteristic palm oil may be separated under controlled thermal conditions into two components, a solid form (palm stearin) and a liquid form (palm olein). Palm oil is often used in healthy organic foods since the only other solid organic fats are highly saturated butter and coconut oil.

Crude Palm Oil Production
Due to its natural form, palm oil is entirely Genetic Modified (GM) free and has the highest yield per hectare than any other nature oil. This is recognized as a key benefit due to environmental pressures on its expansion to eco-sensitive areas. Plantation land areas are widely located in tropical region of Asia, Africa and South America. The largest producers are Malaysia and Indonesia with a combined output of around 90 percent of the world trade. Malaysia claims that in 1995 it was the world's largest producer with 51% of world production.

In summary, palm oil and its fractions are practical and attractive choice for importers and food manufacturers especially in third 3rd world countries. This is due to its price competitiveness, year round supply, diversity and versatility for edible and non-edible applications.

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The World Largest Producer of Crude Palm Oil

Palm oil is produced from a fern like plant called the oil palm tree. The oil is extracted from the outer soft, fleshy portion of the fruit, and palm kernel oil is extracted from the inner seed portion of the palm tree fruit. Palm oil is has many beneficial properties. The extract is full of olefins, a potentially valuable chemical group that can be processed into many non-food products as well. The natural oil also has the largest slice of the world vegetable oil market of 28 percent.

Palm oil is also a primary substitute for rapeseed oil in Europe, which too is experiencing high levels of demand for bio-diesel fuel production purposes. The palm tree fruit extract is the most productive energy crop the world has. One hectare of oil palm plantation has the capacity to produce nearly 6,000 litres of crude bio-diesel. In comparison, soybeans and corn generate only about 400 and 200 litres per hectare, respectively.

The palm trees can be grown on sunny tropical region. Most plantation lands are cleared through administering the slash-and burn technique. Palm trees are very versatile and are the highest yielding oilseed crop. For fresh fruit yield, for every 10 tonnes of palm oil, about 1 tonne of palm kernel oil can be obtained. The countries the produce the most crude palm oil are from Southeast Asia mainly Malaysia and Indonesia. Together, both countries account for about 80 percent of the world's production.

Malaysia is the single largest producer with more than 50 percent of the world's production, while Indonesia follows with almost 30 percent of global production. Between 1960 and 2000, global palm oil production increased 10 fold from 2 million tons in 1960 to 24 million tons in 2000. As the largest producer and exporter of palm oil and palm oil products, Malaysia has an important role to play in fulfilling the growing global need for oils and fats in general.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=W._L._Yap

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3 Reasons Why Palm Oil is a Good Investment

With the current sub-prime credit woes in the United States and the sky rocketing global crude oil prices, many people are finding it challenging to invest their hard earn money. Most of the investment instruments in the market are either tied to the world stock market or crude oil prices. However, there is one form of investment that has a good and strong fundamentals for sustainable growth and returns. It is palm oil (P.O). This article will highlight 3 reasons why palm oil is a good investment for the public.

1) World population growth. The population of the world has just breached 6 billion. The number will increase exponentially in the near future. This is a great support for the demand of P.O because as an edible oil, it is used in the manufacturing of numerous consumable products. The items derived from palm oil are ranging from ice cream, chocolates, candles, cooking oil, soap, detergent etc.

2) The banning of using trans fat in the US. Since January 2007, US has banned the usage of artificial trans fat on packaged food. Trans fat is a vegetable oil that has been treated with hydrogen in order to make it more solid and give the food a longer shelf life. This substance has been shown to cause major health risks such as cancer and coronary heart disease when consumed. The suitable replacement for trans fat is palm oil.

3) Bio-diesel fuel to replace gasoline. This is going to be the major push for the high demand of P.O in the future. With the current high global crude oil prices, countries around the world is at the mercy of the oil producers. An alternative energy source will have to be found to solve this problem. One feasible replacement for gasoline is bio-diesel. One of the main element to produce cost effective bio-diesel is palm oil.

There are many more reasons that support the high future demand for palm oil. It is surprising how the fruits from these plants can be so versatile and useful. This shows that money really can grow on trees.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=W._L._Yap
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