By-products of palm oil extraction and refining

Yew-Ai TAN Abstract: This paper outlines the utilisation of by-products resulting from the extraction and refining
of palm oil. It summarises research by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) directed at producing zero
Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6, Persiaran Institusi, waste from the palm oil industry. MPOB regards by-products of the palm oil industry not as waste but
Bandar Baru Bangi, 47000 Kajang, Selangor, resources. It will be evident that by-products from the palm oil industry can be and have been used
Malaysia extensively and that the research carried out is relevant to both the milling and refining sectors.
<tan@mpob.gov.my>
Key words: palm oil, mills, refineries, by-products, MPOB, zero waste

Oil palm cultivation in Malaysia takes up a total graph emphasises the huge potential and rev- Solid by-products
land area of 3.87 million hectares and yielded enue obtainable from the use of these
13.98 million tons of crude palm oil (CPO) and by-products as feed materials for the manufac- Land application of agricultural by-products is
1.64 million tons of crude palm kernel oil ture of new products. considered the more environmentally friendly
(CPKO) in 2004. In the same year, export earn- solution for using the nutrients in the
ings of oil palm products was an impressive by-products rather than by diverting these
By-products management materials to landfills and water ways. Product
$8.0 billion derived mainly from the sale of
palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake, The increasing annual production of CPO specific by-products from the palm oil mill are
palm oleochemicals and other finished palm posed problems in waste disposal and characterised by its high proportion of organic
products. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board by-product management. Being cognisant of materials. These range from solid products
(MPOB) was established with the principal the importance of protecting the environment (biomass) such as EFP, PPF and shells com-
objective of promoting, developing and from pollution, MPOB has introduced a num- posed mainly of lignin, cellulose, hemicellulo-
advancing the Malaysian palm oil industry. ber of innovative uses for both solid and aque- ses and other carbonaceous material. Formerly,
One of the major responsibilities of MPOB is to ous by-products produced by palm oil mills as shells and PPF were used mainly as fuel for the
provide scientific and technological support listed in table 1. In the extraction of palm oil, boiler to generate steam and electricity for
through dissemination of information and fresh fruit bunches enter the milling process as running the palm oil mill. EFBs were burnt in
transfer of technologies. the raw/feed material and exit as (a) desired incinerators for bunch ash or used for mulching
products – crude palm oil, palm kernels (b) in oil palm estates. Currently however, biomass
product specific by-products – EFB, palm from the palm oil industry has wide applica-
MPOB Zero Waste Strategy pressed fibres (PPF), shells and, (c) process tions in the production of fibre and particle
Research activities at MPOB are aimed at maxi- specific by-products – aqueous waste, sedi- boards [1,2], charcoal briquettes [3] and vari-
mizing productivity, improving production ment clarification. Figure 2 is a simplified flow ous cellulose materials [4-6].
efficiency and quality, and increasing value cre- chart showing raw/feed materials, products PPF have an oil content of 5-7 %. Oil extracted
ation by expanding the palm oil value chain. and by-products entering and leaving a typical from PPF is very high in carotene (3500-5000
The goal is to promote a globally competitive palm oil mill and refinery. ppm), tocols (2000-3000 ppm), sterols (4000-
and sustainable industry. One of the research
strategies mapped out by MPOB is the Zero
Waste Strategy which is structured to optimise 70
the utilization of oil palm biomass such as
empty fruit bunches (EFB), fronds and trunks 60
for field mulching; and for use in commercial
products such as pulp and paper and medium 50
Million tonnes

density fibreboard. The generation of

by-products or co-products from the produc- 40
tion of palm oil is unavoidable but these prod-
ucts need not be disposed as waste if they are 30
utilized effectively. Research on utilisation of
by-products also addresses the value-addition 20
strategy of MPOB. Figure 1 shows the huge
quantities of products and by-products from 10
the Malaysian palm oil industry in 2004. The
0
Texte d’une conférence prononcée (par l’intermé- FF
B
CP
O EF
B res cts ell AD
Fib odu Sh PF
diaire de Michel Parmentier) dans le cadre de la . pr
Journée de l’AFECG, sur les « Ingrédients bioactifs Aq
issus des huiles végétales et marines » du 10 octobre
2005, Paris. Figure 1. Malaysian production (2004) of crude palm oil and by-products from palm oil mills and refineries.

OCL VOL. 13 N° 1 JANVIER-FÉVRIER 2006 9

Article disponible sur le site http://www.ocl-journal.org ou http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/ocl.2006.8888

Table 1. Utilisation of by-products from palm oil mills and refineries. phenolics has intensified in the light of the
growing evidence of the health benefits of
By-products Use phenolic antioxidants. One of the most excit-
Aqueous by-products Fertilisers ing technologies by MPOB is a patented pro-
Animal feed cess for the extraction of water-soluble antioxi-
Phenolic antioxidants dants such as phenolic antioxidants from palm
Empty fruit bunches (EFB) Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) oil mill aqueous by-products. Presently, a 25%-
Cellulose and lignin 30% concentrate with potent antioxidant
Fibre and Particle boards properties has been prepared and tested under
IP protection. Tests have shown that the palm
Palm pressed fibres (PPF) De-oiled fibres phenolics possess free radical scavenging activ-
Burnt as fuel ity similar to that of tea extracts. The high value
Fibre composite palm extracts have applications in nutraceuti-
Pulp and paper cal, pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical indus-
Adsorbents tries. Additionally, the abundance of aqueous
Incorporated in stone mastic asphalt by-products from the palm oil industry (figure
Extractable carotenoids , vitamin E, squalene, phenolics, 1) ensures a reliable, constant and natural
phospholipids and sterols from fibre oil for use in: source of supply for these industries.
Nutraceuticals
Pharmaceuticals Refining by-products
Cosmeceuticals
In 2004, Malaysian refineries produced 11.6
Shells Charcoal briquettes million tonnes of refined palm oil (RPO). Palm
Palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) Squalene fatty acid distillate (PFAD) is a specific
Phytosterols by-product produced during the step of
Tocopherols deacidification-deodorisation of crude palm oil
Tocotrienols refining. Besides fatty acids, PFAD contains sig-
nificant amounts of extractable tocopherols
and tocotrienols (0.2%), squalene (0.6%) and
phytosterols (table 1). Tocopherols and tocot-
rienols have been successfully extracted from
FEED
Palm fruit bunches esterified PFAD and subsequently concentrated
using ion-exchange and distillation [12, 13]. It
At palm oil mill was reported [14] that as much as 2205 tonnes
BY-PRODUCT of squalene could be sourced from PFAD in the
Aqueous by-products
year 2010. MPOB has a process for recovery of
pure colourless squalene from PFAD [15]. Phy-
PRODUCT BY-PRODUCT tochemicals such as phytosterols (0.6%) are
Crude Palm Oil Biomass
entrained in PFAD and these can be isolated in
a concentrated form for applications in nutra-
At palm oil PRODUCT Empty fruit bunches Palm Pressed Fibres Shell ceuticals and functional foods [16]. The major
refinery Refined Palm oil
palm phytosterols are the b-sitosterol, campes-
BY-PRODUCT
terol and stigmasterol.
Palm Fatty Acid Table 1 summarises the utilisation of main
Distillate products and by-products. The table is not
exhaustive because it only lists products from
Figure 2. Products and by-products from palm oil milling and refining. the extraction and refining of palm oil. Other
by-products such as oil palm fronds and trunks,
produced during replanting of palms, too have
been effectively used in a number of products.

5000 ppm), phospholipids (6000 ppm), phe- Aqueous by-products

nolics (1000-2000 ppm) and squalene (1000- Conclusion
Besides these solid by-products, palm oil mills
1800 ppm) [7-9]. also produce considerable amounts of aqueous The Malaysian palm oil industry is expected to
Research by MPOB scientists [9] showed that a waste. In the past, fine solids separated from continue in its role as one of the major sources
single-step supercritical fluid extraction can be aqueous waste were used as animal feed or of revenue for the country. Although produc-
effectively used to recover residual oil from PPF. fertilisers. Previously considered as low value, tion of crude palm oil is projected to increase
Separation techniques are then used to isolate high volume aqueous by-products, palm oil marginally in the coming years, new research
valuable phytochemicals (table 1) from the oil. mill effluent (POME) is now receiving attention findings on the use of the oil and the
About 0.1-0.2 % of phenolics can also be as a source material for phenolic antioxidants. by-products generated from the industry are
extracted from PPF using a combination of This aqueous waste has been shown to contain expected to raise export earnings. This optimis-
supercritical fluid extraction and separation bioactive compounds such as phenolics anti- tic view is reinforced by the current interest in
techniques [10]. oxidants [11]. In recent years, research on palm biofuels. It is well known that palm oil is a

10 OCL VOL. 13 N° 1 JANVIER-FÉVRIER 2006

cheap and abundant source for production of 6. ROSNAH MS. GAPOR MT, WAN HASAMUDIN 11. RAVIGADEVI S, TAN YA, KALYANA S. Novel
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618, US Patent and Trademark Office, 1993.
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