The first process is the reception of FFB (Fresh Fruit Bunch) in a Palm oil mill.
The FFB arrives in a mil in trucks or trailers. These are first weighed over a weighbridge. The trucks then go to the FFB loading ramp, where they are emptied. Most trucks have tipping containers and the trucks can be unloaded fast. In many remote areas the trucks are manually unloaded, and this takes time.
The FFB arriving at the mill has to be checked for quality. Ripe FFB yields very much more oil than under ripe FFB. The major factors that will determine the quantity of oil (Oil extraction Ratio- OER) is the ripeness of the FFB.
The FFB is graded by FFB graders and the suppliers penalised for poor quality of FFB delivered. The penalty can be by allocation of a lower oil extraction ratio or a deduction in the weight of the FFB supplied. The price of FFB is determined by the oil available in the FFB.
FFB Grading
The purpose of FFB grading is to determine the quality of FFB received. This helps to determine the purchase price. If the FFB is from company plantation the grading provides feed back to the plantation on the FFB quality.
A ripe fruit bunch is a bunch that has fruit that are reddish orange in colour and has some fruit that have been detached. When the fruits are ripe they fall off the bunch. Ripe fruit contain the maximum amount of oil.
Definition of Bunches
1. Ripe Bunch – 10 loose fruits
2. Over ripe bunch – A bunch with more than 10 loose fruits
3. Very over ripe –A bunch with more than between 10 to 50 fruits detached.
4. Empty bunch- A bunch more than 90 % fruits detached
5. Spoilt bunch- A bunch 30% fruits damaged by rats.
6. Un-fresh bunch- A bunch that was harvested more than 48 hours, can be determined by stalk condition
7. Under ripe bunch –A bunch with  less than 10 loose fruit
8. Hard bunch – A bunch with no loose fruit
9. Diseased bunch – a deformed bunch
10. Dirty bunch – a bunch that has earth and other dirt
A rating system determines the penalty for each factor.

Pricing of FFB
The pricing of FFB depends on the given oil extraction ratio (OER), current price of crude palm oil(CPO), price of palm kernels(PK), the processing cost(PC), the transport cost of CPO(TCPO), the transport cost of kernels(TPK) and any other cost  Othr (i.e incentives, discounts etc)
All the above factors can be incorporated into a formula that can be solved with a computer or manually.
Price of FFB per Tonne
 = OER x Pcpo+KER xPpk - Pcost-OERx(Tcpo)-KERx(Tpk)-Other cost.
For example the price of FFB for the following
CPO price is $ 2000 per Ton CPO------------------------Pcpo
Palm Kernel Price is $ 1000 per Ton palm kernels-----Ppk
Processing Cost = $ 35 per ton FFB---------------------- Pcost
CPO transport cost = $ 50 per ton CPO------------------Tcpo
Kernel transport cost $ 50 per ton Palm Kernels--------Tpk
Other costs = $ 50 per ton FFB---------------------------  Other Cost
Assume OER = 20 %
Assume KER = 5 %
Then the price of FFB per tonne will be
= 0.2 x 2000 + 0.05 x 1000 – 35 – 0.2 x 50 – 0.05x 50 – 50
= $ 352.5

The profitably of processing FFB will depend on the Actual oil and kernel extraction ratios obtained in the mill and the ratios used to calculate the price of FFB purchased.
If the FFB is bought at 20.00 % extraction ratio and if the mill obtains 21.8 % extraction ratio then the difference of 1.8% oil will be profit. If the extraction ratio obtained by the mill is lower than that paid for the purchase, then the mill may loose money.
The profit margin will be very low if a mill that buys FFB and solely depends on processing cost margin to make a profit.
Operating Procedure loading Ramp.
For the operation of the loading ramp the operators must follow the policy of First in First out. This way the retention time of FFB in the loading ramp will be minimised.
The Free Fatty Acid (FFA) increases with time, even one day will cause the FFA to rise significantly. If the FFA in the crude palm oil is more than 5% then generally a lower price is obtained when the oil is sold.

http://www.palmoilmill.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47:fresh-fruit-reception&catid=47:ffb-reception&Itemid=71

Edible Oil Processing - Production

PALM OIL MILLING PROCESS

Introduction

Sterilisation

Stripping

Digestion and Pressing

Clarification

Decanters

Oil Losses during Processing

Kernel Production

Biomass

Treatment of Raw Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)

References

• Khairiah, B and Khairul, A.M.A. Bio composites from oil palm resources. Journal of Oil Palm Research, April, 103-113 (2006).
• Loh, T.K. Tilting sterilizer. In: Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin, No 94, pp. 29-42 (2010). MONGANA Report, Volume 1 and 2 Coopérative des Producteurs et exportateurs de l’huile de palme du Congo Belge. (1955).
• Sivasothy, K., Shafil, A.F. and Lim, N.B.H. Analysis of the steam consumption during sterilization., Workshop on recent developments in palm oil milling technology and pollution control, Kuala Lumpur, p. 19, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Kuala Lumpur )(1986).
• Sivasothy, K. Advances in Oil Palm Research, Vol 1, 747, Y. Basiron, B.S. Jalani, and K.W. Chan (eds) , Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Kuala Lumpur) (2000).
• Sivasothy, K. Continuous sterilization: the new paradigm for modernizing palm oil milling. Journal of Oil Palm Research, April, 144-152 (2006).
• Sulong, M. and Tan, R.C.W. Filtration system for crude palm oil clarification and purification. In: Proc. Of the 1996 PORIM International Palm Oil Congress, Kuala Lumpur, pp. 410-424. (B. Muhamd, A.N. Ma, M.S. Affandi, Y.M. Choo, A. Kuntom, C.L. Chong, A.G.M. Top, K. Yaakob, S. Ahmad, J. Thambirajah, Z.A.A. Hassan and R. Masri (eds), Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Kuala Lumpur)(1996).
• Yap, A.K.C. Palm waste as alternative fuel for cement plant. Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin No 91, 13-21 (2010).

Oil Palm Plantations Expand on Degraded Land in Amazon

Brazil hopes to eventually become a major producer of palm oil, thanks to the expansion of this new exotic monoculture crop in the eastern Amazon jungle, where eucalyptus plantations are also mushrooming on broad swaths of already deforested land.

The northern Brazilian state of Pará is becoming the land of the African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), after earning a reputation as the Amazon jungle state to lose the largest amount of native forest to agriculture, livestock, logging and the production of charcoal used in local iron foundries.

The biofuels subsidiary of Brazil's state-owned oil giant Petrobras has set a goal of producing 420,000 tonnes a year of palm oil, double the country's current output, with two projects in Pará. Seventy percent of the company's production will go to Portugal, where it will be turned into biodiesel to supply Europe, in a partnership with the Portuguese state-run oil company Galp Energía.

The subsidiary, Petrobras Biocombustível, is planting oil palm on 6,000 hectares of land, and growing seedlings to cover a total of 74,000 hectares.

"Our focus is the growing biodiesel market," despite the good prices paid by the food and cosmetics industries, Janio Rosa, Petrobras Biocombustível's director of agricultural supplies, told IPS.

The Brazilian mining company Vale, the world's largest producer and exporter of iron ore, launched a project in 2009 to produce 160,000 tonnes a year of biodiesel as of 2014, to reduce transportation costs in its railways and ports by switching from conventional diesel.

To that end the company, which was privatised in 1997, is planting 60,000 hectares of oil palm in six different areas of the state of Pará, where its main mineral reserves are located, in the Serra do Carajás.

But it will take Brazil many years to make significant headway into foreign markets. This year it produced a mere 0.5 percent of the world total of 46 million tonnes. And it takes oil palms three years to begin to produce fruit, and eight years to reach full maturity.

In May, the government launched a sustainable oil palm production programme, which offers incentives like soft loans, and technical support.

An agro ecological survey identified 31.8 million hectares of abandoned and degraded agricultural areas suitable for oil palm production in the country, nearly equivalent to the size of Germany. But it only authorised plantations on 4.3 million hectares, most of which are in Pará.


The high levels of productivity of oil palm in land near the equator opens up the possibility of diversifying the raw materials used to produce biodiesel in Brazil, where 85 percent of the biofuel is now produced with soy, and of making this country a major exporter of the fuel.

Brazil now imports half of the 450,000 tonnes a year of biodiesel that it consumes.

With a projected annual yield of six tonnes per hectare of oil palm, which has an average productive life span of 25-28 years and is harvested year-round, combined with a growing market for biofuels, the profit margin is ensured, Rosa said. Because of this, investment in biodiesel projects makes sense, even though palm oil fetches higher prices today in the food and chemical industries.

But Agropalma, the only large palm oil producer in Brazil today, "temporarily" stopped producing biodiesel in August, because its prices were not competitive in the public tenders for supply contracts, even though it was making use of the waste products from the oil refining process.

In Colombia, Latin America's leading producer of biodiesel, it took subsidies to get the industry going. When the government purchases biodiesel, it pays the market price for vegetable oil plus the costs of conversion, explained Jens Mesa, executive president of that country's National Federation of Oil Palm Growers (Fedepalma).

With its output of 800,000 tonnes a year, Colombia also leads the production of palm oil in Latin America, thanks to the persistence of the private sector, organised in Fedepalma since 1962, Mesa told IPS.

The government's support was "intermittent" until the adoption of a 2004 law stipulating a minimum blend requirement in diesel fuel of 10 percent biodiesel by 2010, he said.

In Brazil, diesel fuel vehicles will have to run on a five percent biodiesel blend as of January. That target had originally been set for 2013.

Colombia has "three million hectares of land highly suitable for the cultivation" of oil palm, as well as the 365,000 hectares already planted, Mesa said.

Oil palm cultivation is "the only rural activity for which an environmental permit is required" in Colombia, and it benefits 6,000 families of small farmers, he said, refuting criticism by environmentalists.

Central and South America have emerged as a new frontier for African oil palm, in response to growing demand.




But Latin America is seeking to avoid the deforestation and social impacts seen in Indonesia and Malaysia, which together account for 85 percent of global production of palm oil.

The Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was formed in 2004 by a diverse group of stakeholders -- oil palm producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, and environmental and social NGOs -- to promote sustainable agriculture, address the environmental impact of palm oil and certify products as environmentally and socially sustainable.

To that end, the RSPO has established environmental, social and legal requirements to curb deforestation, allowing expansion of oil palm plantations only on land that has already been degraded.

Petrobras Biocombustível also puts a priority on social inclusion, setting a goal of contracting 2,250 family farmers to produce half of the raw material in one project and 20 percent in its second project, which is focused on export.

Adherence to the laws, reforestation with native fruit trees, education and awareness-raising, and environmental research will form part of the projects, Rosa said.

"Diversity builds," he said, stressing Petrobras Biocombustível's commitment to cooperating with small and large farmers and to restoring forests where the land cleared has exceeded the legal limit.

Under Brazilian law, 80 percent of the forest must be preserved on any property in the Amazon.

Despite these safeguards, environmentalists and social activists are critical of the expansion of oil palm plantations.

"We are opposed to any large-scale monoculture, even trees," in defence of biodiversity and a more balanced climate, said João Pedro Stédile, one of the leaders of the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) and the Via Campesino international peasant movement.

The native rainforest in Pará is vital to the climate in South America, because of the circulation of humid North Atlantic easterly trade winds in the eastern Amazon, which provide a large part of the rain in the jungle, scientists point out.

In addition, the evaporation from the Amazon jungle, diverted to the south by the Andes mountains, irrigates the most productive agricultural lands in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

Another risk involves plant health. Turning Pará into "a sea of palm trees" will make it very difficult to control pests, warned José Stanley de Oliveira, Agropalma's phytosanitary manager, who with a team of assistants has so far been able to control the numerous enemies of the oil palm.

There are two especially dangerous pests: the Eupalamides cyparissias borer, which bores into different parts of the tree, and the Rhynchophorus palmarum palm weevil, the main vector of the red ring syndrome in coconut and oil palm, which is "incurable," Oliveira said.

Biological pest control is the chosen method due to environmental concerns and because "there are only two insecticides" registered for oil palm plantations in Brazil, he added.

Demand for vegetable oils will continue growing faster than the world population and economy, and 13 million additional hectares of oil palm will be needed to meet demand in 2050, according to projections by Conservation International researcher Timothy Killeen. Demand for soy, meanwhile, will require an additional 93 million hectares of the crop.

The high oil yield of oil palm trees and the fact that palm oil does not contain unhealthy trans fats explain the dizzying growth of global palm oil production, which has increased more than nine-fold since 1980.

Court decision upsets plantation companies

The Jakarta Post, The Constitutional Court’s recent decision to approve a request from a number of local governments to change an article in the Forestry Law has raised uncertainties over the legal status of land owned by plantation companies and forest concession owners.

The chairman of the Indonesian Forestry Businessmen Association (APHI), Nanang Rofandi, said in Jakarta on Friday that with the court’s decision, the association’s members felt that the status of their land had become uncertain.

“The ruling raises a lot of questions and confusion among us and we now have no certainty in carrying out our business,” Nanang told The Jakarta Post.

On Feb. 21, the court issued a ruling to drop the phrase “allocated and/or”, which appears in the third paragraph of the Forestry Law’s first article, at the request of regents from five regencies in Central Kalimantan on the ground that the phrase made the article contrary to the 1945 Constitution.

The regents also argued that the full sentence, which reads: “A forested area is a certain area that is ‘allocated and/or’ determined by the government as a permanent forest area”, gave an absolute authority to the central government to declare some of their areas as permanent forests.

With the original article, the plaintiff said, the central government had the power to determine non-forest areas, which are already owned by local people, to become forest areas. But legal experts say that the removal of the phrase could lend even more power to the government in determining forest areas.

Legal expert Hikmahanto Juwana, who is also the dean of the University of Indonesia’s Law Faculty, said the deletion of the phrase did not really change the meaning because there was no explanation on the legal implication of the change.

“When we talk about the government, which government are we talking about? The word ‘government’ is misleading because it can mean the central government or the local government,” Hikmahanto told the Post.

He said that both central and local governments should sit together and discuss further about the forestry issue. He also said that the ruling still needed to make an explanation in order to make everything clear.

“We discussed this issue at the Forestry Ministry today. We want them to issue circulars that will help us to retain legality in our business,” he said.

In line with the APHI, the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers’ Association (GAPKI) also said that the legality of palm oil business activity in Indonesia has become unclear following the courts’ decision.

“The ruling brings a lot of problems. We are going to consult with legal experts about this issue in order to get some clarity for our business,” GAPKI’s executive director, Fadhil Hasan, told the Post.

In a separate interview, Greenomics Indonesia executive director Elfian Effendi said that all the Forestry Ministry’s decrees on provincial forestry area allocations issued after Sept. 30, 1999, no longer had a legal base as one of the reasons why the court decided to change the article was because it contravened the Constitution.

Elfian added that the court’s ruling also effectively delegitimized the presidential decrees on new permits and prime forest management, and the forest spatial management plan (RTRW) in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi by removing their legal foundation.

“This is because the RTRW uses map attachments from a ministerial decree that was issued after Sept. 30, 1999,” he said.

In addition, Greenomics said the ruling would also affect the Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic Development (MP3EI) because some of the economic programs included in the MP3EI were based on ministerial decrees issued after Sept. 30, 1999, when the Forestry Law became effective.

In a separate interview, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said that the ruling did not disadvantage any party, including businesspeople.

“There is no party that is disadvantaged by the ruling,” Zulkifli told the Post.

He said the ruling benefited the government because it could help speed up the program to establish forest boundaries in the country. “This will strengthen efforts in establishing the forest land-use plan [TGHK],” he said.

The minister added that the TGHK was very important for Indonesia as the country possessed some 95 million hectares of forested land — the largest amount in Southeast Asia — and played an important role in the global fight against climate change and reducing gas emissions.

In addition, he said he had urged all regents across the country to make an extra effort to accelerate the establishment of forest boundary areas in their respective regions. He gave local governments three months to complete the task.

According to Tahrir Fathoni, the ministry’s human resources development chief, the ministry has requested assistance from consultants and academics to help accelerate the task.

Tahrir said the ministry had outsourced more than 1,000 people to get the job done.

Normally, it takes a full year to obtain the results of a boundary area. (nfo)

(Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil exporters have stopped supplying Iran with most of the 30,000 tonnes of the food staple the Middle Eastern country buys each month, or about half its demand, as Western financial curbs on Tehran stymie payments, two trading sources said.

The halt in Malaysia's palm oil exports to Iran, which the traders said started late last year, is the latest sign that sanctions aimed at persuading Tehran to abandon a suspected nuclear weapons program have started to bite.

The sanctions, spearheaded by the United States and European Union, have made it difficult for Iranian palm oil buyers to use letters of credit and make payments via middlemen in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Malaysian exporters.

Malaysia is the world No.2 producer of palm oil, used to make products from bio-diesel to cooking oil. It is a key supplier of Iran's palm oil, along with Indonesia, the world's top producer.

"Most of the companies selling palm oil to Iran have stopped since the end of last year," one trader with direct knowledge of the deals told Reuters on Wednesday.

"Payments are not coming through and no palm oil shipper wants to risk sending the cargoes to Iran with such a tense political situation," added the trader, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Malaysia's Commodities Ministry and the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) -- the country's key marketing agency for the tropical oil -- were not immediately available for comment.

SANCTIONS PINCH

The United States slapped fresh sanctions on Tehran from the start of this year, targeting financial institutions that deal with the central bank, hoping to stem Iran's oil revenues.

U.S. President Barack Obama tightened sanctions on Iran another notch this month, again targeting its central bank and giving U.S. banks new powers to freeze assets linked to Tehran. The European Union has agreed to ban Iranian oil imports, a measure expected to take full effect within six months.

Iran, with a population of 74 million people, is finding it difficult to repatriate the hard currency from crude oil exports -- the major earner of the foreign currency it needs to pay for shipments of food and other imports.

Iranian buyers defaulted on payments for about 200,000 tonnes of rice from their top supplier India, exporters and rice millers told Reuters on Tuesday.

Ukrainian and European traders said they were no longer booking Ukraine grain shipments to Iran because of the payment difficulties.

Despite the halt in palm oil exports, traders in Kuala Lumpur said some Iranian buyers had continued to make enquiries, mostly for crude palm oil cargoes.

"They keep asking in the spirit of Muslim brotherhood. The last I heard was an enquiry for 5,000 tonnes for February or March delivery, but no one wants to take that risk now," a second trader said.

IRAN SEEN AS IMPORTANT MARKET

Last year Malaysia exported 342,256 tonnes directly to Iran, equivalent to a month's volume of shipments to China, data from industry regulator the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) show. At current market prices, that would be valued at $376 million.

Iran is seen as an important market as it has forked out more than half a billion dollars annually for edible oil shipments from Southeast Asia and South America.

This prompted the Malaysian Palm Oil Council to ask Malaysian palm oil firms to consider setting up refineries, packaging plants and bulking installations in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to avoid "the hassles of importation."

The second trader said, "To date, no Malaysian company has taken up that offer although a state plantation company might be looking at it. No one in their right mind wants to be caught there if things go belly-up."

Before the export halt, Malaysian palm oil firms would either sell directly to Iran or ship via Dubai, where edible oil would be stored in warehouses and repackaged before heading to the Bandar Abbas port.

About 90 percent of the UAE's imports of palm oil are marked for re-export, with Iran as a key destination, traders said. In 2011, the UAE imported about 400,000 tonnes of palm oil products, according to MPOB data.

Iranian buyers may still be buying cargoes via intermediaries, an official of a Singapore palm oil firm with refineries in Malaysia said.

"We sell to the different parties and they may or may not take it to Iran," said the official in Singapore. "I am saying we keep selling, so I don't know if it goes or does not go to Iran."

(Additional reporting by Chew Yee Kiat in SINGAPORE; Editing by Stuart Grudgings and Himani Sarkar)

Palm biodiesel is an alternative fuel derived from palm oil and can be used in compression ignition engines, i.e. diesel engines without any modifications. It refers to methyl esters derived from palm oil through a process known as ‘transesterification’.

What is the difference between biofuels and biodiesel?

Biofuels are alternative fuels derived from renewable natural resources, e.g. vegetable oils and their derivatives, bioethanol,biomass, etc.
Biodiesel refers to alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils and their derivatives, animal fats, waste oils, etc. Therefore, biodiesel is one type of biofuel.

Who was behind the initial research and development (R&D of biodiesel from palm oil?

Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) started the R&D of biodiesel from palm oil and its products way back in 1982. Since then, MPOB has conducted extensive R&D in using palm biodiesel as a diesel substitute.

What is ENDO DIESEL ?

ENDO DIESEL is the brand name for the blends of processed palm oil and petroleum diesel.

What is processed palm oil?

Processed palm oil is the oil that can be used for blending with petroleum diesel. It can be trefined, bleached, deodorized pakm olein or palm methyl esters.

Why should we use palm biodiesel ?

Palm biodiesel is renewable, biodegradable, non toxic and safe to handle (flash point higher than petroleum diesel) and especially free of sulphur. It also provides a safety net to stabilize the price of palm oil by removing surplus stock.

Is palm biodiesel a sustainable energy?

Generally, sustainable energy is about using energy wisely, and using energy produced by clean technologies or from renewable sources and causes no long-term damage to the environment. Palm biodiesel produced in Malaysia is from palm oil, which is produced in a sustainable manner and their use conserves our crude petroleum reserve and contributes to our economy. Malaysian palm biodiesel is therefore a sustainable energy.

Is palm biodiesel economically viable with current palm price of over RM3,300 per tonne?

Generally, it is not economically viable to use palm biodiesel in Malaysia as our petroleum diesel is relatively cheap due to the subsidy given by the government. It is very feasible for overseas markets where the petroleum diesel is very expensive and price for biodiesel is high. This makes palm biodiesel very competitive as palm oil is cheaper than other vegetable oils.

Palm oil: For food or for fuel?

The main proportion of palm oil will still be used for food. As for today, only limited biodiesel factories using palm oil as the feedstock have been built.

What is the effect of palm biodiesel on the price of palm oil as a commodity?

Generally, the demand for this commodity is increasing rapidly because of the increasing demand of edible oil in consumer countries, especially China, European Union, Pakistan, India and the United States. The use of palm oil as biodiesel feedstock also contributes to this increased demand and to some extent helps to enhance palm oil prices.

Can biodiesel be used directly in diesel engine?

Yes, neat palm biodiesel (staright non-mixed biodiesel) can be used as fuel in diesel engines without any engine modifications. It can also be blended in any proportion with petroleum diesel.

What are the other potential application of palm biodiesel?

It can be used as heating fuel in domestic and commercial boilers. Biodiesel exhibits better solvency power and this is a better solvent than petroleum-based solvent. Palm biodiesel can be also used as feedstock for oleochemical industry such as a sulphonated metyl esters for the production of liquid detergent.

What are the environmental benefits of using Palm biodiesel?

Various studies indicate that sulphur dioxide, hydrocarbons, carbon ,carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide emissions and particulate matters are reduced with the use of biodiesel. Biodiesel has a higher octane number that improves engine performance and cleaner emissions compared to petroleum diesel.

Can palm oil compete with the other vegetable oils as feedstock for biofuel and biodiesel?

One of the important criteria for any available oil to be used as biofuel is availability at competitive price. Palm oil meets this criterion perfectly. The development of palm oil industry in Malaysia has been remarkable. Within a relatively short period of time, we have become the world largest producer and exporter of palm oil products in the international oil and fats market. Furthermore, the advantage which palm oil holds over other oils and fats lies in its productivity, yield, and efficiecy factors. Oil palm is the most productive oil bearing plant species known. The yield of palm oil per net area is 5 and 10 times higher than rapeseed and soybean oil, respectively.

What is the quality of the palm biodiesel produced using our homegrown technology?

The quality of the palm biodiesel produced using MPOB biodiesel production technology meets the stringent specification of the International Biodiesel Specifications of ASTM d 6751 and EN 14214.

What other benefits can be derived from a palm biodiesel project?

It creates a new business and job opportunities for Malaysia. It also provides opportunity to manufacture phytonutrients such as carotenes (pro-vitamin A) and vitamin E.

What is the status of implementation of using biodiesel in Malaysia?

In Malaysia, instead of using methyl esters biodiesel to blend with diesel, we are using refined, bleached and deodorized palm olein. We are testing this blend in the vehicles of government agencies, commercial buses and deep-sea fishing boats. At the same time, we are conducting ‘no harm’ tests of this blend with an independent petroleum institute and trying to convince engine manufacturers to extend their warranties to this blend.

Is the blended fuel easily available throughout Malaysia?

If it is implemented in our country, it will be easily available throughout Malaysia.

What will happen to our car engine if we revert to petroleum diesel after using palm biofuel?

The car engine should encounter no problem as studies have been shown that palm biodiesel and petroleum diesel can be blended in any proportion.

What is the government’s policy on biofuels?

The government released the National Biofuel Policy in March 2006. The policy has five thrusts __use of biofuel for transport; research, development and commercialization of biofuel technologies; production of biofuel for export; and use of biofuels for a cleaner environment.

# Source : Malysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)