Palm oil is extracted from the mesocarp of the fruit of an oil palm
species called Elaeis guineensis. In Malaysia, the high yielding tenera,
which is a cross between dura and pisifera species, is the most
commonly cultivated palm tree. The Malaysian palm oil contributes to
about 13% of total vegetable oil production in the world in 2011.
Basically, there are two main products of the palm oil industry – palm
oil and palm kernel oil. Out of these, many products could be derived.
Crude palm oil is normally processed by a physical refining process in
which the oil is turned into a golden yellow refined oil for further end
use applications.
Properties of Palm Oil
Palm oil has a balanced fatty acid composition in which the level of
saturated fatty acids is almost equal to that of the unsaturated fatty
acids. Palmitic acid (44%-45%) and oleic acid (39%-40%) are the major
component acids, with linoleic acid (10%-11%) and only a trace amount of
linolenic acid. The low level of linoleic acid and virtual absence of
linolenic acid make the oil relatively stable to oxidative
deterioration. Several surveys conducted by MPOB have showed that the
Malaysian palm oil has a narrow compositional range. The specifications
for the palm oil are given in Malaysian Standard MS814:2007 (Table 2).
Palm oil is unique among vegetable oils because it has a significant
amount of saturated acids (10%-15%) at the two-position of its
triglycerides. The appreciable amounts of disaturated (POP and PPO) and
monosaturated (POO, OPO and PLO) allow it to be easily separated into
two products; palm olein and palm stearin. A wide range of fractions
with different properties to suit requirements of the food industry is
made available through dry fractionation.
