oil palm - Cultivation, External links and references

A tree (Elaeis guineensis) reaching 15 m/50 ft, native to tropical Africa; leaves 4·5 m/15 ft, feathery. The numerous oval, orange fruits are rendered down for oil. (Family: Palmae.)

iOil palm
African Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Arecales Family: Arecaceae Genus: Elaeis Jacq.
Species
Elaeis guineensis Elaeis oleifera

The oil palms (Elaeis) comprise two species of the Arecaceae, or palm family. The African Oil Palm Elaeis guineensis is native to west Africa, occurring between Angola and Gambia, while the American Oil Palm Elaeis oleifera is native to tropical Central America and South America. different grades of oil quality are obtained from the pericarp and the kernel, with the pericarp oil used mainly for cooking oil, and the kernel oil used in processed foods.

For each hectare of oil palm, which is harvested year-round, the annual production averages 10 tonnes of fruit, which yields 3,000 kg of pericarp oil, and 750 kg of seed kernels, which yield 250 kg of high quality palm kernel oil as well as 500 kg of kernel meal.

Cultivation

The oil palm is a tropical palm tree. Oil is extracted from both the pulp of the fruit (palm oil, an edible oil) and the kernel (palm kernel oil, used mainly for soap manufacture).

For every 100 kilograms of fruit bunches, typically 22 kilograms of palm oil and 1.6 kilograms of palm kernel oil can be extracted.

The high productivity of the oil palm at producing oil (as high as 7,250 liters per hectare per year) has made it the prime source of vegetable oil for many tropical countries. It is also likely to be used for producing the necessary vegetable oil for biodiesel, an example being a planned refinery Darwin, Australia which will import the palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia.

The world's largest producer and exporter of palm oil today is Malaysia, producing about 47% of the world's supply of palm oil. Indonesia is the second largest world producer of palm oil producing approximately 36% of world palm oil volume.

Worldwide palm oil production during the 2005-2006 growing season was 39.8 million metric tons, of which 4.3 million tons was in the form of palm kernel oil. It is thus by far the most widely-produced tropical oil, and constitutes thirty-four percent of total edible oil production worldwide.

External links and references

Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council (MPOPC) Biodiesel production Friends of the Earth UK: Palm oil - rainforest in your shopping Center for Science in the Public Interest: Cruel Oil - How Palm Oil Harms Health, Rainforest and Wildlife Buckland, Helen.