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by Hiran Fernando

In the recent past, there have been seminars as well as articles, news items and letters to the Editor in the daily papers for and against growing oil palm, the tree. The tussle, when engaged in the discussion, is an attempt to determine, as to what is preferred, the extension of oil palm on the one hand or the extension of oil palm at the expense of Rubber, in the other. An extension to the debate is the ecological and social impact of Growing oil palm.

Does coconut come into the picture? No doubt, in the absence of palm olein, as a vegetable oil the coconut oil price will sky rocket further and may even be beyond the reach of the average consumer. This takes into considering the rate at which trees have been cut in the recent past to obtain land for housing as well as for playing fields etc. Then again, for a variety of reasons, most often for specific uses, coconut oil is not a direct substitute for oils from the oil palm tree, either.

The arguments brought forward are related to current costs/profits of rubber and palm oil as against what can be obtained in the future or if correct practices are adhered to, what can be achieved as profits now. This debate may continue until such time the facts are impartially evaluated. In the meantime, one can only say that in Sri Lankas economy both crops have a place. How to reconcile this, is the question? Should one crop be at the expense of the other? The adage that it takes years to grow a tree but minutes to cut it down cannot be forgotten, if one is to chop trees down. The Social ramifications too cannot be dispensed with as being, not of major consequence.

The Forgotten leg in the debate

Palm oil obtained from the fruit and Palm Kernel Oil from the Kernel are versatile oils. Oleo chemicals, edible oil, oil for industrial use, anti-cancer effect and therefore products from its components (research is being carried out at the Palm Oil Board of Malaysia, POBM), fuel to run motorcars, manufacture of edible fats and margarines, personal products etc are but a few uses.

One cannot forget that conversion of soft oils such as Soya, Sunflower etc with Hydrogenation, as required when making margarines, gives rise to Trans Fatty Acids, considered to be as bad as Cholesterol in its effect on the human system. This can be avoided in some shortening and margarine, totally or to a great extent reduced, in products made out of blends of palm oil and its fractions, where hydrogenation can be totally eliminated or at times reduced, in some instances. The oil blend being based on the required performance of the end product and also the equipment available for processing.

Not as yet considered

Having said this, as far as I am aware, the most important reason for growing oil palm has not even been considered in this debate, for and against growing oil palm. I have raised this issue but only as a question from the audience and in passing, that is, how is the crude palm oil that is currently produced in Sri Lanka used. It then follows, how will the crude palm oil, when many more hectares are under cultivation, to be used?

It has been stated more than once that 85,000 tons of crude palm oil (emphasis intended) is required in Sri Lanka, at present. Of this, approximately 15 tons per day of crude palm oil is produced in Sri Lanka today, hardly making a dent in the requirement. Is the balance crude palm oil then imported? What is imported is not crude palm oil, but refined bleached deodorised oil, or in the business, RBD oil. This again, is not as Palm Oil alone but as RBD palm oil, RBD palm olein and RBD palm stearine, also a smaller quantity of RBD palm kernel oil.

Sri Lanka's production of crude palm oil

The reader may have, by now, guessed or realised that there is little or no use for crude palm oil in Sri Lanka or anywhere else in the world, for that matter, other than for the purpose of Refining and Fractionation and then, for further processing as required. Where crude palm oil is used, it will be for cost reasons and for very special purposes where refining is not a requirement and will be in such minute quantities that it is not necessary to be even considered here as a use for palm oil.

The crude palm oil produced by the then Nakiadeniya Plantation, many years ago, was mainly used by the one organisation, where this writer was employed, which had the facility to refine such oil, Refining, approximately 5 tons per day, for only a fraction of the production needs was then possible, with some modification to existing plant, at that time. It was on a visit to Nakiadeniya for commercial and quality considerations that we happened to learn that there were plans to expand acreage under oil palm.

An exercise that had commenced. Who would buy it? Came the answer, You. We, as the only palm oil consumer at the time, were not aware of these plans for which enhanced processing capacity would be required. At that time good quality imported RBD oils were also freely available, and not at a price either. For PR reasons systems were enhanced to absorb this increase.

The process was merely to reduce the high colour of crude palm oil, marginally, which I am certain is what continues in crude palm oil processing in Sri Lanka, even today. The high colour crude palm oil, CPO, ending as, not so high colour crude palm oil. The usage, however, was necessarily restricted because of the high bleached colour that was obtained by the processing technique used. The only available technique in the country for the available volume of CPO.

The local crude oil was processed not for Edible use but for soap, a washing soap at that. The process used made the oil fit only for soap and not for eating. Considering the need for quality and safety of the final product, the percentage of crude oil processed in this manner is very small, may be at its maximum at present.

As we all know non-soap based detergents for washing purposes are coming to its own in Sri Lanka and this means that the need for local crude oil will diminish and not increase. Then what? Not only the planned increase of local crude palm oil but even the currently available crude oil may have to then find a market elsewhere. Both in the short term and the long, where will the oil go? Has this been looked into as part of the debate?

Is it going to be, again, we thought you will use it. The answer most likely will be No Thank You.

Effluent cannot be forgotten

Certainly, the quantity of effluent we could expect in Sri Lanka cannot be compared to that of Malaysia, however, it is an issue that cannot be forgotten. One need to plan a way of handling this and the cost must be included in the total cost of processing. It is necessary, therefore, to quantify and the scenario in Malaysia may be used as a starting point.

Malaysia has about 3 millions hectares (8% of Malaysia's land area) of oil palm plantations with a national production average of about 18.5 tonne Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) per hectare per year. This translates to a total production of about 55.5 million tonne per year, if my mathematics does not fail me!

Malaysia has about 500 mills across the country operating to process these fruits and extract crude palm oil (CPO) from these fruits. With this, Malaysia produces about 10.5 million tonne of CPO per annum.

There is about 13.8 million tonne of empty fruit bunch (EFB); 8.3 million tonne of monocarp fiber; 22.2 million tonne of liquid effluent and 2.7 million tonne of boiler ashes! This is a massive amount of bio mass waste produced throughout Malaysia annually. Effluent, therefore, cannot be forgotten!

Processing crude palm oil

Crude palm oil must be of a certain minimum quality to be effectively refined for further use, to obtain the best possible price. This requires, near immediate processing and milling for oil, once the fruits have been harvested and the oil so produced must be stable with an accepted maximum level of break down products. Nitrogen blanketing may also need consideration, if the oil is to be stored for long periods, to maintain the quality.

If this is not assured the market price will necessarily be lower. Even at present, in Sri Lanka, the penalty system for crude palm oil below a certain minimum standard operates, if exported, it certainly will be a price-deciding factor for crude palm oil. Crude palm oil cannot be stored for too long without quality deterioration. The crude oil must find a Refinery. At present, a refinery that meets the requirements for processing RBD palm oil and the Fractionation of this RBD oil does not exist in Sri Lanka.

The refinery process requires degumming, bleaching, reduction of free fatty acid through distillation or neutralisation and deodorisation. This can be by continuous or by a batch process. Very low pressures are required, obtained by steam ejectors and/or vacuum pumps, high temperature, above 260 degrees celsius, using super heated steam and not thermal oil, together with precise process control.

The story does not end here, for the above process gives only RBD palm oil which is not the vegetable oil, as we know, nor can it be used by itself, other than in a few products, in the manufacture of shortening or other Industrial products.

The RBD palm oil must then be fractionated. This is another production plant altogether, requiring chilling RBDPO to very low temperatures in a crystalliser with slow stirring, filtering to separate the now solid RBD Palm Stearine from the liquid Palm Olein. The latter being the common vegetable oil imported and available in Sri Lanka and remelting of the solid Palm Stearine to liquid. As can be seen, electrical energy, a lot of it, is required, in addition to steam, superheated steam being preferred. At the current, increased price of Electricity has a costing being done? Do we have the electrical energy to spare?

There are many uses for RBD Palm Stearine but it is most unlikely that all the RBD palm stearine that will be produced by the anticipated 85,000 tons of crude palm oil will be used in this country. RBD palm stearine in powder form is used in animal feed, one of its many uses. Where will this Stearine go?

It is necessary, therefore, to obtain a fairly accurate estimation of the breakdown of the 85,000 tons referred to. Certainly, it is not CPO, it will not be RBD palm oil alone either but RBD palm oil + RBD palm olein + RBD palm stearine. If so, then how much of each? What will be the deciding fraction? What can be done with the other fractions that will be in excess or otherwise to the local requirements.? Will there be adequate excess of these fractions to export? I regret for having raised the questions. A great many unknowns as I find, before planting, that need answers.

Growing is easy! Deciding whether it is at the expense of another crop, may be a little more difficult, even if thought is impartially given. But after that there certainly seems to be a vacuum. The unknowns about which those advocating planting or alternately uprooting and planting have not given thought to. It is not just the knowledge of these issues but a commercial evaluation of these issues that is required to determine whether the project is viable and how one should proceed.

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