Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)
Vitamin E was discovered in the 1920s and has exhibited various health protective effects (Aggarwal et al., 2010, Fu et al., 2014). It consists of tocopherols (TP) and tocotrienols (T3) with tocotrienols being different from their counterpart due to the presence of an unsaturated side chain. Compared to other natural sources such as soyabean, corn […]
The Malaysian palm oil industry has experienced significant growth since the first introduction of oil palm from West Africa in the late 1870s. In 2016, crude palm oil (CPO) production was recorded at 17.32 million tonnes (MPOB, 2016). Malaysia is currently one of the leading producers and exporters of palm oil (PO) and palm oil […]
Oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) contain about 70%-80% holocellulose, which comprises about 40%-45% and 30%-35% of cellulose and hemicellulose, respectively, as well as 18%-22% lignin (Basiron and Husin, 1996). These lignocellulosics can be utilised for the production of fibrereinforced biocomposites (Mariko et al., 2016) and fine chemicals such as glucose and xylose (Siew et […]
Physical refining of crude palm oil includes three major stages: degumming, bleaching and deodourisation. Bleaching earth is used for the removal of undesirable components such as phospholipids, colorants and traces of heavy metals contained in crude oil (Sabah et al., 2007). Regeneration of spent bleaching earth can be achieved by heat treatment (Mahramanlioglu et al., […]
China is one of the top three destinations besides Canada and Mexico for exports of agricultural and related products from the United States of America (US). In 2017, China imported USD 12.3 billion worth of soyabean from US. Purchases of US soyabean by China typically peak in October and November. Over the last five years, […]
Tocotrienols are superior antioxidants that can combat free radicals in the human body, and have shown many biological functions such as having antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, maintaining fertility and regulating the immune system, associated with lowering tumour formation, having enhanced anti-cancer properties, as well as controlling tumour growth in certain types of cancer (Yam et […]
Oleochemicals are derived from natural plants such as palm oil and other vegetable oils. There are five basic oleochemicals, namely fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fatty methyl esters, fatty amines and glycerol (Ong et al., 1989). Palm-based oleochemicals have a diverse range of applications, including as surfactants, personal care products, soaps, detergents and food additives. Surfactants […]
Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) powder was prepared by acid treatment of the cellulose extracted from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) fibre (Ramli et al., 2015, Rosnah et al., 2009). Traditionally MCC was obtained from wood, cotton (Suzuki and Nakagami, 1999), and cotton linters (Nada et al., 2009). There are a few reports of MCC derived […]
Lubricants are comprised of two main components, i.e. base oil (70%-90%) and additives to modify/improve the base oil’s properties. Most lubricant base oils are produced from non-renewable source such as mineral-based oil which can be divided into mineral and synthetic categories. It is a substance introduced between two moving surfaces to keep them apart and […]
Research on bio-based polymers and resins in industrial applications has seen some progress as well as the products facing competition with their petroleum-based counterparts. The demand for bio-based polymers and resins is due to their property of environmental friendliness as they are made from renewable resources (Ashraf et al., 2015). Additionally, human health is compromised […]