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Improving Sustainability of Palm Oil Production by Increasing Oil Extraction Rate: a Review

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Abstract

Palm oil is the world’s most-produced vegetable oil that is serving as an important source of food and energy for many developing and underdeveloped countries. The global demand for palm oil will continue to rise, owing to the growing population and economy. Presently, tremendous efforts have been devoted to improving the sustainability of palm oil production. One strategy is to improve the oil extraction rate (OER) during the milling process. The average OER in Malaysia has remained stagnant between 19 and 21% for the past 40 years. Based on the world production of palm oil in 2018, approximately 3 million tonnes of additional palm oil can be produced globally with a 1% increase in OER. In this paper, the current status of the palm oil milling process and the factors affecting the OER are discussed. Subsequently, the methods to improve the OER are reviewed. Furthermore, the importance of producing good quality oil whilst improving the OER is emphasised. In conclusion, some of the methods reviewed have the potential for industrial application and they warrant further investigation.

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Abbreviations

3-MCPD:

3-monochloro-1, 2-propanediol

CPO:

crude palm oil

DAG:

diacylglycerols

DCO:

diluted crude oil

EFSA:

European Food Safety Authority

EFB:

empty fruit bunch

FFB:

fresh fruit bunch

GE:

glycidyl esters

MAG:

monoacylglycerols

MPOB:

Malaysian Palm Oil Board

OER:

oil extraction rate

PFF:

palm press fibre

RBDPO:

refined, bleached, deodorised palm oil

SFB:

sterilised fruit bunches

TAG:

triacylglycerols

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the financial and technical support from the Sime Darby Plantation Research, Sime Darby Foundation, Monash-Industry Palm Oil Education and Research Platform of Monash University Malaysia.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Chien Lye Chew: conceptualisation, data curation, investigation, visualisation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing; Chun Yong Ng: writing—original draft; Wai Onn Hong: writing—review and editing; Ta Yeong Wu: visualisation, investigation; Yee-Ying Lee: validation, writing—review and editing; Liang Ee Low: project administration, writing—review and editing; Pei San Kong: data curation, investigation; Eng-Seng Chan: conceptualisation, supervision, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chien Lye Chew or Eng Seng Chan.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Highlights

• Increasing oil extraction rate (OER) improves sustainability

• Factors affecting OER and the methods to improve OER are discussed

• OER must not be improved at the expense of oil quality

• An industry-feasible method is still required

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Chew, C.L., Ng, C.Y., Hong, W.O. et al. Improving Sustainability of Palm Oil Production by Increasing Oil Extraction Rate: a Review. Food Bioprocess Technol 14, 573–586 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-020-02555-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-020-02555-1

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