Recognition Of Optimally Ripen Stage Of Palm Bunch Using NI Vision Page No.

Oil Palm

In daily life, man uses different kinds of oils for many purposes. The most
widely consumed oil is the edible oil. In edible oil, palm oil is the vital oil used daily by
millions of people around the world mainly due to its numerous applications like edible oil
and bio fuel and it is used as an important raw material in the manufacturing of soaps,
washing powders and other personal care products.

Fig. shows the palm bunch tree

Palm oil is edible plant oil derived from the fruit of the Arecaceae generally
known as oil palm. Previously the second-most widely produced edible oil, after soybean
oil, 28 million tonnes was produced worldwide in 2004 and accounts for approximately 23
per cent of the world's fats and oil supply. It may have now surpassed soybean oil as the
most widely produced vegetable oil in the world. Current estimates are that within the next
decade, palm oil will become the largest single oil traded globally. Since 80 percent of palm
produced is used in food - its nutritional properties are of extreme importance. An extensive
scientific literature exists on palm oil's effects on various aspects of human health.

The world's largest producer and exporter of palm oil today is Malaysia,
producing around 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.
According to US Department of Agriculture, since 2005 Indonesia became the world's
largest producer of Crude Palm Oil. Both nations are expanding their palm oil production
capacity and the market continues to grow. 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 percent of total edible oil production worldwide.

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 Recognition Of Optimally Ripen Stage Of Palm Bunch Using NI Vision Page No.

The oil palm is a tropical palm tree. The fruit is reddish about the size of a
large plum and grows in large bunches. A bunch of fruits can weigh between 10 to 40
kilograms. Each fruit contains a single seed (the palm kernel) surrounded by a soft oily
pulp. Oil is extracted from both the pulp of the fruit 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 palm fruit is the source of both palm oil (extracted from palm fruit) and
palm kernel oil (extracted from the fruit seeds). Palm oil itself is reddish because it contains
a high amount of beta-carotene. It is used as cooking oil, to make margarine and is a
component of many processed foods. Boiling it for a few minutes destroys the carotenoids
and the oil becomes colorless. Palm oil is one of the few vegetable oils relatively high in
saturated fats (like coconut oil) and thus semi-solid at room temperature.

Fig. shows the palm bunch attached to tree

Ideal composition of palm fruit bunch

Bunch weight 23-27kg

Fruit/bunch 60-65%
Oil/bunch 21-23%
Kernel/bunch 5-7%
Mesocarp/bunch 44-46%
Mesocarp/fruit 71-76%
Kernel/fruit 21-22
Shell/fruit 10-11

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 Recognition Of Optimally Ripen Stage Of Palm Bunch Using NI Vision Page No.

Palm Oil is also known as palm fruit oil. It is expeller-pressed food oil
obtained from sun-baked fresh fruit bunches of the non-genetically modified oil palm.
Virgin palm oil is rich in carotenoids (pro Vitamin A), tocotrienols and tocopherols
(Vitamin E). Like all vegetable oils, it is free from cholesterol and contains no trans fatty
acids.

Fig. shows palm fruits extracted from the bunch

Palm oil contains palmitic acid which is a fatty acid made by our body, the
monounsaturated oleic acid, polyunsaturated linoleic acid which is an essential fatty acid
and stearic acid. The typical blend in palm oil is 45% palmitic, 40% oleic, 10% linoleic and
5% stearic. Palm oil's naturally balanced fatty acid composition offers food manufacturers
greater scope to formulate hydrogenated fat-free and trans fat-free products.

Palm oil also has appreciable quantities of two forms of Vitamin E – both
the tocopherols and the tocotrienols. In fact palm oil is one of the richest natural sources of
tocotrienols. There is an extensive scientific literature over the last decade confirming the
anti-cancer properties of some of the minor components of palm oil. In addition, a new and
patented process whereby a highly enriched water-soluble fraction is extracted from the
palm fruit, rich in numerous flavonoids, holds much promise for the future.

Collectively, even though some of the scientific data needs proofs, there is
fairly convincing evidence that palm oil, as part of a health dietary and lifestyle pattern, has
the ability to beneficially impact health from numerous different perspectives. With the
possible exception of olive oil, no other oil has generated so much interest.

Palm oil, like other vegetable oils, can be used to create biodiesel for internal
combustion engines. Biodiesel has been promoted as a form of biomass that can be used as
a renewable energy source to reduce net emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

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Therefore, biodiesel is seen as a way to decrease the impact of the greenhouse effect and as
a way of diversifying energy supplies to assist national energy security plans. Scientists
have found that biodiesel made from palm oil grown on sustainable non-forest land and
from established plantations can effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

By using all the biomass residues from palm oil processing for renewable
energy, fuels and biodegradable products, both the energy balance and the greenhouse gas
emissions balance for biodiesel from palm oil is improved. For each ton of crude palm oil
(CPO) produced from fresh fruit bunches, the following residues, which can all be used for
the manufacture of bio fuels, bio energy and bio products, become available: around 6
tonnes of waste palm fronds, 1 ton of palm trunks, 5 tonnes of empty fruit bunches (EFB), 1
ton of press fiber from the mesocarp of the fruit, half a ton of palm kernel endocarp, 250 kg
of palm kernel press cake, and 100 tonnes of palm oil mill effluent (POME). In short, a
palm plantation has the potential to yield a very large amount of biomass that can be used
for the production of renewable products.

However, regardless of these new innovations, first generation biodiesel

production from palm oil is still in demand globally and will continue to increase. Palm oil
is also a primary substitute for rapeseed oil in Europe, which too is experiencing high levels
of demand for biodiesel purposes. Palm oil producers are investing heavily in the refineries
needed for biodiesel.

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Demand for palm oil has increased in recent years due to its use as a bio
fuel, but recognition that this increases the environmental impact of cultivation as well as
causing a food vs. fuel issue has forced some developed nations to reconsider their policies
on bio fuel to improve standards and ensure sustainability.

The social and environmental impacts of oil palm cultivation are a highly
controversial topic. There are multiple sources highlighting the positive and negative
aspects of this industry. Oil palm is a valuable economic crop and provides a major source
of employment. It allows many small landholders to participate in the cash economy and
also often results in the upgrade of the infrastructure within that area.

Although palm oil has been a staple in the human diet for more than 5000
years, it is only in the last 20 years or so, that research into health benefits of the oil, as well
as its constituents has been thrust into the forefront. As a result an extensive scientific
literature has built up on the health effects of palm oil and its minor components. Since
1990 the results from 7 scientific meetings devoted exclusively to palm oil-related nutrition
research have been published. In addition, scientific literature regarding agriculture
contains several hundred scientific papers documenting palm-oil related nutrition research.

The next development relates to the upswing in palm oil research is the
attention that scientists and nutritionists have paid to numerous dietary minor components.
These minor components (vitamins and phytochemicals) have been implicated in helping to
delay the onset of numerous chronic diseases. As such the uses of vitamin A (beta
carotene), vitamin E, various flavonoids and lycopene, in helping to delay the onset of heart
disease and cancer have been extensively studied. In this regard, palm oil again holds much
promise as it contains appreciable amounts of all the above. Thus crude palm oil (orange-
red in color) is one of the richest-natural sources of the carotenoids. Palm oil has 15 times
more “vitamin A” activity than carrots and 300 times more than found in tomatoes. In fact
“red palm oil” is specialty oil in which the carotenoids are present in much higher
concentrations than in regular palm oil.

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 Recognition Of Optimally Ripen Stage Of Palm Bunch Using NI Vision Page No.

Fatty acid content of palm oil

Type of fatty
percent
acid

Palmitic C16   44.3%

Stearic C18   4.6%

Myristic C14   1.0%

Oleic C18   38.7%

Linoleic C18   10.5%

Other/Unknown   0.9%

green: Saturated; blue: Mono unsaturated; orange: Poly

unsaturated

The major development over the last decade is related to the health aspects
that have been attributed to the consumption of certain saturated fatty acids and trans fatty
acids. All naturally occurring edible oils and fats are mixtures of saturated and unsaturated
fatty acids but the amounts differ. Palm oil contains about 50% saturated and 50%
unsaturated fatty acid in which 39% is monounsaturated and 11% is polyunsaturated fatty
acids. Both saturated and trans fatty acids have been implicated in the premature onset of
coronary heart disease, by means of their ability to affect blood cholesterol levels.
Although, saturated fatty acids generally increase the “bad” cholesterol, they also increase
the “good” cholesterol. However, it is known that all saturated fatty acids do not behave in
an identical fashion. There is a substantial amount of recent data that suggests that the
saturated fatty acids in palm oil do not adversely affect blood cholesterol, particularly when
total dietary fat intake falls within the recommendations of most health agencies. Under
these conditions, there is some evidence that palm oil may actually improve the blood
cholesterol.

DEPT OF EIE, SIR C R R COLLEGE OF ENGG. 2008-09