What Are the Uses of Palm Oil Products?

Oil palm is a plantation / industrial crop in the form of a straight trunk tree from the Palmae family. This plant comes from Africa which used to grow wild. This tropical plant is known as a producer of vegetable oil from America. Brazil is believed to be the place where oil palm was first grown. From its place of origin, this plant spread to Africa, Equatorial America, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. Oil palm in Indonesia was first introduced by the Botanical Gardens in 1884 from Mauritius (Africa). 

At that time Johannes Elyas Teysmann who served as the Director of the Botanical Gardens. The result of this introduction develops and is the parent of oil palm plantations in Southeast Asia. This mother tree died on October 15, 1989, but its saplings can be seen in the Bogor Botanical Gardens. The first oil palm plantations were built in Tanahitam, Hulu North Sumatra by Schadt, a German in 1911. The islands of Sumatra, especially North Sumatra, Lampung and Aceh were the centers for oil palm cultivation which were first formed in Indonesia, however, this planting center developed to West Java ( South Garut, South Banten), West and East Kalimantan, Riau, Jambi, Papua. 

The development of Indonesian oil palm reaches 11.67 million ha and Indonesia is the owner of oil palm plantations and the largest CPO producer in the world. Price prospects, exports and product development are some of the things that enable the potential and development of oil palm in Indonesia. The potential that Indonesia has in developing oil palm is land suitability, land availability and industrial development. 

Potential Productivity of superior plant material 7-8 tonnes of CPO / ha / year. Oil palm in Indonesia has a dual function, namely a source of state income, a place of employment and the preservation of nature and the environment. Oil palm products can be used as food products, non-food products and byproducts / waste. 

Use of Palm Oil Products 

Oil Palm Plant (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) Is a plant that produces vegetable oil which is needed both for human consumption and can also be used as fuel oil. In addition, oil palm as an oil producer is much higher (3.74 tonnes / ha / year) compared to other major vegetable oils such as soybean oil, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil. 

Oil palm products can be used to: 

1. Food Products, produced from Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and Kernel Palm Oil (KPO), such as emulsifiers, cooking oil, shortening, margarine, vanaspati, cocoa butter substitutes, and various other food ingredients. 
2. Non-Food Products, produced from CPO and KPO, such as epoxy compounds, ester compounds, waxes, cosmetics, lubricants, fatty alcohol, oleochemicals, biodiesel, and various ingredients for various other non-food industries, for example for the pharmaceutical industry. 
3. Byproducts / waste The waste of oil palm fruit processing such as empty fruit bunches has the potential to become a mixture of animal feed and ferment into compost. Empty bunches can be used for oil palm plant mulch, as raw material for pulp making and organic solvents, and oil palm shells can be used as fuel and for the manufacture of activated charcoal. Palm tree trunks and palm fronds for pulp paper furniture and fodder.