LEMBAGA MINYAK SAWIT MALAYSIA MALAYSIAN PALM OIL …palmoilis.mpob.gov.my/publications/POEB/poeb86.pdf · issue no. 86 (jan. - mar. 2008) lembaga minyak sawit malaysia malaysian palm

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 86 �

ISSUE NO. 86 (Jan. - Mar. 2008)

LEMBAGA MINYAK SAWIT MALAYSIAMALAYSIAN PALM OIL BOARD

KEMENTERIAN PERUSAHAAN PERLADANGAN DAN KOMODITI MALAYSIAMINISTRY OF PLANTATION INDUSTRIES AND COMMODITIES, MALAYSIA

Website:www.mpob.gov.my


CONTENTS

Editorial

RECENT EVENTS

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2008 MPOB Training Programme

2008 MPOB Conferences/Seminars

FEATURE ARTICLESPractical Processing Hints

Welding Technology – Module 4

Mongana Basics: Part 11 – Dilution of CrudeOil

PALM NEWS

BIOFUEL NEWS

DATASHEETIncentives by the Government forRenewable Energy in Malaysia

1

3

11

13

21

27

EDITORIAL BOARD

ChairmanDato’ Dr Mohd Basri Wahid

• Dato’ Dr Choo Yuen May• Dr Lim Weng Soon• Dr Ma Ah Ngan

• Ab Aziz Md Yusof • Ir N P Thorairaj

SecretaryIr N Ravi Menon

Malaysian Palm Oil BoardMinistry of Plantation Industries and Commodities,

MalaysiaP.O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tel: 603-8769 4400Fax: 603-8925 9446

Website: www.mpob.gov.my

© Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 2008All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Products and services advertised in thisPalm Oil Engineering Bulletin do not

connote endorsement by MPOB.

DEditorial

see page 2

41

51

uring my recent visit to one estate in Peninsular Malaysia. I was appalled to find that it was

46

practicing ONE harvesting round per month. The estate management gave me the explanation - that it was due to shortage of labour. The palms were tall with few hundred fruits scattered all over the moderately weed-free palm circle so that their recovery was not a problem, if of course the management cared to do so. When asked about the loose fruit recovery, the management told me quite bluntly that it is done only if the workers are free to do so and that happened once in a few months. That is the importance given to the loose fruit collection and harvesting rounds even though the palm oil price is sky rocketing as it is now.

The situation in Sabah was somewhat different. There were three harvesting rounds per month in the estate I visited and there were very little loose fruits on the ground. Perhaps the labour situation in Sabah is very much better than Peninsular. If these cases are truly representative then the disparity in the oil extraction rate (OER) at the two locations can be easily explained. But is this the sole reason for the disparity?

The estate managers and the mill mangers are the trustees of the properties they are managing. It is their responsibility to ensure that they follow Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) or Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) as the case may be. The management has to ensure that they harvest all bunches when they become ripe and deliver them to the mill. That is what they

17

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 86�

from page 2

CALL FOR ARTICLES

The millers are requested to send in articles of relevance to the palm oil industry in Malaysia for publication in Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin. By sharing your expertise you will be helping the industry and the nation as a whole. The topics of interest are:

1. Plant modifications done in your mill that resulted in improvements in milling operation or maintenance.

2. Innovations done in your mill that produced improvements in the operation of the mill and that you are willing to share them with others.

3. Any special work done in your mill that directly resulted in improvements in OER and product quality.

Please submit your article to us and we shall be pleased to publish them in Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin. Feel proud to have your articles published in this Bulletin that is circulated throughout the industry and MPOB offices worldwide.

are paid for. Leaving bunches to ripen, followed by over ripening culminating in empty fruit bunches while still remaining on the palm is indeed a Bad Agricultural Practice (BAP?). The large number of loose fruits clearly visible to the eye lying scattered on the ground is a distressing sight. If we cannot provide labour for the current area under oil palm cultivation, I wonder why we are so enthusiastic about expanding the existing areas.

Someone asked me if millions of uncollected loose fruits lying on the ground discharge their oil into the soil, which of course is the only choice they have if they still remained uncollected, will the soil properties change for the worse to render the soil less suitable for the well-being of palms? He had a valid point. But apart from this, it does not make any business sense when the best fruits are left to rot in the field instead of collecting everyone of

them and extracting the precious oil out of it. No one gains anything by ignoring the loose fruits in the field.

Assuming that the uncollected loose fruits left in the field amount to 800 fruits (by actual counting), the average weight of one fruit is 13 g (average of 100 fruits by actual weighing) and the oil content in the fruit is 40% (moderate figure can reach 55%). The weight of loose fruits lost in the field is about 10 kg and the oil potential 4 kg palm-1. This at a cost of RM 3.80 kg-1 amounts to RM 15.20, roughly equivalent to the salary of some plantation workers in Malaysia. If we rephrase this, we can say that the salary of a plantation worker in Malaysia is equivalent to the value of the fruits detached from a single bunch when it lands on the ground. In 1 ha having 136 palms, the loss from loose fruits can be as much as RM 2000 - food for thought?


Recent Events Contributed by: Noor Asmawati Abd Samad*

Farm MechanizationOperator’s Course

A total of 35 candidates participated in the 3rd Farm Mechanization Operator’s Course, which was conducted from August until December 2007. Senator Dato’ Dr S Vijayaratnam, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commoditites, presented the certificates to the successful candidates on 4 January 2008 at a function organized by MPOB at the Palm Garden Hotel, Putrajaya. Three participants selected as the best participants also received their rewards during the function.

Supply of Good Quality Oil Palm Seedlings to

Poor Smallholders in Bukit Gantang, Perak

Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Senator Dato’ Dr S Vijayaratnam, launched the seminar for smallholders and supply of good quality oil palm seedlings to poor smallholders scheme at Dewan Orang Ramai Ku Tien, Air Tawar, Bukit Gantang, Perak on 18 February 2008. A total of 300 smallholders attended the seminar.

During the ceremony, Senator Dato’ Dr S Vijayaratnam also presented coupons under the scheme to supply good quality oil palm seedlings to poor smallholders. A total of 50 smallholders received the coupons at the function.

*Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 86�

Recent Events

Ekspo Sawit SabahThe Ekspo Sawit Sabah encompassing few activities such as seminar for smallholders, treasure hunt and exhibition was held on 16 to 18 February 2008 at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. A total of 400 guests attended the opening ceremony and visited the exhibition that show-cased MPOB’s technology.

The Deputy Minister also presented agricultural inputs to smallholders at the Dewan Orang Ramai Membakut, Sabah on 18 February 2008. More than 300 smallholders participated in a half-day seminar organized by MPOB.

About 250 guests attended the closing ceremony of Ekspo Sawit Sabah at the Le’ Meridien Hotel, Kota Kinabalu. The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment of Sabah, Datuk Masidi Manjun officially closed the event.

That night, three smallholders were chosen as the best smallholders of Sabah and received their award from Datuk Masidi Manjun.

The Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Datuk Anifah Aman also presented a mock cheque of RM 4 million to the Sabah Government under the scheme to supply good quality oil palm seedlings to poor smallholders. Datuk Masidi Manjun and Sabah’s members of Parliament Sabah received the mock cheque.

The Ekspo was officially launched by the Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Datuk Anifah Aman at the Palm Square, Centre Point, Kota Kinabalu on 16 February 2008.

More than 1000 residents of Bongawan, Sabah participated in sukan rakyat, which was organized by the local authorities in conjunction with the treasure hunt on 17 February 2008. The Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities presented the gift to all winners.


Commodity ExpoThe Commodity Expo was organized by the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities with support from agencies and councils under the ministry including MPOB and Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC). The expo was officially launched by the Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui at the Imperial Hotel, Miri, Sarawak on 22 February 2008.

Recent Events

With the theme, Achievements and Opportunities in Commodities Sector, the expo show-cased a wide range of latest products as well as technological developments and innovations in the Malaysian commodities sector that included palm oil, timber, rubber, cocoa, pepper, tobacco, kenaf and sago. This exhibition featured the participation of agencies responsible for the development and promotion of these commodities. It was held from 22 to 29 February 2008.

Besides MPOB and MPOC, the agencies and councils that took part in the expo were Malaysian Rubber Board (LGM), Malaysian Timber Industrial Board (MTIB), Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB), Malaysian Pepper Board (MPB), National Tobacco Board (LTN), Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC), Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council (MREPC), Malaysian Timber Council (MTC) and Malaysian Furniture Promotion Council (MFPC).

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 86 ��

Forthcoming Events

2008 MPOB TRAINING PROGRAMME SCHEDULE

CODENO.

TITLE DATE VENUE

A COURSES

1 Oil Palm

A.1.1 Kursus Kemahiran Menggred Buah Sawit

Bil. �: Wilayah Utara �� – �� Mac Hotel Leadview, Manjung, Perak

Bil. �: Sabah �� – �� Mei Hotel Sandakan, Sandakan

Bil. �: Sarawak �� – �� Jun Hotel Park City Everly, Bintulu

Bil. �: Wilayah Tengah �� – �� Ogos Hotel Allson Klana Putra, Nilai

Bil. �: KBT Wilayah Tengah �� JulaiDewan Orang Ramai, Bukit

Changgang, Banting

Bil. �: KBT Wilayah Timur � Julai Temerloh, Jerantut Hill, Pahang

Bil. �: KBT Wilayah Utara � Mei Hotel Garden, Batu Pahat, Johor

Bil. �: KBT Wilayah Selatan �� April KKS Seangau, Sibu, Sarawak

Bil. �: KBT Wilayah Sarawak �� Mei

�� Julai �� Ogos

Dewan Mesyuarat, Gedong

RH KKS, Lundu, Sarawak

Tapak KBT Subis Quality Centre

Peperiksaan Kemahiran Menggred Buah Sawit

Peperiksaan Bil. �0

Peperiksaan Bil. ��

� Julai

�� Ogos

Hotel Emperial, Miri,Sarawak

Hotel Orient Star, Lumut, Perak

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 86��

Forthcoming Events

2 PALM OIL

A.2.1 Diploma in Palm Oil Milling Technology and Management**

Semester I �� – �� March MPOB HQ

Semester II �� – �� May MPOB HQ

Semester III � – � July MPOB HQ

Exam. Semester III �� – �� Aug. MPOB HQ

A.2.2 The ��nd MPOB Oil Palm Products Surveying Course

� – �� June Grand Blue WaveHotel, Shah Alam

The ��st MPOB Oil Palm Products Surveying Examination

* *

A.2.3 Kursus Bengkel Kilang Minyak Sawit �� – �� Feb. MPOB HQ

A.2.4 Kursus Drebar Enjin �0 –�� Mac MPOB HQ

A.2.5 Cosmetic Course �� – �� Aug MPOB HQ/AOTD

A.2.6 Introductory Course on Palm Oil Trading & Marketing

� – � May MPOB HQ

A.2.7 Welder Certification Palm Oil Industry �G SMAW

March, June, Sept. SIRIM, Shah Alam

A.2.8 Reclamation Welding Technology in Palm Oil Industry

April, June, Aug. SIRIM, Shah Alam

A.2.9 ��th Palm Oil Familiarization Programme (POFP)

* *Hotel

A.1.3 Kursus Pengurusan dan Penyelenggaraan Tapak Semaian Sawit

��-�� Mei MPOB HQ

A1.3 Kursus Pegawai Pengembangan dan Pengurusan Kilang

� – � Ogos *

A1.5 Kursus Operator Mekanisasi Ladang Feb. – Julai MPOB UKM

CODENO.

TITLE DATE VENUE

A.1.2 10th Intensive Diploma in Oil Palm Management and Technology Course

Semester I � – �0 April MPOB HQ

Estate Attachment � – �� May MPOB HQ

Semester II �0 May – �� June MPOB HQ

Estate Attachment �� – �� June MPOB HQ

Semester III �0 June – �� July MPOB HQ


2008 MPOB CONFERENCES/SEMINARS

CODENO.

TITLE DATE VENUE

B CONFERENCES/SEMINARS

1. Programme Advisory Committee (PAC) Seminar

�0 Apr. MPOB HQ

2. MPOB Transfer of Technology (TOT) Seminar �00� �� June MPOB HQ

3. MPOB Technology Demonstration Week �00� �� – �� July MPOB HQ

4. MPOB Graduate Research Seminar �� July MPOB HQ

5. Persidangan Kebangsaan Pekebun Kecil Sawit � – � Aug. MPOB HQ

6. National Seminar on Palm Oil Milling, Refining, Technology, Quality & Environment

�� - �� December Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Forthcoming Events

Notes: * To be confirmed. + By invitation. ** Course approved under PROLUS scheme of Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad.

For enquiry or further information, please contact:

HRD & Conference Management UnitTel. No. : 03-87694400 ext. 4865, 4860, 4867Fax No. : 03-89259446E-mail : [email protected] MPOB’s website : www.mpob.gov.my


Feature Article

A

* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P.O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

PRESS CAKE CONVEYOR

NUT SEPARATION

Let us examine what happens when the press cake drops in the separating column. It drops down and makes a U-turn under the effect of the induced draught fan. The air flow velocity in the de-pericarp column is usually set at 16 m min-1, the lifting velocity of small nuts.

At this velocity, the following materials with their lifting velocities in brackets are also sucked up by the I. D. fan and lost to the cyclone fibre: • small kernel (14 m s-1); • average shell (12-14 m s-1); • small shell (10 m s-1); • wet fibre (6 m s-1); • dry normal fibre (4 m s-1); and • fine fibre (less tha 2 m s-1).

Practical Processing HintsN Ravi Menon*

number of palm oil mills in Malaysia have this conveyor wrongly installed - yes even by experienced mill builders. The impact of this will

be poor separation of nuts from the cyclone fibre.

Except for the first item all else may be deposited into the fibre cyclone but the kernel should be retained. Therefore, it is important to set the lifting velocity in the separating column at 14 m s-1. I have not seen a single mill so far which really measure the air velocity in the de-pericarp separating column even though the measuring equipment is relatively inexpensive. It is certainly worthwhile to make this measurement once in a way due to the following:

• the fan blade gradually wears out reducing the air flow volume in the separating column, which in turn causes the lifting velocity to drop as it is governed by the equation, velocity v m s-1 = air flow volume V (M3)/ cross-sectional area of the column (M2). When the air flow volume reduces due to a drop in fan efficiency caused by the wear of the fan blades, the lifting velocity drops and separation becomes poor. This is not to bad as the nuts and kernels are still retained in the polishing drum;

• what happens when the column-sectional area narrows down due to the deposition of fibre on the side walls? The reduced sectional area will give rise to a higher air velocity and


Feature Article

there is a possibility of the small nuts being lifted up if the lifting velocity is in excess of 16 m s-1; and

• the above two are still not as serious as when the press cake does not have sufficient drop in the de-pericarp column. If the drop is insufficient, the press cake does not have sufficient room to separate out in the separating column, an essential requirement for nut/fibre separation - a large volume of lumps of fibre will drop into the polishing drum. The modern press cake conveyors just transfer the press cake into the de-pericarp column without really loosening the nuts from the fibre as compared to the press cake breaker conveyor (with paddle arms) well suited for press cake issuing

out from the now extinct hydraulic presses. The paddle arm type conveyor required high maintenance and as a result was replaced by the normal screw conveyor. But it cannot be denied that the paddle arm type was more efficient for the job and that is the reason the last section of the screw conveyor still has the paddle arms. Even with the paddle arm type conveyor, the drop of the press cake is critical. The drop should not be less than two-third the height of the separating column as shown in Figure 1. This allows the press cake to drop as much as possible before it takes a U-turn and allows only the fibre to be lifted up giving ample opportunity for all nuts and kernel to be left behind.

Figure 1. Dropping height of nut from the P.C conveyor.


Feature Article

HOW TO CORRECT THE DROP HEIGHT IF THERE IS NO SPACE

Many mills have managed to do this by in-clining the whole conveyor so that the tail end manages to have the required two-third height as shown in Figure 2.

In almost all mills, it is extremely dif-ficult to manipulate the velocity adjusting flap as it is operated by bolts that are very often jammed in a position originally set during mill commissioning. It may take a

few artisans a few hours to adjust the posi-tion of the flap and even if an adjustment has been made, there is no equipment to measure the air velocity at the velocity box. It is therefore a sensible approach to intro-duce an easily adjustable flap that can be operated by one person using a hand wheel. One such gadget is shown in Figure 3. This can be made in the mill workshop and it is very easy to operate. If a velocity measur-ing equipment is not available then the best alternative is to observe any nut carry over in the separated cyclone fibre.

Figure 2. Solving the problem by inclining the existing conveyor.

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 86�0

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NUT POLISHING DRUM

This is not an unnecessary equipment in-stalled in a mill as some mills may think. It serves a good purpose in removing the fibre still attached to the nut as it issues out of the press cake conveyor. Removing this fibre will improve nut cracking efficiency as the

Figure 3. A simple method of adjustable flap construction.

nuts with too much attached fibre will pro-duce a cushioning effect that may prevent the nut from cracking. The nut polishing drum should be as long as possible to effect good nut polishing. If it is too short, the nut polishing operation may not be efficient.


Atwo most important aspects of welding technology, i.e.:

• the chemistry and soundness of the weld metal; and

• the microstructure of the weld metal and the heat affected zone (HAZ) of the base metal.

Metallurgy consists of:

• process metallurgy; and • physical metallurgy.

Knowledge of basics of welding metallurgy is necessary for the welding engineer, since the mechanical properties of a metal such as strength, hardness, ductility, toughness, fatigue and abrasion resistance are all effected by the metallurgical transformation caused by welding.

MICROSTRUCTURAL CONSTITUENTS OF CARBON STEEL

The overall arrangement of grains, grain boundaries and phases present in the

Welding Technology – Module 4S P Narayanan*

palm oil mill engineer must understand basic welding metallurgy because it enables him to control

metallic alloy is called: microstructure. The microstructure is primarily responsible for the properties of the alloy. The microstructure is affected by the composition or alloy content. Other factors, thermal cycle of welding greatly affects the microstructure, which in turn change the properties of the alloy.

Microstructural Changes Due to Welding

The microstructural changes due to welding are caused by significant changes in the temperature of metal and the rate of cooling from the elevated temperatures. Within the weld, from the region of the highest temperature, the metal cools down from liquid through various phases as mentioned earlier.

Heat Treatment of Steel

The process of welding involves heating and cooling of the base metal. This thermal cycling can have an impact on the properties of the HAZ. The effect of the welding heat on the HAZ depends on the:

• composition of the base metal;• heating rate and cooling rate of the

HAZ; and • welding procedure used.

* Advance Training Centre, 18 Jalan 6/19, Bandar Putri, 47100 Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia.

METALLURGY

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Annealing

In this, the temperature of a component is raised to about 850°C in the furnace and cooled very slowly. Slow cooling is achieved by putting off the fire from the furnace with the component inside so that the component cools down at the same rate as the furnace. The annealed component is very soft and ductile.

Normalizing

This is done to refine the grain structure to improve the machining ability. The strength is achieved by heating the component to austenite temperature of about 850oC depending on the composition and cooling it in still air. A normalized component is harder and stronger than fully annealed component. The hardness depends on the carbon and alloy content.

Hardening

In this process, the steel is heated to austenite temperature and cooled rapidly. This results in the formation of hard and brittle martensite. Fastest cooling is achieved by immersing the hot component in a solution of water and salt (brine). Plain water gives slightly slower cooling rate. Quenching in oil results in still slower cooling rates.

Tempering

This is an essential operation carried out after hardening. The basic purpose is to reduce the stresses formed during the formation of martenasite and to improve the toughness of martensite. The process consists of heating carbon steel, which has already been hardened to at least 160oC and keeping at that temperature for a minimum period of 30 min and then it is cooled. The tempering temperature in any case does not exceed 650°C.

Case Hardening

This process is adopted when a hard surface for wear resistance is required. The core is soft and tough to withstand the impact and improve the fatigue properties. There are two methods of case hardening. Heating of the surface and cooling it rapidly so that martensite is formed on the surface while the core remains unaffected.

Flame Hardening

In this process, the surface of the part is heated by flame to about 850°C and immediately cooled in water. The steel must have sufficient carbon or alloying element to form martensite on cooling. The surface hardness achieved can vary from 35 RC to 50 RC depending on the composition.

Induction Hardening

The difference between flame and induction hardening lies on the source of heat. In induction, hardening is the current induced on the surface of the job and gets it heated. The coil can be designed based on the shape and size of the component to have faster rate of production. The increase in the frequency of power supplied will reduce the depth of hardening in an induction hardened part. Thus, it is possible to have much greater control over the depth of hardening changing the chemical composition of the surface.

Case Carbonizing and Hardening

In this process, low carbon steel (0.2% carbon) is selected and carbon on the surface is increased by heating the part in a carburizing medium. The surface carbon after carburizing will be 0.8%. The part is hardened and tempered at around 180oC. This results in the formation of high carbon martensite on the surface. The hardness on the surface is 60 RC and the core hardness


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in a fully martensite structure will be 30 RC. The depth of hardness varies from 0.5 mm – 2.5 mm.

Nitriding

In nitriding, nitrogen is added to the surface. The steel used for nitriding contain aluminium (1%) and form a very hard aluminium nitride with a hardness of about 68 RC. The steel is normally hardened and tempered at 600°C before nitriding. The carbon content of steel is around 0.4% and core hardness is about 300 BHN. The depth hardness is much lower than that produced by carburizing. Nitriding process is for extreme wear resistance.

PRE-HEATING

For welding of medium carbon steel, low alloy steel, high alloy steel and high carbon steel, certain amount of pre-heating is required. Pre-heating is the heat applied to the substrate before welding. The amount of pre-heating recommended is given by the following formula for carbon equivalent present in the steel:

Ce: % C + % Ni + % Mn + ( % Cr + % Mo + % V) 20 15 10If Ce < 0.30 % - no pre-heating is necessary.If Ce > 0.30 % - pre-heating is necessary.

What is Heat Input?

Heat input is the arc energy or electrical energy charged into the weld metal in a unit time.

Voltage (V) x Current (A) Speed (mm s-1) (1000)

Effects of Pre-heating

• Reduce the quenching effect;• Reduce the maximum hardness at HAZ;• Removal of moisture and hydrogen;

• Welding arc is stable in heated environment;• Improve fusion and melting; and• Reduce the occurrence of cracking.

When to Pre-heat

Too low ambient temperature for welding. It is required by several codes to pre-heat the substrates to at least 21°C for welding.

• Dampness in the base metals - moisture being harmful for welding has to be removed.

• Increased plate/pipe thickness - it is necessary to reduce the cooling rate and retain the heat in the weld zone.

• Rise in carbon content or CE carbon equivalent percentage in steel. It is required to retard the rate of cooling for reducing the hardening and hydrogen absorption in HAZ.

• Increase the degree of restraint or cooling stresses. The level of residual stresses in the weld have to be reduced.

How to Pre-heat

• Pre-heat with gas torches, electrical resistance heating, heating blanket or heat treating furnaces;

• The pre-heating temperature and the length of pre-heating time depend on the method of pre-heating;

• The pre-heating should be done uniformly and maintained though the cross-section of the substrate; and

• The pre-heat temperature is measured just prior to welding. Time lapse of 15 s is often recommended.

Interpass Temperature Interpass temperature is the temperature maintained during welding and between the runs of welding to obtain desired metallurgical structure. The interpass temperature should drop below or exceed

Heat input =


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the pre-heat temperature.

Post-weld Heat Treatment

Post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) is the application of heat after welding. It is a process in which the weld metal in solid state is subjected to one or more controlled heating and cooling cycle after welding. It is normally carried out for stress relief and reduction of localized residual stresses induced during the welding operation into the metal.

The Variables of PWHT Process

• The rate of cooling;• The uniformity of heating;

• The temperature of heat treatment;• The soaking period at the heat treatment

temperature; and• The mode of cooling, the rate of cooling.

PWHT may also be used to modify certain properties such as:

• softening the metals after cold working;

• hardening the metals to produce improve strength and hardness;

• tempering the metals to improve hardened structures giving range of toughness and strength; and

• hydrogen removal.


n the pilot plant, clarification was carried out in a continuous settling tank of 220 litres capacity (Figure 1).

The conclusions drawn from experiments carried out are summarized below:

• capacity. The 220 litres settling tank has a working volume of 150 litres. It can cope with 500 kg of diluted crude oil per hour (100% dilution with water). Crude oil therefore settles for approximately 18 min.

• oil recovery. Approximately 60% of the oil is recovered.

• separation of NOS. Almost total separation is achieved since only 1.5% of the impurities find their way into the oil. The average moisture and dirt content of the continuously settled oil is 1.3% and 0.06%. This would not be suitable in an industrial process.

• interface. At times the interfacial layer tends to increase and occupy the space intended for clean oil (density close to that of oil). At that point, the crude oil feed is reduced slightly and after a few minutes, enough oil has separated to enable continuous settling to take place again. The hourly capacity of 500 kg

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I

see page 33

Mongana Basics: Part 11 - Dilution of Crude Oil**N Ravi Menon*

** Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

allows for the slowing down of the feed.

• removal of sludge. The output is steady. The composition of sludge is constant. Oil content ranges from 11% to 13% and NOS from 4% to 6.5% (12 analyses).

Clarification of Wet Process Crude Oil

A lot of difficulties were experienced, probably as a result of the high colloid content of crude oil. The efficiency does not exceed 65% to 70%.

Clarification of Centrifuge Crude Oil

The process offers no difficulties. A single static separation leads to an efficiency of 94% to 95%. This may be increased to 96.5% to 97.5% level by second separation. There seems to be no advantage in carrying out further separation.

The very fast settling of centrifuge or discontinuous press crude oil is a consequence of the low content in dirt, colloids and other solids in suspension. Among the latter, fruit pectins deserve special attention.

**Continued from p. 44 of Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin Issue No. 85.


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from page 27

It was pointed out in under Extraction Processes that the addition of surfactants was tried in an attempt to improve the ef-ficiency of oil extraction from the cake. The addition was carried out either directly in the digester or by washing the cake at the end of centrifugal run. It is of interest to mention the effect of the addition of sur-factants on the settling characteristics of crude oil. For instance, the rate of settling of three samples of oil is given graphically in Figure 2 - (1) control oil, (2) oil treated with 0.025% of alkyl-aryl-sulphonate, and (3) oil treated with 0.5% of A.A.S.

The examination of graph in Figure 2 leads to the following observations:

• the control oil separated completely after 30 min;

• No. 2 oil separated completely after 13 min;

• No. 3 oil decanted completely in 160 min. In that experiment, it was not possible to boil the oil (this was done for the other two test) as a result of the formation of a large amount of form (the tank overflow);

• the addition of water containing 0.025% of alky-aryl-sulphonate slows

Figure 1. Experimental continuous settling tank.


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down settling at the beginning of the operation, but the rate of settling at the end of it decreases less markedly than in the case of the control oil. As a result, the last 10% of oil of the con-trol require 24 min to settle whilst in the case of No. 2 oil only 5.5 min are needed; and

• the addition of 0.5% of alkyl-aryl-sulpho-nate slow down settling considerably.

The analysis of the bottom layer in the case of oils No. 1 and 2 indicates that after the time given above, there is no more oil capable of further settling.

The same process was used with crude oil from continuous presses. No increase in the rate of settling was recorded whilst quite a lot of oil was found to remain in the

bottom layer.

FACTOR AFFECTING SETTLING

It had been observed that screening im-proved the settling characteristics of crude oil because of the coalescence of globules. A laboratory experiment showed that subject-ing crude oil to high frequency vibrations led to increase settling ability. The technique was tried at semi-industrial scale with screw press crude oil subjected to ultrasounds. The apparatus consists of a bell with a reed in its centre. The reed vibrates as a result of the flow of oil under high pressure (fre-quency of 18 000 to 22 000 cycles s-1).

Ultrasounds of that frequency do not induce coalescence of oil globules. On the contrary, they greatly stabilize the emulsion. The use of vibrating reeds connected to an electromagnet (frequency 50 cycles s-1) leads to coalescence around the reeds but no in-

Figure 2.


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crease in the rate of settling is recorded.

As has been already mentioned, boiling improves the settling of crude oil. If steam injection is used it should be ensured that the crude oil actually boils, and is not simply churned up by the steam. Some emulsions break only at boiling temperature. They re-main stable up to 90°C.

The dehydration of crude oil, if carried out far enough, enables fast separation of the non-oily solids. These can be removed. They contain 60% of oil and can be pressed. Although dehydration of crude oil can be easily carried out in the laboratory by evaporation under vacuum it is difficult to envisage a practical application of that technique. The fact that dehydration makes good separation possible should however be recorded.

Similarly, the good settling characteris-tics of crude oil derived from dehydrated fruit is worthy of mention.

Screening

Screening, which has been applied on the oil derived from the four extraction proc-esses and on all types of fruit, appears to be indispensable in palm oil milling. It can be carried out on crude oil as well as on sludge after the first separation. The advantages and disadvantages of the two systems were compared.

In practice, it may be concluded that the point of the circuit where the screen is incor-porated is not important. In all cases, the solids retained by the screen contain a lot of

oil and must be recycled.

Washing of the Solids

The recycling of the solids is not a com-plicated operation but nevertheless requires labour or power and entails additional ex-penditure, unless the solids can be reintro-duced into the digester by gravity. In order to do away with recycling, washing with water was tried either after the solids have been separated or whilst they accumulate on the screen. The latter technique is preferable from the point of view of oil recovery but it dilutes the crude oil and this is sometimes undesirable.

As an example, the composition of the solids is given in Table 1. They were ob-tained from screening wet process crude oil through a 20-mesh strainer vibrating at 3000 rpm.

The solids were washed with a volume of water equal to that of crude oil.

The washing with wetting agents or ami-onic or anionic surfactants does decrease the residual oil content. The content of the non-oily solids is always very high regard-less of the origin of the screened material. It appears therefore indispensable to recycle. The following factors were examined in the study of vibrating screens:

• frequency: 1400 and 3000 cycles s-1. Improve results are obtained through an increase in frequency;

• temperature: as a result of its effect on

TABLE 1. COMPOSITION OF THE SOLIDS RETAINED ON THE VIBRATING SCREENUnwashed solids (%) Washed solids (%)

Water of solids Oil on solidsNOS on solidsOil as dry basis

74.016.69.4

176.3

82.36.7

10.464.4


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the viscosity of oil, temperature mark-edly affects the efficiency of screening. The best results are obtained at 100°C. Crude oil should not be screened at a temperature lower than 50°C to 90°C; and

• size of perforations: crude oil from wet extraction processes can be screened on 20-mesh or coarser strainers (Table 2). Hot undiluted press crude oil passes through 20- to 30-mesh strainers. A sec-ond screening through 60-mesh strainer for instance yields a large amount of sol-ids constituted mainly by cellular debris. Sequential double screening does not appear desirable since the object of screening is to retain the fibre, which is a hindrance to centrifugation and not the cellular debris from which oil is best recovered by centrifugation or even static separation. Heated up crude oil from presses or centrifuges can be eas-ily screened, even on 120-mesh strain-ers. A large amount of solids is however

No. Size of perforation (mm) Diameter of wire (mm) Perforated area (%)

10 2.08 0.70 5616 1.24 0.50 5120 0.99 0.40 5125 0.76 0.35 4730 0.63 0.30 4635 0.51 0.28 4240 0.45 0.24 4350 0.36 0.20 4160 0.28 0.18 3770 0.24 0.16 3680 0.21 0.14 3690 0.189 0.12 38100 0.168 0.11 37110 0.153 0.10 37120 0.141 0.09 37130 0.124 0.09 35150 0.105 0.08 32

retained. The 60-mesh strainers appear best suited.

• feed: in order to use the whole of the screening surface, it is essential to install a suitable distributor, possible of the flap type but a distribution trough must also be fitted.

The conclusion applies to standard vibrating screens used in oil mills. The straining material is attached to a horizon-tal shaft eccentric. Vibrations therefore take place in a vertical plane. The pattern of the vibrations is governed not only by the type of screen but also by the distance from the vibration making device. The shape of the vibrations can range from a circle to a very elongated ellipse.

Another type of screening used in flour mills has been tried - the plan-sifter. The vibra-tions occur in a horizontal plane, the shaft of the eccentric being vertical. The screen has given excellent results, better perhaps than

TABLE 2. COMPOSITION OF THE SOLIDS RETAINED ON THE VIBRATING SCREEN


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the standard vibrating screens. The hourly capacity per unit is higher, whilst oil removal from the retained solids appears very effective. Additional trials are in progress. The cost of suspended plan-sifters is, for a given output, lower than that of vibrating screen mounted on a frame.

Centrifugal Screening

As a result of the difficulties encountered in the separation of the solids from wet process crude oil, the filtration in a 1.20 m centrifuge spinning at 1000 rpm was tried with the whole surface of the basket lined with canvas cloth. Screening is easy and the throughput very high.

The capacity of a standard centrifuge is sufficient to screen approximately 6 t of crude oil. The cleaning of the cloth is dif-ficult and time-consuming. It is contemplated to use shortly metal gauze with oblong per-forations 0.1 to 0.2 mm wide and 4 to 5 mm long. The oil content of the solids is fairly low but washing with water does not lower it further to a marked extent. Table 3 gives the results obtained on wet process crude oil.

Before closing this paragraph on screen-ing, it should be pointed out that laboratory experiments were carried out on filtration of wet process and continuous press crude oil with a view to studying the possible use of an industrial vacuum rotary filter. The at-tempt was unsuccessful owing to the fast clogging of the filtering cloth.

TABLE 3. TYPES OF SOLIDS RETAINED ON THE SCREEN Solids retained on the

screen (%)Washed solids (%)

Water of solids Oil on solidsNOS on solidsOil as dry basis

79.35.115.632.6

73.66.220.230.7

Centrifugation The problem of centrifugation may be approached in a number of different ways. Some years ago, centrifugation was simply a purification process applied to oil derived from primary and secondary static separa-tion (expect in the case of the wet process). Soon afterwards, at the time of the introduc-tion of continuous settling, purification of oil continued to be carried out by centrifu-gation but in addition, the sludge derived from the continuous settling tank was also subjected to centrifugation. That technique is now the standard procedure for oil mill of average to large capacity.

Investigations were carried out with a view to eliminate completely the separation of oil by batch or continuous settling and to replace it by direct centrifugation of crude oil. In the latter case, two centrifugations are required, one of these replacing the stat-ic decantation.

The following will therefore be examined separately:

• centrifugal separation of sludge; and • purification of oil.

Centrifugal Separation of Sludge

At this stage, it should be mentioned that if settling is not made use of, the centrifu-gal separation of sludge becomes a requi-site. This is because it is not possible to treat


centrifugal extractor. Bowls clog so quickly that frequent cleaning become necessary. Their capacity is at the most 30 kg of wet solids (for large centrifuges) corresponding approximately to 6 kg of dry material. Even with crude oil containing no more than 1% of non-oily solids, the capacity of a large bowl centrifuge (generally 12 kg of wet sol-ids, that is 2.5 kg of dry material) between consecutive cleanings would only be 600 kg if the whole of the NOS were retained in the bowl. This is of course not the case. If it is assumed that 80% of the NOS find their way into the discharge, the capacity of the machine would be 3 t of crude oil.

Before centrifugal separator of sludge, the screening of undiluted or diluted crude oil was found to be necessary. Even relative-ly clean crude oil contains a certain amount of fibrous strands of length ranging from a few to 50 mm. In the course of centrifuga-tion, these strands accumulate at various places in the machine, more particularly around the distribution holes of the plates and, eventually, obstruct them completely. This fibre is not discharged from self-clean-ing centrifuges. Eventually the bowl may go out of balance as a result. Screening is therefore indispensable but there is no ad-vantage in using too fine a strainer, which retains an important portion of the cellular debris as centrifugation removes more oil from the latter than screening. In this re-spect, it is worth mentioning that it is an er-roneous concept to assess the effectiveness of a strainer solely by the amount of solids it retains.

Generally, the sludge separating centri-fuges discharge the aqueous phase from crude oil continuously and may discharge solids either continuously or intermittently. The discharged aqueous phase contains be-tween 70% and 90% of the non-oily solids of crude oil. Half of the solids are dissolved and the rest is in suspension.

Three sludge separating centrifuges were studied at Mongana:

• titan centrifuge – bowl with plates – intermittent and automatic discharge of solids;

• werkspoor centrifuge – bowl with plates – continuous discharge of sedi-ments; and

• stork centrifuge – bowl without plates – continuous discharge of sediments.

The capacity of the above centrifuges

ranges from 2.5 to 12 t hr-1 according to the type of machine and the composition of crude oil.

Titan Centrifuge

The frequency of bowl discharging is contingent upon the NOS content of crude oil and more particularly upon the amount of sediments carried away in the aqueous phase. That amount is directly related to the ability of crude oil to retain suspended solids. Fibre and large lumps of cellular de-bris do not remain in suspension when sub-jected to powerful centrifugal force. In the case of cellular debris of small dimension, there seems to be an optimum concentration to keep them in suspension. In order to increase the proportion of NOS removable by the aqueous phase, the following procedures were tried:

• increasing the proportion of soluble NOS;

• increasing the viscosity of the aqueous phase discharge; and

• removal of a portion of the sediments at the periphery of the bowl.

A larger proportion of the sediments can be solubilized by boiling the crude oil. This question is discussed in another section. The increase in viscosity of crude oil can eas-ily be achieved in the laboratory by addition of CMC (carboxy-methyl-cellulose), but at industrial scale, the process was found to be in effective.

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At the rate of 1% and at 100°C, CMC ex-erts a marked effect but the cost is very high. A concentration of 0.1%, CMC still signifi-cantly modifies the viscosity but it is too low to prevent the separation of sediments un-der the effect of a large centrifugal force.

The continuous removal of a portion of the sediments can be achieved by a series of nozzles fitted at the bowl periphery. The process is not very effective and the capacity of the machine is reduced.

Based on results from tests carried out with centrifuge, difficulties can be forecast when using it for crude oil having a high sand content. When the sediments are force-

fully expelled from the bowl at the time of the discharge, a marked abrasive action oc-curs.

The use of that machine is justified for liquids with low impurities content when the sediments can be discharged infrequent-ly. Moreover, through a simple change of the bowl plates, the machine can be convert-ed into a purifier. Because of the automatic cleaning, the converted machine possesses a marked advantage over other types of bowl centrifuge in which sediments accumulate in the bowl. The quality of the oil treated in that type of machine is quite comparable to that of oil treated in conventional purifiers.

2008 NatioNal SemiNar oN Palm oilmilliNg,

refiNiNg techNology,Quality aNd eNviroNmeNt

15 – 16 december 2008magellan Sutera harbour resort

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

For further information, please surf MPOB website at www.mpob.gov.my or contact thefollowing for further details:

Seminar Registration:

Ms Ruba’ah Masri/Ms Solehah Abdul BabTel. No.: 03-8769 4567/8769 4867Fax No.: 03-8922 1743/8925 7549

Technical Enquiry:Ms Rosnah Mat Soom/Ms Noorshamsiana Abd Wahab

Tel No.: 03-8769 4753 /8769 4628

Exhibition/Golf Tournament:Ms Lim Soo Chin/Ms Nor Asiah Md Nor

Tel No.: 03-8769 4676/8769 4652Fax No.: 03-8926 2971/03-8926 3827


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Palm News

IMPORT BAN OF PALM OIL

The Indian Government has banned the import of palm group of oils through all ports located in Kerala. The move to ban the import of palm oil was taken to prop up coconut oil prices, which has dropped alarmingly in the last few months. R S Gujral, Director-General of Foreign Trade and Union Commerce Ministry in a notification on Wednesday banned the imports of palm oil and its fraction, whether or not chemically modified, crude palm oil, other palm oil, RBD palm oil, RBD palm olein and palm kernel oil through the ports of Kerala.

In October 2007, farmers association in Kerala protested against the import of palm olein from the Indonesian ship, SC Tianjin - had 12 000 t of palm oil that lay anchored off the Port Beypore. Of the 3 million tonnes of palm oil products imported by India, Port Kochin annually imports 70 000 t to 80 000 t. Indonesia and Malaysia are major exporters of palm oil products to India.

PAKISTAN TURMOIL - IMPACT ON CRUDE OIL

The anticipated risk following the political developments in Pakistan on 27 December 2007 had an immediate impact on the crude market and gold as well. The terror strike appeared to have pushed up the crude oil price to USD 96 a barrel (RM 2 litre-1). Concerns were developing in northern Iraq too; and inventories across the OECD countries and especially in the US were declining.

Prices of agricultural commodities such as wheat, corn and vegetable oils (soyabean oil and palm oil) have soared during the past several months with no respite in sight. This has given rise to the build-up of palm oil inventories in Malaysia and Indonesia. The demand from the food sector seems to be slowing down but biodiesel demand continues to look robust. If the crude oil price remains strong, the vegetable oil market may follow suit at least in the first-quarter of 2008.

There is also some speculation that the actual production of wheat, oilseeds and pulses may fall short of target which could keep the palm oil price on the high side. Domestic prices will be increasingly dictated by international trends.

VITROPLANT IN TROUBLED WATER

Woodlark Island in Papua New Guinea’s Milne Bay province will become the subject of a study by US scientists early next year. The island is currently at the centre of a tussle between Malaysian oil palm developer, Vitroplant Ltd and villagers, who oppose the development of a 60 000 ha oil palm estate.

It is understood that scientists from the Syracuse University in New York, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Texas will conduct a geological investigation into ultra high pressure metamorphic rocks on the island. The rocks are being exhumed naturally from depths of about 100 km to the surface;


a geological process that scientists say continues today but is poorly understood.

The state-owned 85 000 ha island is also home to megaliths, large stone structures dating back approximately 1200 years BP that Woodlark Islanders attach strong cultural significance. While the potential of economic benefits flowing on from the proposed project is there, the islanders fear such a large-scale development could endanger the ancient stone structures as well as species endemic to the island.

At risk is the habitat for the Woodlark Island Cuscus, a medium sized marsupial, which prefers to live in primary and secondary lowland dry forest. Others include a rodent, which has not yet received a scientific name; a gecko (Cyrtodactylus murua), which was only described by science in 2006; another lizard species; two species of frog and 14 mollusks. Additionally, four endemic insect species live on Woodlark – two damselflies, a water bug and a riffle bug.

Despite the villagers’ concerns, the government of Papua New Guinea has gone ahead and advertised Vitroplant’s environmental plan in local newspapers to confirm that it intends to go ahead with the project, which includes the building of a USD 300 million 100 000 t capacity oil palm methyl ester plant in the Milne Bay provincial capital, Alotau. The plant will convert palm oil into biodiesel for sale in both the Papua New Guinea and international markets.

Vitroplant’s parent company, ASX-listed Overseas and General Limited (OGL), has signed agreements with British Virgin Island-registered Quantum Logistics Ltd to develop the site and Malaysian firm Desa Lebu Sdn Bhd to plant the oil palm. But work is yet to start at the project site as villagers, led by medical officer, Dr Simon Piyuwes, continue to oppose it. “If the project goes ahead, the people in the villages on the island could rise up against it,” Dr Simon and two other landowners warned during

an interview with Pacific Magazine. The member of Parliament for Samarai-Murua, Gordon Wesley has prepared a petition to table in Parliament that would appeal for the return of the land to its traditional owners.

CATTLE INTEGRATION INMALAYSIAN OIL PALM PLANTATIONS

“ The East Coast Economic Region (ECER) plans to integrate cattle rearing in oil palm lands to provide dual income to oil palm farmers and can create 6000 new job opportunities for the region,” said Malaysian Palm Oil Board’s Director-General, Dato’ Dr Mohd Basri Wahid. “Out of the 6000 job opportunities, he said, some 4000 jobs can be created in upstream activities such as tanning, meat processing and feed milling.”

In general, Dato’ Dr Mohd Basri noted that the project will also help to develop the country’s small- and medium-sized industries as well as increase Malaysia’s beef production that currently produces only 23% of the nation’s demand. The national target is to expand cattle population to 1.49 million heads by 2010. By rearing cattle in oil palm plantations, implementation can also be speeded up as cattle graze on existing agricultural land without requiring the opening up of new areas. A herd size of 100 breeding cows and five bulls integrated systematically in 400 ha of oil palm plantations, has potential to increase to a herd of 263 heads.

Industry experts said the integration is a good alternative for farmers to gain additional income and maximize their oil palm land usage. They stressed that farmers need only to fork out marginal investments in the project as the cost is relatively low. As such, they said the rate of return of implementing cattle in their farms is quite ‘attractive’ with low investment risk. They added that other benefits include low cattle mortality rates of below 5%, low maintenance and relatively high internal rate of return of between 20% to 45%, with reduction in cost of between 20% to 35%. They noted that grasses normally available in oil palm areas are suitable and comparable to

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farmed grass in terms of nutrients.

Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute’s researcher and expert on cattle, Dr Johari Jiken Abdullah said cattle integration is the only viable and feasible cattle method that is cost-effective in Malaysia. He said, “the open pasture method adopted in countries like Australia cannot be used here as it is not economical due to very long gestation period of between 10 to 15 years to bring in returns”.

FELCRA REFINERY

FELCRA’s Chairman, Datuk Nasaruddin Hashim said, “a study was being carried out for the proposed refinery and a decision would be made soon”. When met at the gotong-royong held at the FELCRA Nasaruddin Belia Bota, yesterday, he said “currently, FELCRA was supplying crude palm oil to local refineries. The decision on whether to produce cooking oil would also include the site for a palm oil refinery”. Nasaruddin said, “this was because the earlier proposed site in Manjung was found to be unsuitable”.

That proposal has been put on hold. The site chosen earlier is unsuitable for the construction of a refinery as there is not enough supply of crude palm oil from our plantations in the area. It was reported in October 2005 that FELCRA was looking at building a RM 100 million palm oil refinery at an 8 ha site in Lumut. Former chairman Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin was quoted as saying that it had received approval for the development plans and operations. The factory was to produce refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) oil with capacity in place for biodiesel production.

Datuk Nasaruddin also said that FELCRA was in the final stages of its restructuring exercise and would be submitting the report to the National and Rural Development Ministry soon. “The exercise is aimed at making FELCRA more efficient while adhering to its social responsibilities to its

many settlers. So far, the corporatization of FELCRA has led it to good profits, but we want to aim for higher earnings,” he said. Set-up by the government to rehabilitate idle and marginalized land, FELCRA was corporatized in 1997. Last year, FELCRA recorded a net profit of RM 38 million and Nasaruddin said they are aiming for a 20% increase this year.

THAILAND PRODUCES ORGANIC PALM OIL

“Taking control of the entire organic production process is the key to selling organic palm oil overseas”, says Karoon Nuntileepong, the Managing Director of Chumporn Palm Oil Industry Plc. ‘’We have to operate the entire process to ensure that our products have no chemicals involved,’’ he said. ‘’This is the key to success in penetrating the niche organic market.’’

Chumporn Palm Oil Industry Plc (CPI) of Thailand, the country’s largest palm oil producer, is gearing up to develop organic production of palm oil to enjoy selling prices that are 20% higher than for conventional palm oil. Generally, chemical fertilizer is essential for plantations to boost crop yields, but they are not allowed in organic products. This means organic palm oil yields are about 5% to 10% below those of normal palm oil. Demand for organic palm oil overseas has increased strongly in line with health concerns among high income consumers.

‘’We put more effort into producing high quality organic palm oil as its price is 20% higher than the prices of normal products, while our investment costs are still low,’’ said Mr Karoon. Organic palm oil generates 30 million baht for CPI each year. It requires only 4000 to 6000 baht per rai per year more than regular palm oil to produce. Mr Karoon attributed the low investment costs to the fact that CPI has put money into knowledge-based technologies in existing plantations.


Fertilizer for organic plantations costs 5%-10% less than in conventional plantations because many chemical fertilizers have been replaced with natural residue. The company also uses natural predators such as owls to kill rodents. Mr Karoon said that the company’s organic palm yield was currently a modest 1000 t yr-1. It could be stretched to 2000 t if demand rises.

CPI’s palm trees are grown on a 20 000 rai in Chumporn province. Since 2003, 3800 rai have been reserved for growing the organic crop. CPI’s overall production capacity is 110 000 t yr-1. Initially, Mr Karoon said that Italy-based Organic Palm Oil Co. was its sole client before it started marketing to the Netherlands and Germany. An Italian client previously sourced organic palm oil from Malaysia, the world’s second largest palm oil producer. But the Malaysian producer was unable to ensure its palm oil was purely organic throughout the whole production process, opening up an opportunity for CPI.

Most Malaysian producers did not have fully integrated palm oil plants with their own plantations, resulting in poor quality control. ‘’Unlike others, we possess a plantation, crushing mill and refinery operated by ourselves, so we can control the quality from upstream to downstream processes,’’ said Mr Karoon. “Global organic palm oil markets are still in their infancy, and would need more time to be developed”, he added. European countries were key export markets as customers warmly welcome all organic foods. CPI shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 3.60 baht, down 20 satang, in thin trade.

PALM OIL INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER (POIC) PROJECT

Malaysia’s first dedicated large-scale palm oil downstream industrial park, POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd’s Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) project in Lahad Datu situated on a 2000 ha site has already attracted ‘quality’

investors since its launch over the past two years. To date, it has secured investments amounting to RM 1.8 billion from 18 companies, including foreign groups from South Korea, Britain, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Among its major investors are Chemical Company of Malaysia (CCM), Lahad Datu Edible Oils Sdn Bhd (part of Wilmar-Kuok Group), QL Resources Bhd, Australia-based Sterling Biofuels International Ltd, South Korea-based ECO Solutions Co Ltd and Union Harvest Group, which is partly owned by Sumifert Sdn Bhd that is linked to Japanese multinational Sumitomo Group.

The bulk of investments is in biodiesel and fertilizer projects. Currently, Sabah-based SPC Biodiesel Sdn Bhd and South Korea-based Global Biodiesel Sdn Bhd have started operations at POIC.

BALUNG’S WOES

Oil palm plantation smallholders in Sungai Bolong, Balung feel that the taxes paid to the government on some RM 140 million worth of palm oil they produce annually does not match the quality of roads they are hoping for. According to the local population, the condition of the Sungai Bolong road remain in bad shape and had not been maintained for the past 10 years.

The oil palm plantation located 32 km off Abas Road is one of the largest in Tawau with 500 smallholders, and the 32 km Sungai Bulong Road is the only access road that is impassable during the rainy season. The Public Works Department sited insufficient fund, manpower and machinery for the shortcomings.

MARKS AND SPENCER TIES UP WITH GREENPALM

Marks and Spencer has signed up with GreenPalm’s trading scheme to promote eco-friendly oil productions part of its plan to help the environment, ahead of



a major conference in Malaysia on palm oil. European consumers have been increasingly concerned that palm oil is being grown at the expense of rain forest and peat land in Malaysia. This is because International Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has developed strict criteria that producers must meet, if they wished to enter the sustainable oil market. As part of the Marks and Spencer’s commitment to ensure that all the palm oil it uses is from certified sustainable sources, it has become the first member of GreenPalm. It intends to send a clear signal to producers that there is a demand within the United Kingdom for palm oil to be produced using sustainable practices. In Malaysia, we have developed the codes of practices (CoP) for the palm oil industry to serve the same purpose, which are now in the process of being introduced to the industry through road shows.

GODREJ AND IJM JOINT-VENTURE TO DEVELOP OIL PALM PLANTATIONS

Godrej Industries, in an effort to push its oil palm plantation, has formed a joint-venture with a Malaysian partner, IJM Plantations. It has already signed a MoU a year ago. IJM has a 51% share in the new company with Godrej owning the remaining 49%. This joint-venture is only for plantations areas in Karnataka and Goa which will involve procurement of palm oil planting material, raising nurseries, supply seedlings and provision of agronomic assistance to farmers in the four country.

JUMBO JET’S HISTORIC FLIGHT USING BIOFUEL

Virgin Atlantic became the first commercial airplane operator to fly a plane powered partially by a blend of biofuel. In a short but historic flight, one of the company’s Boeing 747 flew more than 320 km from Heathrow Airport to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, reaching an altitude of 7600 m during a 40 min flight, with one of its four engines burning a blend of 20% coconut and babassu oils mixed with regular petroleum-based jet fuel. Air New Zealand is also expecting a test on Boeing 747 using biofuels in coming months.

TAMIL NADU VENTURING INTO OIL PALM CULTIVATION

The Tamil Nadu Government has permitted contract farming in oil palm and plans to create large oil farm in over 20 000 ha in the next five years mostly in the Cauvery delta districts of Tiruchirapally, Thanjavur and Perambalur. The state government promotes oil palm cultivation to meet the growing demand for edible oils and for increasing the income of farmers. According to the Agriculture Department sources, it is estimated that cultivation of oil palm in a hectare would cost up to Rs 15 000 (RM 1250). The expected yield is 20 - 25 t ha-1 and the net returns would be up to Rs 30 000 (RM 2500).



EUROPEAN DREAM - BIODIESEL FOR CARS

The European Union’s dream of using vegetable-based diesel fuel in cars to cut oil imports and the pollution that causes global warming is turning sour. As most Europeans drive diesel powered cars, ethanol, the US fuel of choice for petroleum powered was not suitable for them. In the case of biodiesel, it can be mixed with regular diesel fuel and, when blended, does not need any special pumps or engine-design changes.

As a result, the European (EU) made a big bet on biodiesel fuels in 2003, agreeing that its governments would phase in tax breaks and rules to encourage their production and use. This was no doubt a sensible approach and the European companies rushed to make biodiesel out of a range of things, including rapeseed crops and used McDonald’s frying oil. Low raw material costs and generous tax breaks meant margins were high. By last year, Europe’s annual capacity to make the fuel had climbed to 10 million tonnes from two million tonnes in 2003.

As with ethanol in the US, though, Europe now has a glut of biodiesel. The world consumed only nine million tonnes of biodiesel last year. Europe’s producers found buyers for just five million tonnes. The industry is in trouble, under pressure from soaring costs, disappearing tax breaks, less costly imports and waning public support.

The trend is at odds with conventional wisdom that rising oil prices make green

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energy more attractive. It also means the EU risks missing the goal it set in 2003 of replacing 10% of transportation fuel with non-fossil fuels by 2020. The 27-nation bloc, which claims to lead the world in cutting the carbon dioxide emissions believed to cause global warming, uses non-fossil fuels for less than 2% of transportation fuel consumed.

Since January, prices for the crops that make most biodiesel have doubled, driving the cost of a tonne of biodiesel up 50%, to around RM 1440 t-1, or about RM 4608 t-1. Prices for regular crude oil-based diesel have raised sharply, too, but only to RM 2688 t-1. Biodiesel has become more expensive for oil companies to buy than fossil fuel, and they are cutting back.

Green lobbies are also turning against biodiesel. They now say that growing crops for biodiesel puts too much pressure on land and food prices. In Europe, 80% of biodiesel is made from rapeseed. Environmental groups also oppose imported palm oil-based biodiesel from countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, saying the rush to grow more oil palm trees is causing deforestation.

The combination of problems has hit producers hard. Petrotec AG, based here in Borken, Germany, makes biodiesel out of used cooking oil from McDonald’s, Burger King and other restaurants. After going public last year, its market capitalization quickly climbed to €200 million (USD 288 million). But when the German Government cancelled a biodiesel tax credit in August 2006, Petrotec’s share price halved, and the company shed workers.


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“How are we meant to invent and develop new technology if we can’t make money?” asks Petrotec’s Chief Executive, Roger Boeing, who started the firm in 1998. He helped pioneer a technology for converting recycled oil into biodiesel, but it still isn’t efficient enough to make biodiesel less expensive than normal diesel.

A prominent British company, Biofuels Corp., avoided a bankruptcy situation this year after Barclays Bank agreed to swap some of its debt outstanding for 94% of the equity in the company. The company blamed high commodity prices and biodiesel imports from the US for its woes.

US biodiesel producers enjoy a big tax credit from the federal government. This month, Congress voted to extend the tax credit until the end of 2010. EU producers recently asked the EU to impose punitive tariffs on biodiesel imports from the US, citing the subsidies as unfair competition. US producers dispute the claim.

“We’re still working on a big technological breakthrough to bring costs down,” says Bruno Reyntjens, a manager at Proviron, a Belgian company that makes biodiesel out of rapeseed and soyabeans.

Scientists say it is likely to be at least 2010 before any breakthrough is made on costs, or on producing a biodiesel than can run in regular diesel engines effectively at a much higher blend than the current standard of 5% per gallon of diesel sold at the pump.

COSTLY SHIFT

Europe’s governments are finding it difficult to adjust policy to a new and volatile market. In 2006, when commodity prices were low and margins were fat, Germany decided to trim the tax breaks it offers to biodiesel producers. Earlier this year, France raised taxes on biodiesel. Now that producers are in trouble, governments are not giving the tax breaks back.

“It’s public finances versus agriculture and governments need money,” says Kevin McGeeney, Chief Executive of Switzerland-based Starsupply Renewables SA, a biofuels broker. Ten EU countries, including the United Kingdom, have delayed measures to force oil companies to blend biodiesel with their regular fuel.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency has urged EU governments to cut back further on incentives to develop biofuels, saying they are too expensive.

Peter Mandelson, the EU’s top trade negotiator, says the problem isn’t the use of biodiesel, but producing it in crowded, high cost Europe. “Europe should be open to accepting that we will import a large part of our biofuel resources,” Mr Mandelson said in a speech this summer.

US ethanol producers are facing some similar problems. Buoyed by RM 7 billion a year in subsidies and a tariff on foreign imports, US farmers planted a quarter more corn this year, most of it going toward making ethanol. But supply of ethanol is outstripping demand, mainly because of the difficulty and cost of transporting ethanol, which needs special pipelines. Some US ethanol producers are idling production and a debate has begun over whether the pressure that ethanol production puts on agricultural land is worth the modest cuts in carbon dioxide emissions it yields.

CLAMOUR FOR ‘GREEN FUEL’ AND ASSOCIATED RISKS

According to reports by Guardian Unlimited, using biofuels made from corn, sugar cane and soya could have a greater environmental impact than burning fossil fuels. Although the fuels themselves emit fewer greenhouse gases, they all have higher costs in terms of biodiversity loss and destruction of farmland.

The problems of climate change and the rising cost of oil have led to a race to develop


environmental-friendly biofuels, such as palm oil or ethanol derived from corn and sugar cane. The EU has proposed that 10% of all fuel used in transport should come from biofuels by 2020 and the emerging global market is expected to be worth billions of ringgit a year.

But the new fuels have attracted controversy. “Regardless of how effective sugar cane is for producing ethanol, its benefits quickly diminish if carbon-rich tropical forests are being razed to make the sugar cane fields, thereby causing vast greenhouse gas emission increases,” Jörn Scharlemann and William Laurance, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, wrote in Science today. “Such comparisons become even more lopsided if the full environmental benefits of tropical forests - for example, for biodiversity conservation, hydrological functioning and soil protection - are included.”

Efforts to work out which crops are most environmental-friendly have, until now, focused only on the amount of greenhouse gases a fuel emits when it is burned. Scharlemann and Laurance highlighted a more comprehensive method, developed by Rainer Zah of the Empa Research Institute in Switzerland, that can take total environmental impacts - such as loss of forests and farmland and effects on biodiversity - into account.

In a study of 26 biofuels, the Swiss method showed that 21 fuels reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30% compared with gasoline when burned. But almost half of the biofuels, a total of 12, had greater total environmental impacts than fossil fuels. These include economically-significant fuels such as US corn ethanol, Brazilian sugar cane ethanol and soya diesel, and Malaysian palm oil diesel. Biofuels that fared best were those produced from waste products such as recycled cooking oil, as well as ethanol from grass or wood.

Scharlemann and Laurance also pointed to ‘perverse’ government initiatives that

had resulted in unintended environmental impacts. In the US, for example, farmers have been offered incentives to shift from growing soya to growing corn for biofuels. “This is helping to drive up global soya prices, which in turn amplifies economic incentives to destroy Amazonian forests and Brazilian tropical savannas for soya production.”

They added, “the findings highlight the enormous differences in costs and benefits among different biofuels. There is a clear need to consider more than just energy and greenhouse gas emissions when evaluating different biofuels and to pursue new biofuel crops and technologies.” Andy Tait, campaign manager at Greenpeace, said, “we’ve already bought into mandatory targets for the use of biofuels with very little thought of what the environmental impacts will be”. He said that the biofuel technology had been oversold by industry and politicians. “It’s clear that what government and industry are trying to do is find a neat, drop-in solution that allows people to continue business as usual”.

“If you’re looking at the emissions from the transport sector, the first thing you need to look at is fuel efficiency and massively increasing it. That needs to come before you even get to the point of discussing which biofuels might be good or bad.”

According to some reports, biodiesel can cause more global warming than fossil fuel. As this fuel from plants is being introduced without much thought about wider implications; it is becoming a good idea practiced badly. Let us look at some scientific facts about biofuels. Ethanol from maize causes between 0.9 and 1.5 times more warming as petrol does, while rapeseed oil, the source of more than 80% of world’s biodiesel, generates 1 to 1.7 times the impact of ordinary diesel. These figures are brushed under the carpet by the automobile lobby. The answer to global warming is not a simple switch from fossil fuel to green fuel. If one counts only the immediate carbon costs of planting and processing biofuels,




they appear to reduce GHGs. But, when you look at the total impact, one would realize that the biofuels cause more warming than petroleum.

The announcement of the Peace Nobel has brought the attention of the developed world to ‘green fuels’. The recent meet on climate change in Bali, Indonesia, where 10 000 delegates discussed the problem for a fortnight. In the process, they highlighted the emission of enormous amounts of GHGs such as carbon dioxide that lends a note of urgency to the entire question.

Ethanol-blended petrol from cassava, corn and sugar cane, biodiesel from rapeseed, jatropha, palm oil, etc., are being touted as the fuels that will in the future drive cars in the US and Europe. Europe has mandated that 5% of transport fuel must originate from crops by 2010, just two years away. As usual, developing countries are being targeted as the regions where crops for green fuels are to be grown. Look at the unfolding scenario.

Impact on Poor Countries

• Swaziland, a tiny nation in the African continent, is already in the grip of a terrible famine, where 40% of its people face acute food shortages. To make things worse, the government there has allocated thousands of hectares of farmland in the district of Lavumisa, worst hit by drought and famine, for ethanol production from the Swazi people’s staple food crop, cassava.

• Nagaland. Farmers in Nagaland are being encouraged to swap paddy in the traditional Jhum lands for jatropha cultivation. The International Crop Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics (Icrisat), in Hyderabad, an arm of the Washington lobby, has got a RM 1.5-million project on ethanol production from sweet sorghum and cassava. The United Kingdom-based D1 Oils is piloting a jatropha project.

• India. Globally, D1 Oils plans to cultivate one million hectares of jatropha, spread across mainly India, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, China and Australia by 2011 to cater to the growing green fuel demand of the US and Europe. In India, it plans to have 350 000 ha and in this onslaught, some of the country’s best farmland will simply switch from food crops to fuel crops. India, unwittingly, is entering into this quagmire. Even in the tiny state of Kerala, in the ‘rice bowl’ district of Palakkad, discussions are afloat on the desirability of jatropha in preference to paddy. Even Tamil Nadu, where there is an entrenched automobile lobby, is fast catching up the green fuel bandwagon, with all kinds of subsidies and incentives. Poor farmers will find the lure too tempting to pass up and food production will be the first casualty.

• Mexico. In late 2006, Mexico experienced the tortilla wars, as people found the price of their staple, corn, had doubled, due to the price hike triggered by the newfound use of the crop as a green fuel and the corporate control over it. Archer Daniels Midlands, the largest ethanol processor in the region with financial stakes in a Mexican oil company that makes tortillas and refines wheat, was the entity behind this. So, Midlands benefits when tortilla prices increase and consumers switch from corn to wheat, more pertinently, when there is a switch from food to fuel.

• Africa. The biofuel policy of the US and Europe is sweet music to Africa, already reeling under food shortages, because, the governments there think that they can make a fast buck. What it does to food production seems nobody’s concern.

• USA. In short, the North’s biofuel appetite will pave the way for the South’s starvation. Even the International Monetary Fund, always ready to immolate the poor at the altar of commerce, now warns that using food to produce biofuel might further strain the


Feature Article

already tight supplies of arable land and water all over the world.

Even when the price of food was low, 850 million people worldwide went hungry because they could not afford to buy it. With every increment in the price of flour or grain, several more millions of poor will be pushed below the breadline. Look at the cost of staple grains. The price of rice has risen by 20% over the past year, maize by 50% and wheat by 100%.

Sensible Policy

The opportunity for a biofuel revolution is in developing nations, where electricity is scarce, with no generators to produce electricity. In the absence or scarcity of fossil fuels, non-edible crop like jatropha can be grown there for producing sufficient biofuel to operate their electricity generator sets, so that they become self - sufficient.

BIOFUEL INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL PARK

In a joint-venture MoU signing ceremony between the Perak Government and Earth Biofuel (Asia) Sdn Bhd, it was announced the intention to build a First-in-the-World 81 ha Biofuel Integrated Environmental Park in Perak which will involve 900 000 carbon credit, a centralized treatment system for 4000 m3 hr-1 industrial and biological waste water, methane gas recovery for 300 000 t yr-1 landfill and R&D cum training centre

generating about 30 000 jobs related to the project.

This project is fully aligned with the objective of the Kyoto Protocol and clean technology which is aimed to assist efforts to combat global climate change. According to a state government source, “we have to look beyond our dependence on polluting fossil oil, especially in the area of power utility in our industrial sector, and the proposed biofuel industrial park, with its own self-sufficient source of electricity and steam will not only achieve this, but will utilize our state-based renewable energy source -biodiesel from our own crude palm oil, rice husk, waste woodchips, waste palm sludge and waste cooking oil”.

This First-in-the-World facility will be a showpiece industrial park, with investors enjoying total self-sufficient renewable energy sources, arising from its own on-site-based biofuel plants, such as its biodiesel plant, biomass co-generation steam and electricity plant, waste liquid and semi-solid waste treatment plant, biogas methane power plant from biodegradable wastes and will also house the country’s first Biofuel Training Centre with employment specializing in all related technologies and operations of the park. This project is set to be launched simultaneously with another two green projects with specifications as mentioned above, to build an Integrated Biofuel Environmental Industrial Park encompassing 60.7 ha of land in the state of Pahang, and 81 ha of land in Terengganu.


INCENTIVES BY THE GOVERNMENT FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY IN MALAYSIA

OBJECTIVES

• Encourage use of waste material; • Reduce GHG emission;• Reduce cost of manufacture; and• Enhance competitiveness.

TYPES OF TAX INCENTIVES

Promotion of Investments Act, 1986

• Generation of energy using renewable energy resources is a promoted activity under the Promotion of Investments Act, 1986.

• The incentives are applicable for applications received until 31 December 2010 and the projects must be implemented within one year of approval.

Pioneer Status

• Exemption from income tax on 100% of statutory income for 10 years.

• Exemption starts from the date the company makes its first sales/date of first invoice of company.

Investment Tax Allowance (ITA)

• Hundred percent of qualifying capital expenditure incurred within a period of five years to be deducted against 100% of statutory income for each year of assessment.

• Qualifying capital expenditure means capital expenditure incurred on building, plant and machinery used for purposes of RE activities.

• Effective date of ITA - date when first qualifying capital expenditure is incurred.

Customs Act 1967 and Sales Tax Act 1972: Exemption from Import Duty and Sales Tax on Machinery and Equipment

• Imported machinery and equipment used in generating energy using RE resources can be considered for import duty and sales tax exemption.

• Machinery and equipment purchased form local manufacturers are eligible for sales tax exemption.

Note: Applications should be submitted to MIDA.

Datasheet


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LEMBAGA MINYAK SAWIT MALAYSIA MALAYSIAN PALM OIL …palmoilis.mpob.gov.my/publications/POEB/poeb86.pdf · issue no. 86 (jan. - mar. 2008) lembaga minyak sawit malaysia malaysian palm