JAKARTA – Indonesia is not only grateful as the world’s largest producer of palm oil. But it is also wakeful on the regularly recurring negative campaigns, which always vilify the palm oil.

The palm oil haters have always tried to impress the global consumers that the palm oil is not good at all. But as a matter of fact, based on scientific data resulted from a series of studies, the palm oil’s efficiency, affordability, productivity and versatility are second to none if compared to other vegetable oils. Those positive factors are the main reasons that have driven global consumers to buy the palm oil and use it as raw material in a wide range of industries, from foods to cosmetics, pharmacy, personal care, and energy, etc.

Actually, when it comes to versatility, palm oil is not the only story. It should be referred to the whole parts of the oil palm trees, from which the palm oil is derived. In fact, there is no waste is wasted from the oil palm trees. All parts and wastes can be further used to produce valuable products, including energy products and animal feeds.

Following are a number of important facts about oil palm trees:

1. Crude palm oil (CPO) is extracted from the mesocarp of palm fresh fruits, while palm kernel oil (PKO) is extracted from the kernel inside the mesocarp.
2. Empty palm shells and fibers are the wastes after processing the fresh fruit bunches (FFB) into crude palm oil (CPO). The wastes can be used as fuel in the boilers of palm oil mills (PKS).
3. The empty palm fruit bunches and the palm kernel shells can be used for fertilizer, energy source, etc.
4. The palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a liquid waste that is resulted from extracting CPO and PKO from FFB in PKS units. It can be further processed into organic fertilizer or animal feeds. It can be also processed into biogas.
5. Oil palm trunks can be used as alternative to woods for making various kinds of furniture and other wood-based products.
6. Palm leaves and fronds can be used as biomass energy source, fertilizer, and protective cover of growing plants.
7. Many Indonesian researchers have also managed to use oil palm biomass and wastes as raw material to produce a variety of valuable products, ranging from alternative yarns for textile industries to helmets, bulletproof vests, and building materials. (*)

Source: globalplanet.news/various sources