Vegetable oil biofuels are increasingly used as an alternative to fossil fuels despite the growing controversy regarding their sustainability. They found that using palm oil from first rotation plantations where forests were cleared for palms leads to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels.
Abstract. Biodiesel (methyl esters) is a clean alternative fuel which can be produced from many renewable resources. Palm oil like other vegetable oils can be used as feedstock for biodiesel production. It is processed through transesterification to produce palm oil methyl ester.
What is palm oil? It's an edible vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees, the scientific name is Elaeis guineensis. Two types of oil can be produced; crude palm oil comes from squeezing the fleshy fruit, and palm kernel oil which comes from crushing the kernel, or the stone in the middle of the fruit.
It is generally agreed that the Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis) originated in the tropical rain forest region of West Africa. The main belt runs through the southern latitudes of Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo and into the equatorial region of Angola and the Congo.
As well as ethanol, Brazil is a major producer of biodiesel. According to the ECLAC it is the fifth largest producer of biodiesel in the world, using soybeans, animal tallow and cotton seed as feedstock. Since 2008, there has been a legal mandatory obligation in Brazil to mix biodiesel in with the diesel sold.
Many vast monocrop oil palm plantations have displaced tropical forests across Asia, Latin America and West Africa. Around 90% of the world's oil palm trees are grown on a few islands in Malaysia and Indonesia – islands with the most biodiverse tropical forests found on Earth.
Unlike fossil fuels, the combustion of palm oil biofuel does not increase the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as the oil is merely returning carbon dioxide obtained earlier from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. As such, biofuel is regarded as carbon neutral.
12 global companies sourced from at least 20 of the dirty palm oil suppliers. The 12 companies are Colgate-Palmolive, L'Oreal, Hershey, Kellogg's, Kraft, Mars, Mondelez, General Mills, Heinz, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Reckitt Benckiser and Unilever.
Palm oil: global production volume 2012/13-2020/21The global production of palm oil was around 72.27 million metric tons in the marketing year 2020/21, increasing from approximately 73.23 million metric tons in 2019/2020.
Palm oil is used in the production of foods such as cake, chocolate, biscuits, margarine and frying fats. It is also found in cosmetics, soap, shampoo, cleaning products and can be used as a biofuel.
Vegetable oil-based biofuels, in particular, those produced from palm oil, are increasingly used as alternatives to fossil fuels, despite rising controversy over their sustainability. In fact, carbon emissions caused by cutting down forest to plant oil palms are only partially offset by the future carbon captureâ€.
Around half of all the products in UK supermarkets contain palm oil or palm oil-derived ingredients, so it's difficult to reduce your palm oil consumption. Most peanut butters contain palm oil, but there are a few that don't.
The article observes that the main environmental sustainability considerations of palm oil biodiesel include its capacity to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, its carbon debt and its repercussions on forestry, biodiversity, and soil and water quality.
