Palm Diesel – Red Is The New Black

Cries of despair rang throughout the nation last February when the 30 sen increase of petrol price was announced. The inevitable skyrocketing cost of the crude oil makes its moniker ‘black gold’ sadly apt.

Consequently, prices of other products and services have and will continue to increase. It is critical, therefore, to seek other fuel alternatives before the average citizen gets overburdened with the cost of daily living.

The saviour in this crisis could be none other than palm diesel. As Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Augustine Ong pointed out during his talk on “Making Biofuel From Palm Oil” recently, palm oil production in Malaysia has increased to over 15 million tonnes a year. Not only is our country rich in this renewable resource, palm diesel is much kinder to the environment compared to ‘normal’ diesel.

With more than 45 years of R&D experience and 14 patents in the technology of palm oil under his belt, Professor Augustine is the foremost expert in this area. He drew the 330 strong audience into the subject matter, sharing his knowledge with obvious passion that transmitted to the listeners. The motley crowd of plantation owners, finance professionals, business consultants, researchers, engineers, undergraduates, retirees and many more filled the auditorium at Sunway University College (SyUC).

Various methods of converting crude palm oil (CPO) into palm diesel were discussed and the issues, challenges and opportunities surrounding it were well elaborated during the talk. The conversion process produces not just palm diesel, but can also co-produce glycerin and a range of phytonutrients, the former is an industrial chemical and the latter are food supplements.

The reason behind slow crystallization of palm oil has yet to be deciphered. “If we can accelerate that part of the conversion process, we can increase the production rate of palm diesel,” Professor Augustine said. This would also address the problem of producing sufficient amounts to substitute diesel.

A banker from the audience queried why more plantation groups are not investing in the R&D of biofuel production despite its promising possibility. “I would not know the answer to that, but they do,” Tan Sri Augustine replied, gesturing to the audience where plantation group owners, directors and managers formed the majority. If they had not previously considered investing in biofuel research, they certainly would after the evening with Tan Sri Augustine. Malaysia could very well be one of the leading producers of ‘red gold’ in the future.

When asked what other achievements he would like to see in the palm oil industry, Tan Sri Augustine revealed his wish to unravel the ‘mystery’ surrounding saturated fats. Previous researches have discovered that saturated fats are ‘bad’, but recent findings prove the opposite. He questioned how these valid researches could produce two totally contradicting results. “Studies in the past was made on animal fats, but saturated fats in palm oil is different,” he stressed.

The talk was part of the Sunway University College Distinguished Speakers’ Series and is a feature in the SyUC Bachelor of Business Management programme. The University regularly invites the public to attend these talks free of charge.