Thinking about Producing
Palm Oil Biodiesel?
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Decide for yourself! Do the pros outweigh the cons to warrant use palm oil biodiesel? Here is a short list of benefits and disadvantages.
 Here are some of the Benefits of Palm Oil Biodiesel: It has high oil content - the mesocarp of the seed contains 49% oil, and the kernel contains 50%. It yields an average of 635 gallons of oil per acre! This is the highest oil-producing crop! Palm oil has a high ignition quality (a measure of how easily it will ignite in the engine). Malaysia had one of its palm plantations certified by Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Malaysia has started re-planting on existing palm plantations, and is recycling its old palm trunks to be used for mulch.
Photograph courtesy of Whitebox
Now for Some of the Downsides
Palm oil has a high pour point - 59 degrees F (15 C)
Although, it was announced that the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has produced a palm oil with a pour point between -21 (-6F) and 0 C (32F). Destruction of peat bogs for palm plantations releases great amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth estimate that the destruction of peat-land and rainforests for the development of palm plantations releases more CO2 into the atmosphere than burning biofuels can save. It is feared that certain species will become extinct due to habitat destruction..
Updates:
Here is a link that provides updates on
palm oil news
hourly, and also has graphs of the history of oil prices. (Opens in a new window).
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