|
Abstract |
Household
Usage of and Recipe Creation with Condiment Sauces Based on Red Palm
Oil: Exploring the Potential for Targeted Micronutrient Delivery to
Different Family Members
Combining foods that are naturally
rich in essential micronutrients with other foods commonly used in the
diets of low income households (food-to-food fortification) can be a
sustainable way to deliver micronutrients. Properly conceived, the nutrients
can be selectively targeted to different generations within the family.
In a convenience sample of Guatemalan women, the feasibility of this
approach using red palm oil (RPO, Carotino® ), a food with extraordinary
high pro-vitamin A carotenoids of up to 0.08% (w/w) of the crude oil,
tocopherols and tocotrienols, was explored. Dishes were prepared with
RPO as both red tomato and hot green sauces. Both had high acceptability
to rural and urban low income women. Two hundred forty-five grammes
of red tomato sauce and hot green sauce were distributed free. The women
prepared many dishes with the red tomato sauce, but only five with the
hot green sauce, which was instead mostly used as a garnish. We concluded
that oils added to condiment sauces can enhance the nutrient contents
in foods on the family table, and selective direction to adult members
is feasible. More nutrient-rich oil will deliver more nutrients in this
food-to-food fortification with RPO.
|
Identification
of Lutein in Crude Palm Oil and Evaluation of Carotenoids at Various
Ripening Stages of the Oil Palm Fruit
The xanthophylls in crude palm
oil (CPO) were identified as lutein, alpha-carotene 5,6-epoxide, alpha-carotene
5,8-epoxide, and ß-carotene 5,6-epoxide and/or ß-carotene
5’,6’-epoxide based on their electronic absorption maxima
from HPLC-PDA. Lutein, a dihydroxy carotenoid, was isolated from CPO
extract and its structure confirmed by co-elution with an authentic
standard using HPLC-photodiode array (PDA) and mass spectra. At 7
DAA (days after anthesis), lutein was predominant with only trace
amounts of alpha- and ß-carotenes. At 21, 84 and 126 DAA, the
levels of alpha- and ß-carotenes increased although lutein still
predominated. However, when the palm fruit ripens at 140 DAA, the
level of lutein decreased dramatically to a minor carotene while alpha-
and ß-carotenes predominated with other minor carotenes, i.e.
phytoene, lycopene, ß-zeacarotene, gamma-carotene, ?-carotene,
formed.
|
Production
of Moulded Palm-based Flexible Polyurethane Foams
In our previous study, incorporation
of phthalates in slab stock flexible foam formulation improved the properties
of the foams. This paper describes the properties of moulded flexible
foams which incorporated phthalate alone, and with two other additives.
Flexible foam from blended polyols (50:50 ratio palm-based to polyether
polyols) was also produced, by the best formulation selected from the
above. The properties evaluated were density, tearstrength, compressive
stress and hysteresis. The results were compared to those from the commercial
seating cushions. The flexible foams from total palm-based polyol had
tear strength of 140-150 N m-1 , and, therefore can only
be used in automotive parts such as carpet underlay and thermal insulator.
Better foams were produced from blended polyols (50:50 palm-based to
petrochemical polyether polyols) with the tear strength approaching
those of commercial foams and improved resilience. More improvements
to the properties are expected when a high dispensing machine is used
in the manufacturing.
|
Nutrient
Demands of Tenera Oil Palm Planted on Inland Soils of Malaysia
Oil palm is unrivalled in its ability
to convert solar energy into dry matter and vegetable (palm) oil. This
process requires a large amount of nutrients, which must be supplied
through soil or fertilizers. Good nutrient management, which includes
a site-specific nutrient management plan, is important to achieve high
yields of palm oil. Good knowledge of nutrient requirements at the various
stages of growth and development of the oil palm is needed for the nutrient
management plan and greater fertilizer-use efficiency. This paper highlights
the nutrient requirements of oil palm based on the nutrient contents
of tenera palms from analysis of their nutrients in fresh fruit bunches
(FFB), trunk and roots in a 32 NK x 2P factorial fertilizer trial on
Bungor series soil. The results showed that more of N is actually removed
than previously estimated but an annual application of 4.2 kg ammonium
sulphate per palm meets the nutrient demands to produce 30 t FFB ha-1
, i.e., the N applied balances the N demand. However, the K applied
was surplus (23% of the 3.5 kg potassium chloride per palm applied)
to the actual requirement of the palms. The unaccounted P (surplus of
20%) could have been fixed by the soil, which suggests that more phosphate
rock fertilizer, i.e. over 2 kg palm-1 yr-1 ,
is required to compensate for the P immobilized by the soil. The paper
also proposes a comprehensive and sound nutrient management plan comprising
various complementary components.
|
Thermochemical
Behaviour of Empty Fruit Bunches and Oil Palm Shell Waste in a Circulating
Fluidized-Bed Combustor (CFBC)
Circulating fluidized-bed
(CFB) technology is considered to be one of the most suitable techniques
to thermally convert fuels into useful energy. However, practical experience
is available for only a limited number of fuels and conditions. This
paper describes the results from a bench-scale circulating fluidized-bed
combustor (CFBC), installed at SIRIM Berhad, Shah Alam, for gasification
and combustion of different biomass materials. The purpose of the tests
was to investigate the suitability of the selected fuels for energy
production using CFBC while taking care of the flue gas emissions. The
experiments gave sufficient information on the main process and flue
gas characteristics. The measurements for temperatures and emissions
were done for four different biomass samples of empty fruit bunch (EFB)
of palm shell and palm shell waste powders of 210-300, 425 and 600 microns.
The concentrations of CO, NOx and CO2 in the flue gas were
measured continuously. The combustion performances were evaluated by
varying the primary gas flow through the CFBC tubular furnace to identify
the optimum operating conditions for the CFBC. The NOx content was from
20-164 ppm while the CO emissions were high for some operating conditions.
|
DNA
Extraction from Mature Oil Palm Leaves
Molecular markers
have a useful role in oil palm improvement as conventional breeding
is limited by the large size of the palm and its long generation interval.
The starting point for such applications is DNA extraction using young,
immature leaves as required by common protocols. Since such leaves are
sometimes not available or are difficult to obtain, a modified method
of DNA extraction from older, more mature oil palm leaves kept for a
period of time, has been developed. Key changes were initial extraction
at ice-cool temperatures and modification of the standard buffers. The
DNA obtained by this method was fully digestible for AFLP assay.
|
Assessment
of Aquatic Effects of Palm-based Alpha-Sulphonated Methyl Esters (SME)
The toxicities of
palm-based alpha-sulphonated methyl esters (SME) produced in MPOB’s
SME pilot plant were consistent throughout the production period, i.e.
around 1.00-1.41 mg litre-1. Its toxicity was comparable
to two palm-based commercial SMEs whether tested in temperate or tropical
environment. The surfactants were found to be less toxic when tested
under tropical conditions. The toxicity is related to the carbon chain
length of methyl esters used to produce SME. Higher carbon chain length
will cause an increase in the toxicity of anionic surfactant as seen
in palm-based SME (C16/18) and commercial SME 1 (C16/18).
Commercial SME 2 (C14/16) was slightly less toxic due to
the lower carbon chain length. Their toxicities, however, were still
within the same toxicity range, i.e. moderately toxic. Palm-based SME
is not expected to cause environmental concern due to only 10% - 30%
of it is used in detergent products, its biodegradability was more than
80% in only eight days and the dilution in aquatic environment will
cause the local predicted environmental concentration to be very low.
The use of palm-based SME will help to stimulate Malaysia’s agricultural
economies and lessen our dependence on imported petroleum-based surfactants.
|
Alkanolamides
from 9,10-Dihydroxystearic Acid
Alkanolamides of dihydroxystearic
acid (DHSA-alkanolamides) have been synthesized. The factors that may
affect their esterification, such as reaction time and temperature,
were studied. Given the same time course, ethanolamine gave higher yield
due to its shorter carbon chain compared to that of propanolamine. The
products were identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,
gas chromatography as well as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
From the gas chromatography, DHSA-ethanolamide and DHSA-propanolamide
were detected at retention times of 15.62 min and 16.61 min, respectively.
These compounds were found to be non-irritants to the skin and biodegraded
more than 60% in 20 days.
|
Viability
of Using a One-Dimensional Lovibond Scale for Colour Measurement of
Palm Oil and Palm Oil Products
A one-dimensional Lovibond scale
for measuring colour required fixing the yellow numeral in some functional
relation to the red. The colour of a sufficiently large number of palm
oil and palm oil products was measured using the conventional Lovibond
scale. The colour of the same samples was then measured by fixing the
yellow units at pre-determined values but varying the red values to
get the closest colour match. The fixed yellow unit for each type of
palm oil and palm oil products was determined by reading the colour
of the oils at fixed yellow units of 25, 30, 35 and 40 with independent
variation of the red units. Four analysts from two different laboratories
were involved in the colour measurements. The readings obtained were
then analysed to determine the yellow value that gave the best colour
match.
Statistical evaluation showed
that the colour values obtained using the one-dimensional Lovibond
colour scale did not differ from the results using the conventional
scale. Nevertheless, the investigation indicated that the results
of palm oil and palm olein colour obtained by analysts from different
laboratories using the former method were more comparable than that
of the latter. As this was not observed in measurements for palm stearin,
the recommendation is therefore for the retention of the conventional
method of colour measurement.
|
Recovery
and Conversion of Palm Olein-Derived Used Frying Oil to Methyl Esters
for Biodiesel
Frying oils (both vegetable oils
and animal fats) degrade with use, and beyond the limits, the excessive
free fatty acids (FFA), peroxide value (PV) and polar components preclude
their further use in food applications, unless they can be purified
by very effective adsorbent systems. In this study, four adsorbents:
silica gel, activated carbon, aluminium oxide and acid-activated spent
bleaching earth were used to reduce some of the poor quality parameters
of the oils. Although pre-treatment of used frying oils with these adsorbents
could improve the oil quality to a certain extent, the oils could only
be used for non-food applications. The FFA and PV of the treated oils
subjected to the above adsorbent treatment, were reduced as follows:
33.3% and 65.1%, 6.5% and 7.8%, 30.2% and 20.8%, and 11.8% and 46.9%
respectively, and silica gel was found to be the most effective adsorbent.
The treated used frying oil was converted into methyl esters as biodiesel.
The methyl esters obtained had comparable fuel properties as petroleum
diesel. Hence, it can be used as a diesel substitute.
|
Other
MPOB Publications
Search
