Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the reddish mesocarp (pulp) of the fruit of the African oil palm. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from oil crops in 2017. Palm oils are easier to stabilize and maintain quality of flavor and consistency in ultra-processed foods, so they are frequently favored by food manufacturers. Globally, humans consumed an average of of palm oil per person in 2015. Demand has also increased for other uses, such as cosmetics and biofuels, encouraging the growth of palm oil plantations in tropical countries.
The mass production of palm oil in the tropics is a topic for substantial concern for environmental and human rights groups. The palm oil industry is a significant contributor to deforestation in the tropics where palms are grown and has been cited as a factor in social problems due to allegations of human rights violations among growers.
In 2018, a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature acknowledged that palm oil is much more efficient than other oils in terms of land and water usage; however, deforestation causes more biodiversity loss than switching to other oils. The biggest global producers of palm oil are Indonesia, which produced 60% of it in 2022, followed by Malaysia, Thailand, and Nigeria. Indonesia produces biodiesel primarily from palm oil.
History Humans used oil palms as far back as 5,000 years. In the late 1800s, archaeologists discovered a substance that they concluded was originally palm oil in a tomb at Abydos dating back to 3,000 BCE.
Palm oil from Elaeis guineensis has long been recognized in West and Central African countries used widely as a cooking oil. European merchants trading with West Africa occasionally purchased palm oil for use as a cooking oil in Europe.
Palm oil became a highly sought-after commodity by British traders for use as an industrial lubricant for machinery during Britain's Industrial Revolution. Palm oil formed the basis of soap products, such as Lever Brothers' (now Unilever) "Sunlight" soap, and the American Palmolive brand.
By around 1870, palm oil constituted the primary export of some West African countries, which often accompanied oppressive labor practices, as highlighted in the account of Abina Mansah's life (and, human rights group argue, still does).Getz, Trevor and Liz Clarke (2011). Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History. Oxford University Press. However, this was overtaken by cocoa in the 1880s with the introduction of colonial European cocoa plantations.
Uses
Food The highly saturated nature of palm oil renders it solid at room temperature in temperate regions, making it a cheap substitute for butter or hydrogenated vegetable oils in uses where solid fat is desirable, such as the making of pastry dough and baked goods. Palm oil is used in West African cuisine such as egusi soup and okra soup. Palm oil is sometimes used as a minor ingredient in calf milk replacer.
Non-food consumer products Palm oil is pervasively used in personal care and cleaning products, and it provides the foaming agent in nearly every soap, shampoo, or detergent. Around 70% of personal care products including soap, shampoo, makeup, and lotion, contain ingredients derived from palm oil. However, there are more than 200 different names for these palm oil ingredients and only 10% of them include the word "palm".
Biomass and biofuels Palm oil is used to produce both methyl ester and hydrodeoxygenated biodiesel. Palm oil methyl ester is created through a process called transesterification. Palm oil biodiesel is often blended with other fuels to create palm oil biodiesel blends. Palm oil biodiesel meets the European EN 14214 standard for biodiesels. Hydrodeoxygenated biodiesel is produced by direct hydrogenolysis of the fat into alkanes and propane. The world's largest palm oil biodiesel plant is the €550 million Finnish-operated Neste Oil biodiesel plant in Singapore, which opened in 2011 with a capacity of 800,000 tons per year and produces hydrodeoxygenated NEXBTL biodiesel from palm oil imported from Malaysia and Indonesia.
Significant amounts of palm oil exports to Europe are converted to biodiesel (as of early 2018: Indonesia: 40%, Malaysia 30%). In 2014, almost half of all the palm oil in Europe was burned as car and truck fuel. As of 2018, one-half of Europe's palm oil imports were used for biodiesel. Use of palm oil as biodiesel generates three times the carbon emissions as using fossil fuel, and, for example, "biodiesel made from Indonesian palm oil makes the global carbon problem worse, not better."
There are pressures for increased oil palm production from Indonesian palm-based biodiesel programs. The biodiesel currently contains a 30:70 palm oil to conventional diesel ratio (known as B30) at the gas pumps. The Indonesian government is aiming to produce 100% palm oil biodiesel (or B100) to transition out of using conventional diesel. The Indonesian government has estimated it would need to establish approximately 15 million hectares of oil palm plantations to meet these future demands.
The organic waste matter that is produced when processing oil palm, including oil palm shells and oil palm fruit bunches, can also be used to produce energy. This waste material can be converted into pellets that can be used as a biofuel. Additionally, palm oil that has been used to fry foods can be converted into methyl esters for biodiesel. The used cooking oil is chemically treated to create a biodiesel similar to petroleum diesel.
Wound care Although palm oil is applied to wounds for its supposed antimicrobial effects, research does not confirm its effectiveness.Antimicrobial effects of palm kernel oil and palm oil Ekwenye, U.N and Ijeomah, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang Science Journal, Vol. 5, No. 2, Jan–Jun 2005
Social and environmental impact
Forests have been cleared in parts of Indonesia and Malaysia to make space for oil-palm monoculture. This has significant impacts on the local ecosystems leading to deforestation and biodiversity loss. For example, these processes have resulted in significant acreage losses of the natural habitat of the three surviving species of orangutan. One species in particular, the Sumatran orangutan, has been listed as critically endangered because of habitat loss due to palm oil cultivation.
Social
In addition to environmental concerns, palm oil development in specific regions that produce it has also led to significant social conflict. Journalists and NGO researchers have found that regions with fast growing palm oil production have experienced significant violations of indigenous tribe land rights, human trafficking, sexual abuses, and other related human rights violations.
The palm oil industry has had both positive and negative impacts on workers, indigenous peoples, and residents of palm oil producing communities. Palm oil production provides employment opportunities, and has been shown to improve infrastructure, social services and also help reduce poverty. However, in some cases, oil palm plantations have developed lands without consultation or compensation of the indigenous people inhabiting the land, resulting in social conflict. The use of illegal immigrants in Malaysia has also raised concerns about working conditions within the palm oil industry.
Some social initiatives use palm oil cultivation as part of poverty alleviation strategies. Examples include the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's hybrid oil palm project in Western Kenya, which improves incomes and diets of local populations, and Malaysia's Federal Land Development Authority and Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority, which both support rural development.
Food vs. fuel
The use of palm oil in the production of biodiesel has led to concerns that the need for fuel is being placed ahead of the need for food, leading to malnutrition in developing nations. This is known as the food versus fuel debate. According to a 2008 report published in the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, palm oil was determined to be a sustainable source of both food and biofuel, and the production of palm oil biodiesel does not pose a threat to edible palm oil supplies. According to a 2009 study published in the Environmental Science and Policy journal, palm oil biodiesel might increase the demand for palm oil in the future, resulting in the expansion of palm oil production, and therefore an increased supply of food.
Human rights abuses
One report indicated numerous allegations of human rights abuses in the production of palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia, including exposure to hazardous pesticides, child labor, rape and sexual abuse, and unsafe carrying loads, among other human rights violations. These incidents may receive no response by the company, police, or other law enforcement group, or are left unreported because victims fear retaliation from their abuser. Pesticides used by palm oil plantations include paraquat, which has been banned in Europe over links to Parkinson's disease, and glyphosate, which has been involved in a US class-action lawsuit regarding cancer (the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) classified glyphosate as causing serious eye damage but did not find evidence implicating it as a carcinogen).
Reports of indigenous peoples and communities in Indonesia, indicate losing farmland and traditionally significant land due to palm oil industry expansion. In 2017, there were over 650 different land disputes between palm oil plantations and indigenous landowners. Indigenous communities also expressed concern over the loss of natural resources, such as wild rubber, reed, and adat forests (communal forests). Indigenous communities have made some ground when it comes to land disputes, either through protest or legal means.
Other concerns when it comes to indigenous communities being impacted include lack of government oversight on palm oil plantations, political corruption, or the lack of enforcement of laws meant to protect indigenous lands. In countries such as Guatemala, palm oil plantations have significant leverage within the local justice system, leading local police to disregard land claims, going as far as using force to break up protests, and even murdering local leaders.
Environmental
While only 5% of the world's vegetable oil farmland is used for palm plantations, palm cultivation produces 38% of the world's total vegetable oil supply. In terms of oil yield, a palm plantation is 10 times more productive than soybean, sunflower or rapeseed cultivation because the palm fruit and kernel both provide usable oil. Palm oil has garnered criticism from environmentalists due to the environmental importance of where it is grown. However, it is indisputably more efficient in comparison to other oil-producing plants. In 2016, it was found that palm oil farms produce around 4.17 metric tons of oil per hectare. By contrast other oils, such as sunflower, soybean, or peanut only produce 0.56, 0.39, and 0.16 metric tons respectively per hectare. Palm oil is the most sustainable vegetable oil in terms of yield, requiring one-ninth of land used by other vegetable oil crops. In the future, laboratory-grown microbes like torula oil might achieve higher yields per unit of land at comparable prices.