Previous Year Question
With reference to ‘palm oil’, consider the following statements:
The palm oil tree is native to Southeast Asia.
The palm oil is a raw material for some industries producing lipstick and perfumes.
The palm oil can be used to produce biodiesel.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
1 and 2 only
2 and 3 only
1 and 3 only
1, 2 and 3
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Solution
Statement 1—Incorrect
The most widely cultivated commercial oil-palm species is the African oil palm, Elaeis guineensis.
Its natural native range is tropical Africa, particularly western and central Africa, and not Southeast Asia.
Indonesia and Malaysia are major present-day production centres, but a major production region is not necessarily the botanical centre of origin.
Oil palm was introduced into Southeast Asia and subsequently developed there as a commercial plantation crop.
Statement 2—Correct
Palm oil and palm-kernel oil are processed into oleochemicals, including fatty acids, fatty alcohols, glycerol, esters and surfactants.
These are used by the cosmetics and personal-care industries as emollients, emulsifiers, structuring agents and solvents.
Their derivatives can, therefore, serve as raw materials in the manufacture of lipsticks, makeup and perfume/fragrance products.
Statement 3—Correct
Palm oil is a vegetable oil and can be used as a feedstock for biodiesel.
Triglyceride-rich oil is generally reacted with an alcohol such as methanol through transesterification.
The principal products are fatty-acid methyl esters—FAME, i.e. biodiesel, and glycerol as a co-product.
Additional facts
The oil-palm fruit provides two distinct oils:
Palm oil from the fleshy mesocarp.
Palm-kernel oil from the seed or kernel.
Oil palm has a high oil yield per hectare. However, unsustainable expansion can contribute to deforestation, peatland degradation, biodiversity loss and greenhouse-gas emissions.