1172	Dear Sir, I am a plant in charge of Keya Soap Chemicals limited by producing 70% TFM,80% TFM,74% TFM toilet soap noodles and 66%TFM, 68% TFM laundry noodles.I maintained 0.05% free alkali in toilet soap noodles and 0.2% free alkali in laundry soap noodles.I need to know what is the free alkali and TFM ranges for laundry noodles because I want to increase free alkali in laundry soap noodles by using silicate for cost savings.	Md. Shahinur Rahman Khan
Dear Mr Khan, There are no average figures reported for TFM and free alkali but your figures seem normal to me. In regard to the free alkali of your laundry soap, I think you can go to higher values which will give you higher cleaning power., but this will also give greater harshness on the skin, so you better test it for your own market., because different races and even social classes have different tolerances. As for TFM some soap producers go much lower than you for lower cost, but you will have to consider the reaction of your big buyers who may have specification limits for that. Regards, FP (06.07.2011)
1170	Dear Sir, We are manufacturers of laundry soap in Pakistan. We use semiboiling process for manufacturing soap (In Crutcher). At present we are manufacturing 50 TFM laundry soap by adding sodium silicate and soap stone as fillers. Soap stone is 6% and the rest is Sodium Silicate. After going through the crutcher the hot soap passes through Vaccum spray Chamber for drying. I want to take down by TFM to 33%. If I add more silicate or soap stone then the soap becomes very hard and difficult to pump. Any suggestions on how to achieve that? Any substitute filler or process change that you may recommend. Look forward to your guidance.	Tariq Amin
Dear Mr Amin, One of the reasons consultants insist on visiting the companies before giving them any advise is that people never give them all the information they require. TFM 33% is terribly low. Before I can give you any advise I need to know your complete formula now and also after you tried that change and also the temperature and moisture content at the pumping stage. If you have to keep the formula secret please mention it and we can leave it out of our reply. Regards, FP (28.06.2011)
1169	Would there be considerations to cultivate Genetically modified palm? If so, which countries or companies might consider it and is there any ongoing research in the area?	Amos
Dear Mr Amos, Research into genetic modification of the oil palm tree is going on all the time, to increase disease resistance, improve yields, oil properties etc. But results will be slow because the oil palm is a tree with a life of decades, while most other oils are from annual plants. Even if successful, it will be a very difficult decision to introduce it to the market, in view of the hysterical reaction to such matters by the consumers of the EU, the 3rd biggest PO market. But one day, no doubt, it will come. Regards, FP (19.06.2011)
1166	I am student of master of mechanical engineering in UTM university and looking for a device for injection the palm oil and spray it in our laboratory. Please inform me about this device and its price if you have any information. Best regards, faculty of mechanical engineering University Technology Malaysia saber salehirad.	Saber Salehirad
Dear Mr Salehirad, Sorry I do not have the kind of information you want, but I suggest you contact MPOB, Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor. And they may even have a job for you when you have your degree. Regards, FP (16.06.2011)
1165	Thanks for the reply. Can you tell me when (in what season). The palm trees produces high quantity of palm fruits.	Dibyendu Banik
Dear Mr Banik, I am sorry that in my previous reply to you I gave you Sept - Nov as the low period. I should have said it was the high period, which was what you asked. Regards, FP (16.06.2011)
1164	This is Dibyendu Banik from INDIA. I want to know when the palm seed season starts in malayaisia and indonesia. And what the technical report about the production of palm.	Dibyendu Banik
Dear Mr Banik, I am not sure I understand your questions correctly, but palm oil is a fruit oil, not a seed oil. The trees produce fruit throughout the year, but there is a low season in Sept- Nov. World production of PO this year is forecast to be up 6.4% up on last year. But be warned, as far as annual prices are concerned, they have little correlation with PO production volumes, contrary to what some people claim, always without proof. Regards, FP (14.06.2011)
1163	Sir, i would like to ask the physical properties data of RBDPS, and how many tons that Indonesia can produce it a year?? Thanks	Alfian
Dear Mr Alfian, There is a very large number of physical properties and it is unrealistic to ask for all of them. The only ones given in the major selling specifications for RBDPS are MP 44deg.C min and colour 3R or 6R max. Other physical properties have been determined by other people, but they are not guaranteed and depend on whose values you take. Production data are published internationally only for crude natural oils like CPO, not for downstream products like RBDPS. Regards FP (13.06.2011)
1162	What is the meaning of high peroxide value, high iodine value, high acid value, high free fatty acid value and their effects on palm oil?	Bright Ogwo
Dear Mr Orwo, You have asked a very useful question. All oils and fats deteriorate over time and the PV, AV and FFA are measures of the amount of deterioration that has taken place. They should be as low as possible. The IV on the other hand, indicates what oil it is. Every oil falls within its own range of values and if it is outside that range it will mean it is highly unusual and probably adulterated. For example, the IV range of PO is 50-55 and if a delivery comes with IV 50 I would suspect some thing odd. But if it comes at 45, I would either reject the load or ask for compensation. Regards, FP (11.06.2011)
1161	We are about to ship regular volumes of crude palm oil with FFA content of around 13% to Europe. Given the necessary shipping precautions for a voyage to Rotterdam, can we expect the FFA content to rise considerably above 13% during the voyage of 4-5 weeks? Or will it still be around 13% on arrival in Rotterdam? Thank you.	Robert Van
Dear Mr Van, You have told me the voyage time, but not the oil temperature or moisture content and the FFA rise will depend on these factors. Nevertheless assuming average conditions, it is safe to say it will rise significantly. If the FFA is important for the customer, to avoid constant disputes, you can have a price allowance for the FFA being above or below 15%. on arrival, FP (06.06.2011)
1160	Hi, I would like to know if palm oil trees could growth in Latitudes close to The Tropico de Capricornio.	Victor
Dear Mr Victor, Broadly speaking the oil palm grows within about 10 deg latitude from the Equator, but this is not a very exact rule, because wild palms are found as far as 20 deg latitude. The tropic of Capricorn is at about 23.deg latitude which makes the prospects for palm far from ideal. But there are also other requirements. So, the tree may survive but its productivity will probably be low. Regards, FP (03.06.2011)
1159	I am doing a assigment on palm oil at school & was wondering does palm oil tree produce more oxygen the any other tree?	Ebony
Dear Ebony, I am not an expert in such matters, but based on leaf areas, I think there are many trees that produce more Oxygen than the oil palm tree. Also in the case of biodiesel from PO, If the oil came from plantations which replaced jungle, more CO2 is produced that burning petroleum diesel (petrodiesel). But for those who want it, there is now "sustainable PO" which gives a lower CO2 yield overall. The problem is that only the EU and to a lesser degree the USA care about such matters while the rest of the world all they want is low price. Incidentally, please note that correctly speaking, while the oil is called palm oil the tree is called oil palm. Good luck, FP (02.06.2011)
1157	Hi, I'm doing a speech on palm oil at school and I was wondering what the health benefits of using palm oil are? Or is it not healthy to eat? Is there any specific benefits from palm oil or should you just as well use any other oil?	Emily
Dear Emily, It is impossible ts help you very much here because the health aspects of oils are very complicated, have a lot of ifs and buts and there is a tremendous amount of biased or one sided information from the indudtry and even from the research institutes in the producing countries. But its good points are that it is vegetabble, contains a lot of tocols (vitamin E family), it is less prone to oidation (oxidised oils are very harmful) and needs much less land for equal production. Its disadvantages are that it is more saturated than most other oils and can only be grown in the tropical countries, usually after cutting the jungle for timber. Regards, FP (30.05.2011)
1155	We are making glycerine soap with TFM of 31% we need to increase to a minimum of 50% but i couldnt increase? I added SLES but it didnt work? can you help please	Pia
Dear Mr/Ms Pia, Please explain what SLES is. Please avoid using abbreviations unless they are the standard ones used in the oil industry (not the soap industry). Regards, FP (30.05.2011)
1154	I would like to know whether are genetically-modified oil palms cultivated in Malaysia or Indonesia? If yes, how much is the scale?	Andrzej Schmidt
Dear Mr Schmidt, As far as I know, no genetically modified palms are cultivated commercially in Malaysia or Indonesia or any where else in that region. But I hear plenty of genetic modification is going on secretly and unnoticed and it is called evolution. Regards, FP (30.05.2011)
1148	Sir, I have recd. Palm Kernal Oil which failed the Iodine test and the report comes to 36. We got the GLC Test of the same as follows. C8-1.6932 %. C-10-2.1549%, C-12-34.5468, C-14-13.5545, C-16-11.7908, C-18-2.2408, C-18/1-24.5231, C-18/2-9.4960. Please let me know which oil is mixed at what percentage in the said Palm Kernal Oil. Thanking you.	Trilok Agarwal
Dear Mr Agarwal, On the data you gave me your oil appears to be PKO mixed with a lot of palm olein or PO. Probably palm olein but I cannot be sure because you have not given me the MP or the solid fat content values. But you do not have to say what the other oil is, you can reject the load, or ask for compensation, on the grounds that it is an admixture. Regards, FP (30.05.2011)
1147	When are farms going to be ecologically sustainable? When are people going to stop growing mass (!!) monocultures in places where there was abundant wildlife before? Would you like a company to come into your neighborhood and run down your house, displace your family and make it impossible to find food? What about environmental issues??? Do all business people think that money can save them? Our planet is our home, there is no other. Money is not important. Material is not important. Think about how you create your business.	Clarissa
Dear Ms Clarissa, It does you credit that you are concerned with the fate of the Earth and our environment. But although so called "sustainable practices" are a step in the right direction, they will only postpone.our fate by a few years. It is not PO that is destroying the jungle, it is logging and the root cause of all the problems is the growth in world population. This is now standing at 6.9 bln and growing by 1 bln every 12 years. Another China every 17 years, while the available arable land remains the same or shrinking. Further more, because of rising incomes, the per capita consumption of resources is increasing as well. Already the basic foodstuffs, wheat, rice, oils etc are in short supply and record prices. The situation can only keep getting worse. Regards, FP (30.05.2011)
1146	Dear sir, I am a plant in charge of keya soap chemicals ltd, a continuous saponification plant by using RBD soft stearine and RBD palm kernel olein to produce 6 MT/h neat soap. At present, I am getting less spent lye as per recipe. Actually, I got 120 KG soap spent lye from 1000 kg neat soap which should be 165 KG. what is the reason of less by product? In neat soap,the glycerin content is 0.6%.Where the rest of glycerin goes? I think Palm oil has less amount of glycerin.I need to know the content of glycerin in RBD palm soft stearin and palm kernel olein.	Md. Shahinur Rahman Khan
Dear Mr Khan, Continuous soap plants are of many different designs and every installation has its own differences as well. I cannot diagnose problems of this type at a distance any more than a doctor can cure you witrhout seeing you. The only thing I can advise is to do a material balance for sodium. Hydroxide and glycerin and go from there. As regards glycerin content, average values are for RBD PSt 11% and for RBD PK Olein 13.%, but both have a range and for accurate figures you must do lab test. That is why companies have laboratories. Regards, FP (30.05.2011)
1145	I AM FROM INDIA PRESENTLY I AM IN RICEBRAN OIL PROCESSING. HERE WE CAN GET SURPLUS OF PALMSTEARIN AT LOW PRICE. I INTRESTED TO PRODUCE BAKERY SHORTENING FROM 100 PERCENT PALMSTEARIN. I WANT US KNOW IT IS POSSIBLE. IF POSSIBLE SEND THE DETAILS OF PROCESS DESCRIPTION AND EQUIPMENT NEEDED TO PRODUCE.	Anand
Dear Mr Anand, You can put palm stearin in a box, call it shortening and some people may buy it once, but I do not think any one will come back to buy it again. Regretably I cannot give you the the information you want in a few lines here. Regards, FP (30.05.2011)
1144	What is the specific heat, Cp of palmolien oil?	Bonita Solomon
Dear Ms Solomon, The specific heat of palm olein is 0.5 cal/g But if you are working on that oil, you will have to spell it correctly.. Regards, FP (28.05.2011)
1143	Hi, What type of hazard that would cause problem to the Palm Acid Fatty Distillation liquid?	Simon Yee
Dear Mr Yee, You question is too vague. Anything wrong you do to an oil can cause problems and I cannot quess what you have in mind doing. Regards, FP (28.05.2011)