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Everyday product -

It's difficult to exaggerate how often we use palm oil. It is used in a huge number of everyday products, from beauty items to fuels.

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Toothpaste to toast -

The toothpaste you used to brush your teeth this morning probably contained palm oil, as did the bread you toasted and the margarine you slathered on it, for example.

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Statistics -

According to the BBC, palm oil is used in 50% of consumer products, as well as having a wide range of industrial applications.

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Statistics -

In 2018, farmers produced 77 million tonnes of palm oil globally. By 2024, that number is expected to rise to 107.6 million tonnes.

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Why it's so popular -

Palm oil is just another type of vegetable oil, but it is so popular because of its unique chemistry. For example, the fact that it’s pale and odorless makes it the ideal food additive.

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High melting point -

It also has a high melting point and is naturally high in saturated fats, making it the best candidate for use in creams and confectionery.

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High melting point -

The high melting point of palm oil also means it is great for cooking, as does the fact that it doesn’t spoil easily and therefore gives its products a good shelf life.

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Use in fuel -

Palm oil can be burned for fuel, as can the kernels that are left over after the oil has been processed. The kernel shells can be crushed and used for concrete.

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Use in cement -

The ash that is produced by burning palm fibers and kernels can be used as an alternative to cement.

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Profitability -

As if that weren’t enough, oil palm is easily grown in the tropics, even in less than ideal soils, and is generally very profitable for farmers.

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The problem -

There is a problem though: oil palm plantations are considered the main culprit when it comes to deforestation, which increases the risk of extinction of endangered species.

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Deforestation -

According to the BBC, almost half of the world’s oil palm plantations are located across Indonesia and Malaysia, where deforestation is a very real issue.

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Indonesia -

According to Global Forest Watch, between 2001 and 2018 some 25.6 million hectares of forest were pulled down in Indonesia. That’s an area almost as big as New Zealand.

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Alternative solution -

The fact that producing palm oil is so destructive means that governments and businesses are concerned with finding an alternative solution.

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Difficulties -

However, palm oil is somewhat of a miracle product and it is proving difficult to replace. One individual who has spoken about this is a spokesperson for food giant General Mills.

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Difficulties -

Speaking of replacing palm oil, she said: “While we have looked at this in the past, palm oil provides very unique physical performance characteristics that are highly challenging to duplicate.”

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Other vegetable oils -

When it comes to food and beauty products, one approach is to find other vegetable oils, or a combination of other vegetable oils, that have the same properties as palm oil.

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Other vegetable oils -

For example, the UK cosmetics company LUSH has developed a soap that contains sunflower oil, cocoa butter, extra virgin coconut oil, and wheatgerm.

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Other vegetable oils -

Companies are also experimenting with other alternatives, such as shea, sal, jojoba, kokum, illipé, jatropha, and mango kernels.

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Not ideal -

Partially hydrogenating and blending these oils can produce a product similar to palm oil. However, all of these ingredients are more expensive and trickier to come by.

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Pet food alternative -

When it comes to pet food, researchers at the Poznań University of Life Sciences in Poland have been experimenting with insects as an alternative to palm oil.

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Mealworm, not palm oil -

So far, results are promising: an experiment on chickens showed that they grow just as well on a diet supplemented with insects as they do on a diet that includes palm oil.

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Fuel alternatives -

Another huge application for palm oil is fuel. In 2017, more than half the palm oil imported into the European Union was used for this very purpose.

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Fuel alternatives -

Despite a desire to move towards renewable energy sources (which include biodiesel made from palm oil), in 2019 the EU announced that these would have to be phased out.

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Algae -

One interesting alternative may be the use of algae to make fuel. Certain species of algae produce oils that can be turned into a “biocrude” and then distilled into a fuel.

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Algae -

According to one plant geneticist, there is a microscopic alga common in Abu Dhabi that could very well provide an alternative to palm oil.

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Other options -

However, these alternatives are a long way off being able to compete with the miracle product. Key players may focus instead on how to produce oil palm less destructively.

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Other options -

Oil palm is so popular as a crop because it is very productive, but it only grows within 20 degrees of the equator. This area is also home to 80% of the world’s species.

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Other options -

One area of interest, then, is the possibility of creating a crop that is just as productive as oil palm but can grow anywhere, thus taking the pressure off the equatorial rain forests.

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In conclusion -

For now, it seems that oil palm is here to stay. However, the challenge of its replacement is not insurmountable: the potential is there and it just needs to be tapped.

Sources: (BBC) (eLife)

See also: 30 unexpected ways to use coconut oil

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