Palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) is a byproduct of palm oil refinery process, comprising mostly fatty acids (70% as palmitic acid) and some valuable minor components such as vitamin E, sterols, and squalene (Table 1). PFAD has various food and non-food applications such as animal feed, feedstock for laundry and toilet soaps. PFAD can be converted to the ester form and used as a feedstock for oleochemical and biodiesel production (Ab Gapor, 2010). Previously, MPOB had transferred the technology on producing biodiesel from PFAD (Lau et al., 2009) and patented the process of converting high free fatty acid to methyl ester (Lau et al., 2011).

Researcher: Nor Faizah Jalani