Palm diesel consists of methyl esters of crude palm oil or crude palm stearin prepared from reaction with methanol using a suitable catalyst. Crude oils of free fatty acids content up to 30% can be used as the feedstock, as the process provides pretreatment stage (esterification) to handle the free fatty acids. The process has been shown to be technically feasible on a pilot plant scale. The product, palm diesel, has been thoroughly evaluated as a diesel substitute.

Main Researcher: Dr Choo Yuen May