Palm Oil

Palm Oil (Elaeis Guineensis) From the Latin word “guineensis” (of Guinea, West Africa)… Palm Oil comes from a tall, solid palm tree native to Nigeria where it’s found in the wild. Today it’s commonly grown in the East Indies, Brazil and other areas near the equator. The wild Palm tree must grow for about 15 years before it produces fruit. However, a newly cultivated breed will bear fruit after only four years. Palm fruit grows at the top of the tree in bunches of about 700-900 palm fruits. A thin yellow and reddish skin covers the pulpy fruit which yields the Palm oil. Extracted from the fruit of the African palm tree, this yellowish fatty oil has excellent qualities for soap making, pharmaceuticals, food shortening, cosmetics, chocolates and candles. Palm oil is extracted from the fleshy mesocarp of the fruit which contains 45 to 55 percent oil which varies from light yellow to orange-red in color, and melts from 25° to 50°C.  This oil contains saturated palmitic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid, giving it a higher unsaturated acid content than palm kernel or coconut oils.  It is used for the manufacturing of soaps and candles, and more recently, in the manufacturing of margarine and cooking fats. Common Uses of Palm Oil Soaps Candles Used as a formula stablizier in cosmetics Benefits of Palm Oil Produces a hard bar of soap that lasts long Saponifies easily   PALM OIL TECHNICAL DATA SHEET TRADE NAME:OBN 081 PM/R CHEMICAL NAME:PALM OIL INCI NAME:ELAEIS GUINEENSIS CAS NUMBER:8002-75-3 EINECS NUMBER:232-316-1 U.M. Test Methods Range Physical status at 25C° Visual Solid Acid value mgKOH/g AOCS Cd3a-63 <0.5 Iodine value gI2/100 AOCS Tg2a-64 48 – 58 Saponification value mgKOH/g ISO 3657-1988 194 – 202 Peroxide value meq02/Kg Internal method <2 Color Yellow/Red Lovibond cell 5”¼ 40Y/4R Unsaponifiable matter % Internal method <2 Density at 20C° g/cc ASTM D1298-85 0.910 – 0.924 Melting point °C AOCS Cc3-25 40 – 47 Fatty acids composition %(GLC): Caprylic acid C8:0 <0.1 Capric acid C10:0 <0.1 Lauric acid C12:0 <0.5 Myristic acid C14:0 0.5 – 2 Palmitic acid C16:0 40 – 50 Palmitoleic acid C16:1 <0.5 Margaric acid C17:0 <0.1 Margaroleic acid C17:1 <0.1 Stearic acid C18:0 4 – 7 Oleic acid C18:1 35 – 45 Linoleic acid C18:2 3 – 13 Alpha-Linolenic acid C18:3 <0.5 Arachidic acid C20:0 <0.5 Eicosanic acid C20:1 <0.3 Behenic acid C22:0 <0.2 Erucic acid C22:1 Tr.