DPMO With New Technology Seen More Profitable Than CPO?

The technology of degummed palm mesocarp oil (DPMO) is a new processing technology in palm oil industry, which is considered more ecofriendly, efficient and profitable in producing the DPMO instead of crude palm oil (CPO).

The Indonesian Vegetable Industries Association (GIMNI) Executive Director Sahat Sinaga said that the new technology reduces carbon emission in the processing of palm oil. “Until now, the palm oil industries have used the method of wet process or sterilization, which causes high carbon emission. I changed it to a dry process method, pasteurization with low carbon emission.”

“With that I propose the application of dry process method to process the palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) into DPMO, instead of CPO. The DPMO has better quality than the crude palm oil. Crude is identical with bad one. It’s been 100 years of no change in technology,” Sahat said in Jakarta on Wednesday (31/7/2024).

Besides its lower carbon emission, the price of DPMO will be higher than the CPO. The price of DPMO is higher by around US$10/ton compared to CPO. It means that the price of FFB bought from smallholders will be higher.

In addition to that, the smallholders can also process their own FFB as the capacity of DPMO technology is much lower than those owned by big companies, which are usually in big capacities.

“I developed it myself, and it can be used by many people. I want to see the smallholders no longer depend on the palm oil mills, which are owned by big companies and usually have bigger capacity at 30, 60, 90 tons per hour. But with the DPMO technology the capacity is only at 5, 10, 20 tons per hour. Why small? Because I want to apply it for smallholders, low cost, and short distance,” said Sahat.

To produce CPO, smallholders have to pay higher for transporting their FFB to the palm oil mills. It is because the distance between the smallholders’ plantations and the mills is far enough, at the average of tens of kilometers.

“The distance ranges from 50 to 80 kilometers. So, in my calculation it averages at around 60 km. With the transportation cost at Rp8/kg/km, then total transportation cost for every kilogram at the average distance is Rp480. But by applying this new technology the cost will be only 15 x 8. It’s much cheaper. That’s why I propose it, but so far there’s no support from the government. I don’t know why?,” Sahat said.

Apparently, the DPMO technology has drawn a special attention from Erja Kettunen-Matilainen, a senior researcher from the University of Turku in Finland. Erja said that he will conduct research on the palm oil development in Indonesia, including the development of technology to process palm oil.

“I see it very innovative, based on his knowledge on the palm oil history, technology, chemistry and others. It’s all combined. Based on that, he created a kind of business model, which is designed structurally and selectively with regard to who should involve and how they are involved. It’s an eye-opener and it really amazes me. Basically, it’s a very positive one,” said Erja.

Source: www.gapki.id