BROWN SUGAR FROM OIL PALM TRUNKS

THE BROWN SUGAR'S rich caramel flavor is produced by tapping the sweet nectar from the tropical coconut palm tree flower (a process that's similar to how maple trees are tapped for maple syrup production). The nutrient-rich juice is dried in a large open kettle drum and condensed into a delicious whole brown sugar. In this region the brown sugar usually tapped and processed from Coconut Tree (Cocos nucifera) and Nipah Tree (Nypa fruticans) but recently the brown sugar tapped from oil palm trunks. Palm oil has been getting much attention as many products can be generated from oil palm trees. One of the products is brown sugar produced from oil palm tree trunks. Normally from my observation on replanting process, old trees are cut down before being replaced by new trees. This process will result trunks that can be utilized for many purposes. Some people create furniture, handicraft from the trunks. Sometimes, nobody touches them so that they go to waste. In fact, only by following simple process, the unused trunks can produce brown sugars. The production process is quite simple, only by obtaining Nira (sweet as palm nectar) from the trunks. There are many studies done by researcher and  activity ole collection oil palm nectar and processed. The study and observation mostly done in Indonesia and few in Malaysia. The study shown confirmed that one oil palm trunk can produce 15 liters nira a day and it remains productive for two or three months (2-3 months) anf all depends on age of the tree. The study shown that if it can produce 5 liters of nira a day in two months at average, then one trunk will produce for about 300 liters nira. Happy to hear that from 300 liters nira most active farmers can produce about 60 kg brown sugar or 20 percent of the nira liquid nectar with the sale price for  RM3.00/kg (or Rp10,000 per kg in Indonesia) at average. Later the average return  fro farmers in two months they manage to earn estimated RMRM182/trunk (or Rp600,000) from one trunks. This could be an alternative source of economy for the farmers in which most of them able to extract from 138 - 143 palm tree per hectare. This article in "Anim Agriculture Technology" blog I wrote about the potential of producing brown sugar from Oil Palm Trunks.

The trunks of unproductive oil palms that are rejuvenated can be used to make brown sugar as an innovation and additional income for farmers. The goal of this research is to know the utilization of palm trunks as brown sugar raw materials. Additionally accordint to the study in which to know the Break Event Point (BEP) and to analyze the fitness of return cost of ratio from agroindustry of oil palm's brown sugar in Kampung Maredan Barat Kecamatan Tualang Kabupaten Siak, Sumatra, Indonesia as a references. The method of data collection is done through interviews with sellers using questionnaires. The result showed that oil palm trunks can be utilized with roughly 45 trunks out of 120 trunks in total per ha (37%). This study involves the business analysis in which it can gain RM1,150.00 or in Indonesia as Rp3,811,650 with RM93.65 (Rp310,265.6) aas their BEP. The ability of farmers reported able to produce on average is 900kg per month with BEP score is 22.4kg. The return cost of ratio is (1.44 > 1) and as it is bigger than one, so this business is fitting. This new extraction of brown sugar from oil palm trunk are one of the latest oil palm product for extra income of palm oil growers. 

For me in which oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis) is one of the most important commercial crops in Malaysia. Actually, the development of the oil palm industry has brought economic benefits to the country, making Malaysia the world’s top producers and exporters of palm oil. However, the lifespan of the oil palm tree is about 20 years and requires replanting on a large scale. Since the palm oil consists of only about 10% of the total biomass produced in the plantation the rest 90% remains as a primary biomass waste in Malaysia. Thus, research on oil palm biomass residue is vital in minimizing wastes and increasing the economic return of the country. At present, the waste Oil Palm Trunks (OPT) are cut into pieces and stacked to be burnt for quick disposal. Some OPT is abandoned at the plantation ground to be naturally degraded by bacteria and fungi. Part of the OPT outer section is used in the commercial manufacturing of plywood and veneers.  Similarly, paper or pulp production from OPT is well established. Recently, many researchers investigated the valorization of waste OPT for chemicals and energy, especially the production of sugars or other building blocks for organic synthesis products such as organic acids, vitamins and minerals. The inner part of OPT contains about 80% sap of the total weight of OPT, with a fair number of sugars that can be used as a feedstock for bioethanol production. There are many existing methods for converting wastes to useful products, such as the hydrothermal method, enzymatic hydrolysis, steam explosion, concentrated acid hydrolysis, dilute acid pre-treatment, alkaline pretreatment, ionic liquids, and supercritical CO2 treatments. Acids such as sulphuric acid, sodium hydroxide, and aqueous ammonia are used for biomass hydrolysis. However, the disadvantages of these conventional methods are the solvent recovery requirements, time-consuming, high-energy consumption, excessive cost due to the use of solvents, poor extraction yield, and operating costs. Besides that, some of the organic solvents are corrosive, toxic, and may cause explosion and pollution. Subcritical water (sub-CW) has recently gained interest for its use in converting biomass and organic materials into useful product and energy. Sub-CW is defined as liquid water between its boiling and critical temperature (374 °C) under high pressure that is equal or higher than the saturated vapor pressure. Sub-CW has unique features, such as a low dielectric constant at high temperatures and making it possibly useful for extraction processes. It has been considered as an alternative to environmentally undesirable organic solvents. The ion-product (Kw) is maximum at 250 °C is another feature of sub-CW, which indicates the tendency of water to dissociate and facilitate hydrolysis. Currently, sub-CW has been used for the hydrolysis of biomass and carbohydrates into sugar and valuable product hydrolyzed Japanese red pine wood and pure cellulose using sub-CW.  The decomposed cellulose into glucose, fructose, and oligomers using sub-CW between 290 to 400 °C at 25 MPa with a flow-type reactor. However, the production of brown oil palm sugar should be practiced in Malaysia. Thanks....

By,
M Anem,
Putrajaya,
Malaysia.
(January 2024).