Crude Palm Kernel Oil

About This Product

Crude palm kernel oil is extracted from the kernel inside the fruit of Elaeis guineensis. It is a different feedstock from crude palm oil, which comes from the surrounding mesocarp, and confusing the two leads to materially different fuel properties. It is supplied unrefined as a white to cream solid melting at around 24 to 26 degrees Celsius. It is a lauric oil, with lauric acid at roughly 45 to 52 percent and myristic at 14 to 18 percent, and chain length is what sets it apart as a fuel feedstock. Short saturated chains give a very high cetane number, so ignition delay is short and combustion is clean, and the resulting methyl esters have a lower viscosity and a lower cloud point than palm FAME despite being equally saturated, because shorter chains crystallise at lower temperatures. The trade-offs are a lower energy density per litre than longer-chain esters, and a higher volatility that affects flash point and distillation behaviour. Blending palm kernel esters into a palm or tallow FAME is a recognised way of pulling cold-flow properties down without additives. It is used for FAME biodiesel, hydrotreated renewable diesel, HEFA aviation fuel pathways and oleochemical conversion. Bio Green Fuels supplies crude palm kernel oil to specification on free fatty acid, moisture and impurities, iodine value and colour, with ISCC and RSPO certification available.