Tantuco Enterprises Inc., a Filipino-owned company is investing P460.775 million to make biofuel using copra as primary raw material in Tayabas, Quezon. The Board of Investments has approved the project?s registration with incentives since it is listed in the 2008 Investment Priorities Plan under the heading ?Agriculture/Agribusiness and Fishery including the commercial processing of agricultural products and their by-products and wastes?. The facility will utilize an integrated processing system, the first stage involving the crushing of copra to crude coconut oil with copra cake as immediate by-product. This is followed by refining of the crude oil and then esterification of low acid oil to produce coco-methyl ester with glycerin as by-product.

       Figures from Sri Lanka?s Coconut Development Authority show the country?s export of desiccated coconut rose by a hefty 53.1% to 4,290 MT in November 2008 from 2,802 MT in a similar month year-earlier. The shipment was worth USD6.343 million FOB, almost double the prior year at USD3.173 million. Average traded price during the month was USD1,479/MT FOB, up 30.6% from USD1,132/MT previously. Total export for January-November 2008 at 32,267 MT, however, still registered a substantial 24.8% shortfall from a comparable year-ago period figure at 42,899 MT.

       The Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEAI) reports that the country imported 856,690 MT of edible oil in January, exceeding December total at 719,125 MT by 19.1% and topping by a sizable 87.2% previous year figure at 457,601 MT. The volume is the highest monthly data on record since the SEAI began tracking imports. The large increase in overseas edible oil purchases brought the first quarter total for the 2008/09 season, which began in November, to 2.094 million MT or almost double the volume recorded at the same time in previous season at 1.081 million MT.

       Usage of the mandatory blending of five percent palm oil with diesel (B5) will be fully implemented by 2010, according to Datuk Peter Chin, minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities. The government has approved B5 in the local transport and industrial sectors and to be phased in to the domestic fuel market starting with government vehicles. The move is set to create demand for an additional 500,000 MT of palm oil locally which will be needed to produce palm diesel.

       Industry sources in Sabah, Malaysia?s top palm oil producing state, said ships were being used to store palm oil as the state does not have large enough storage facilities to cope with the large volumes despite lower exports and falling production. A new 600,000 MT storage facility which is owned by the Sabah state government under construction is facing delays and unlikely to be completed as scheduled. Reports say at least 300,000 MT of palm oil is being kept on board. Sabah state on the island of Borneo accounts for 35% of Malaysia?s total palm oil output and has between 400,000 MT and 500,000 MT of palm oil storage space.

       Chemists at University of California, Riverside, have designed a catalyst, a substance that accelerates a chemical reaction, that allows hydrogenated oils to be made while minimizing the production of trans fats. The researchers led by Francisco Zaera, a professor of chemistry, used platinum, a common catalyst for these processes. By controlling the shape of the platinum particles, the group was able to make the catalyst more selective. Catalytic selectivity refers to the ability of a catalyst to select a specific pathway from among many possible chemical reactions. In the case of the researcher?s experiments, selectivity refers to the production of partially hydrogenated fats without the making of trans fats.

       Zaera?s lab found that the platinum catalyst performed most selectively when its particles assumed tetrahedral shapes, with the atoms arranged in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice. Particles with these shapes allow for the preservation of the harmless cis configuration in the hydrogenated fats. Other lattices, the researchers found, favor the production of trans fats. Platinum catalysts such as those used by the Zaera group are considered heterogeneous because they exist in a different phase (solid) than the reactants (liquid or gas). Compared with homogeneous catalyst, where the catalysts is in the same phase (liquid) as the reactants, heterogeneous catalysts have the advantages of easy preparation, handling, separation from the reaction mixture, reuse, high stability, and low cost.