2.9.1 What is oil producing biomass?

Oil producing biomass produces and accumulates fat & oil in its seed or fruit meat. The main component of fat & oil is tri-ester of fatty acid and glycerin. Fat & oil is widely used as food, industrial raw material and bio-diesel production as an alternative for mineral diesel oil.

Examples of oil producing biomass are as follows;

(a) Soybean (Glycine max Merrill)

USA, Brazil, Argentina and China are the main production country. Soybean oil contains oleic acid (20-35%), linoleic acid (50-57%) and linolenic acid (3-8%). It is widely used as edible oil and raw material for paints and varnish as an un-drying oil.

(b) Rape (Brassica campestris L)

Rape is cultivated in wide area from Asia to Europe because it can grow even in the cold district. Main production countries are China, Canada, India, Germany and France. Rape seed oil expressed from rape seed contains oleic acid (55-59%), linoleic acid (21-32%) and linolenic acid (9-15%). It is mainly used as food such as frying oil and salad oil.

(c) Palm Tree (Elaeis guineenis Jacq)

Main production countries are Malaysia and Indonesia. Palm tree has the highest oil productivity in oil producing biomass because palm fruits can be harvested several times in a year. Palm oil expressed from palm fruit contains saturated fatty acid such as palmitic acid (35-38%) and Stearic acid (3-7%), and it is used not only in food industry but also in detergent industry.