06/09/2012 (The Star) - The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and Maccaferri (M) Sdn Bhd are collaborating to develop the oil separation and recovery process technology for palm oil mills.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said although Maccaferri was new to the palm oil industry, it had the technology for oil recovery and primary separation of water and immiscible oils.

“This technology has been used in many facilities such as steel mills and facilities where there is a fraction of free floating oil on water.

“With the collaboration, this technology could be adapted for use in palm oil mills.

(From left) MPOB director-general Datuk Dr Choo Yuen May, Malaysian Italian Chamber
of Commerce and Industry president Carlo Allaria, Dompok, MPOB chairman Datuk Seri
Utama Shahrir Abdul Samad and Maccaferri Asia CEO Ugo Castellotti at the MoU signing

“With the price of crude palm oil (CPO) hovering around RM3,000 per tonne, every possible drop of CPO must be recovered and this type of technology, if successful, would be most welcome by industry,” he said at the memorandum of understanding signing between MPOB and Maccaferri.

Dompok added that with 434 palm oil mills in operation throughout the country, the technology on oil separation and recovery process for palm oil mills would be able to enhance milling efficiency, thus contributing to higher oil extraction rate.

“And I am told that this is one of many collaborations that are being carried out by MPOB with industry collaborators to develop technologies that are relevant to the palm oil industry,” he said.

On the future of the palm oil industry, Dompok said under Malaysia's Economic Transformation Programme, the palm oil sector had been identified as one of the 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEA).

“The palm oil NKEA is targeted to raise an additional gross national income contribution of RM125bil to reach RM178bil by 2020.”

Maccaferri Malaysia is an Italian company duly incorporated since 1994 in Malaysia, but Maccaferri's presence in this part of the world had long been recorded, tracing back to the 1950's.

Maccaferri products were distributed by distributors in Malaysia and neighbouring countries such as Brunei and Singapore.