29/06/2010 (Bernama) - The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has been urged to actively seek more collaboration with the private sector in ensuring the success of its research programmes as well as more effective commercialisation of promising research findings.

On that note, the Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said the research and development (R&D), used to upgrade technology used in palm oil mills must be encouraged.

"It will not only reduce production costs but also maximise technological commercialisation and commercial exploitation of by-products.

"To maximise the potential and opportunities in this lucrative industry, it is important we encourage investment to stimulate R&D into upgrading the technology used in palm oil mills," he said at the opening ceremony of the ModiPalm Continuous Sterilisation Forum here.

Dompok's speech was read by his Deputy, Datuk G. Palanivel.

He also said that palm oil millers should be mindful of the opportunities created by the adoption of newer and better technology such as continuous sterilisation.

The MPOB first carried out exploratory research studies to develop a new continous sterilisation process in 1997.

This was followed by a pilot plant study which led to the building of the first commercial-scale systems in Selaba Palm Oil Mill in 2000 and the Palm Oil Mill Technology Centre in 2001.

He said following the success of these pioneering commercial-scale implementations, the system for continuous sterilisation had been further refined and improved and has now been adopted by 62 palm oil mills worldwide.

Dompok said the commercialisation of technological innovations, especially in the field of palm oil processing, was an industry worth billions of ringgit.

He also said although about 20 per cent of the overall cost of producing palm oil could be attributed to palm oil milling operations, there was still considerable scope to reduce manpower by 50 per cent by converting from the batch sterilisation process to the continuous sterilisation process.

He added that the continuous sterilisation process provides the impetus for radical changes in the design and operation of palm oil mills.

"It appears timely to take a more holistic approach to modernising palm oil mills by intensifying research into downstream processes, that can optimally complement this new process, to achieve a paradigm change in palm oil milling technology," he said. -- Bernama