Palm kernel oil is an edibleplant oil derived from thekernel of theoil palm treeElaeis guineensis.^[1] It is related to two other edible oils:palm oil, extracted from thefruit pulp of the oil palm, andcoconut oil, extracted from the kernel of the coconut.^[2]

Palm kernel oil, palm oil, and coconut oil are three of the few highlysaturated vegetable fats; these oils give the name to the 16-carbon saturatedfatty acidpalmitic acid that they contain.

Palm kernel oil, which is semi-solid atroom temperature, is more saturated than palm oil and comparable to coconut oil.

Oil from the African oil palmElaeis guineensis has long been recognized inWest African andCentral African countries. European merchants trading with West Africa occasionally purchased palm oil for use inEurope, but palm kernel oil remained rare outside West Africa.^[3]

TheUSDA has published historical production figures for palm kernel oil for years beginning October 1 and ending September 30:^[4]

In the 1960s, research and development (R&D) in oil palm breeding began to expand after Malaysia's Department of Agriculture established an exchange program with West African economies and four private plantations formed the Oil Palm Genetics Laboratory.^[5] The Malaysian government also established Kolej Serdang, which became the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM) in the 1970s to train agricultural and agroindustrial engineers andagribusiness graduates to conduct research in the field.

In 1979 with support from the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) and UPM, the government set up the Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia (Porim),^[6] a public-and-private-coordinated institution.^{[clarification needed]}B. C. Shekhar was appointed founder and chairman. Porim's scientists work in oil palm tree breeding, palm oil nutrition and potentialoleochemical use. Porim was renamedMalaysian Palm Oil Board in 2000.

Palm kernel oil, similar tococonut oil, is high insaturated fats and is more saturated thanpalm oil.^[7] Palm kernel oil is high inlauric acid, which has been shown to raise blood cholesterol levels, both as LDL-C (cholesterol contained inlow-density lipoprotein), which increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, and HDL-C (cholesterol contained inhigh-density lipoprotein),^[8] which has been shown to lower it. However, the raise in total cholesterol concentration is partly due to more HDL-C than LDL-C.^[9] Palm kernel oil does not contain cholesterol ortrans fatty acids.^[10]

Palm kernel oil is commonly used in commercial cooking because it is lower in cost than other oils, remains stable at high cooking temperature, and can be stored longer than other vegetable oils.^[10][11]

The approximate concentration of fatty acids (FAs) in palm kernel oil is as follows:^[12]

This sectionneeds expansion with: more cited content on uses in food production, soap, and cosmetics. You can help byadding missing information.(June 2024)

Splitting of oils and fats byhydrolysis, or under basic conditionssaponification, yields fatty acids, with glycerin (glycerol) as a byproduct. The split-off fatty acids are a mixture ranging from C4 to C18, depending on the type of oil or fat.^[13][14]

Derivatives of palmitic acid were used in combination withnaphtha duringWorld War II to producenapalm (aluminumnaphthenate and aluminumpalmitate).^[15]

• Palm kernel
• Tropical agriculture
• Food vs. fuel

• Palm Oil – Production, Consumption, Exports, and Imports Statistics by Country
• Blood on the Palms: Afro-Colombians fight new plantations byDavid Bacon, July/August 2007Dollars & Sense

• Cooking oils
• Vegetable oils
• Biofuels
• Oil palm

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