Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) as a clean technology for palm kernel oil extraction

Efforts towards application of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (SCCO2)extraction in Malaysia are still at its infancy stage. Moreresearch has actively on-going to explore its potential performanceon a bigger scale (industrial scale) so that it will provide a betteralternative method of extraction compare to the present practiceusing organic solvent extraction. SC-CO2 has been proven onlaboratory and pilot-scale as an effective extraction technique forlarge types of bio-materials such as herbs, natural plant materialslike legumes, nuts and palm oil and others. Thus, this paper is aimedto highlights the application of SC-CO2 in extraction of oil from asingle palm kernel and also to demonstrate its application inestimating or inventoried the amount of CO2 consumed and releaseto the atmosphere in relation to green house effect in compliance toKyoto Protocol.