Sustainable Palm Oil

*Credit: icemanphotos via Shutterstock.com*

Converting lignocellulosic waste into a low-carbon, deforestation-free palm oil alternative for the consumer goods and biofuels sectors.

About the Technology

Palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil in the world; it’s in over 50% of all consumer goods and is used as an input to 31% of global biodiesel production. Unfortunately, its production often begins with clearing high conservation value forests, which makes it one of the most carbon-intensive commodities in the world. With 2030 sustainability deadlines quickly approaching, corporations across these sectors are looking for low-carbon palm oil alternatives to integrate into their supply chains.

We are creating a sustainable palm oil alternative with the goal of filling this market gap, while preserving tropical rainforests and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To that end, we have developed a technical process for transforming lignocellulosic waste into a low-carbon, second-generation bio-oil that can be used as a drop in replacement for palm oil in the consumer goods and biofuels sectors. Our approach leverages an energy-efficient, microwave hydrolysis pretreatment method, which not only enables us to use multiple sources of biomass waste as process inputs, but also allows us to co-locate our process at sites of biomass production and circumvent traditionally-high feedstock transportation costs.

With support from Stanford University’s HIT Fund, we are conducting a feedstock valorization assessment to reinforce our supply chain and advance through the pre-pilot stage.