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Decentralizing palm oil for global stability & seeding high tech industries with waste biomass


April 15 2026 

I thank the global landscapes forum for inviting me to a digital conference on sustainable palm oil production. The panel discussion featured several leading experts in the industry brainstorming on what it would take to induce a paradigm shift in the palm oil production and how it could be financed. 

Palm oil fulfills nearly 30-40% of global vegetable oil demand. It finds application in cooking,cosmetics,health and in several other related industries. Despite its huge demand roughly 80-90% of palm oil production is centred in South East Asia. Not only does this concentration create a significant geopolitical risk it also prevents efficient utilisation of land resources that could lift millions out of poverty. 

Africa and LATAM present immense potential to diversify the production especially as cultivable land becomes more expensive in the SEA region. Yet there are several factors that could potentially be holding investment back. One reason is quite simple. Investors seek return on investment and many destinations in Africa and LATAM are seen as risky bets with little chance of success. 

Additionally some of the perquisites like urea production facilities are lacking making these regions heavily reliant on imports [5]. Unless international grants or foreign direct investments come in it's unlikely that a large scale production could be carried out. 

Despite these roadblocks the situation is not all grim. Examples can be found, not too far back in history, of plantations in the colonial era that prospered ,without use of any fertiliser or insecticides, on natural sources of fresh water with modest irrigation channels that were built with human labour. 

Both palm and coconut plants require little maintenance and can bear fruit for several decades. This is one niche industry that is highly bootstrapable. Small plantations turning profit year after year can consolidate into large holdings that can easily supply demand on a continental scale within a few decades without infusion of any foreign capital. It has been done before. It can be done again. 

But perhaps what's overlooked is the potential of agricultural waste in seeding high tech industries.  Each Kg of palm oil produces nearly 2-4 Kg of husk [1-4] This high lignin containing natural fiber could be used to create coir products. With additional process to delignify the fibers high quality cellulose can be obtained that can be used anywhere from clothing to all cellulose composites. 

Another possibility lies in carbonisation of the waste biomass that can be used to produce industrially relevant charcoal or carbon molecular sieves for air separation using PSA method(which BTW is the first step in making NH3 which could lead to increased agricultural cover). 

With more processing C/C composites could be within reach. For charcoal production the equipment is not too sophisticated and can be bought before its production is domestically replicated. Further it's possible to build new processes that can use domestic supplies of equipment more efficiently. C/C composites are a bit more technical but yet within reach through advancements in engineering without reliance on external tech transfers. 

Waste biomass could also serve as a feedstock for FT process where it could possibly be converted into synthetic kerosene. 

All of these industries are built upon valorisation of initial waste biomass into highly technical products. Lessons learnt from valorisation of palm oil biomass could easily be applied to other agricultural feedstocks. And it all starts at a farm. 

The bootstrapping strategy would lead to a slow but compounding growth. Obviously foreign investment would vastly speed up the expansion. But until that happens it would not be such a bad idea to set things in motion and make it move even if the movement is slow. 

REFERENCES 

1 Palm Oil Residues for Biogas 
Production

https://www.ieabioenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/P12-Palm-oil-residues-for-biogas-production-Stichnothe.pdf

2 Current trends in palm oil waste management: A comparative review of Cameroon and Malaysia

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10643262/

3 Brazil Processes Over Two Million Tons of Coconut Waste into Sustainable Fuel and Carbon Sequestration Materials

https://biochartoday.com/news/brazil-processes-over-two-million-tons-of-coconut-waste-into-sustainable-fuel-and-carbon-sequestration-materials/

4 Sustainable energy generation from the pyrolysis of coconut biomass

https://www.bio4africa.eu/technologies/technology-catalogue/sustainable-energy-generation-from-the-pyrolysis-of-coconut-biomass/

5 Water Scarcity Risks in Ammonia Fertilizer Production Pose a Threat to Global Food Security

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.5c14489

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Akshat Jiwan Sharma

Materials science/International relations/Partnerships 

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