By-products of the Oil Palm Production Chain as a Potential Source of Biologically Active Phytochemicals

Throughout the oil palm production chain (OPPC), large quantities of solid and liquid by‒products are generated with a certain content of residual oily fractions, as well as fatty by‒products. Residual oils recovered from palm pressed fibres and palm oil mill effluents, as well as palm distillate fatty acids and oily fractions extracted from spent bleaching earths resulting from refining crude palm oil, as well as oil recovered from the bottoms of palm biodiesel distillation columns, contain significant amounts of vitamin E, carotenoids, squalene and phy-tosterols, biologically active compounds of functional and nutritional value that represent a real opportunity for the generation of new products and for entry into niche markets. Currently, there are a growing number of studies focused on the potential uses and applicable technologies for the recovery and refining of palm phytochemicals from CPPA by‒products. This paper aims to provide an overview of the main phytochemicals recoverable from certain by‒products of the CPPA and the concentrations of these compounds found in different studies, as well as to present a general estimate of the number of phytochemicals that can be recovered and the technologies and methodologies employed for this purpose. This work aims to propose phytochemical-rich palm waste oils as available raw materials for different industries