Environmental impact of palm cooking oil: a case study in Sumatra, Indonesia

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Rosmeika Rosmeika, Irhan Febijanto, Delfi Fatina Soraya, Hermawan Febriansyah, Febrian Isharyadi, Utari Ayuningtyas, Ary Budi Mulyono, Arief Ameir Rahman Setiawan, Kiman Siregar, Supriyanto Supriyanto, Nugroho Adi Sasongko, Edi Iswanto Wiloso

2025 Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol. 32 Issue 43 Article Cited by 0 SDG 12SDG 13SDG 8SDG 17 Quartile

Abstract

Over the last decade, there has been a significant growth in life cycle assessment (LCA) research on oil palm production around the world, with an emphasis on the stages of the life cycle from oil palm plantation to crude palm oil (CPO). However, there is still a research shortage in the downstream section, which includes CPO and cooking oil production. This study addresses the gap by utilizing LCA to evaluate the environmental impacts using recent field data collected from selected sites in Sumatra. The study aims to examine the environmental impacts associated with the quality of palm cooking oil and compare them with those of other vegetable cooking oils. The system boundary is defined as cradle-to-gate, comprising land preparation, plantation, CPO production, and refinery of cooking oil. The results indicate that higher-quality palm cooking oil with iodine value (IV) 60 is associated with increased environmental impacts across several categories, including global warming, eutrophication, acidification, ozone layer depletion, and marine ecotoxicity. Furthermore, palm cooking oil with IV 56, which represents the most often consumed quality level, has a lower carbon footprint than cooking oils made from rapeseed, sunflower, soybean, peanut, canola, coconut, and maize. These findings provide useful information for consumers, industry, and politicians seeking to reduce the environmental effects of vegetable cooking oil. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025.

Affiliations

Research Center for Sustainable Industrial and Manufacturing Systems, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), South Tangerang, Banten, 15314, Indonesia; Research Center for Equipment Manufacturing Technology, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), South Tangerang, Banten, 15314, Indonesia; Department of Agriculture Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Syiah Kuala University, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Banda Aceh, 17142, Indonesia; Department of Mechanical and Biosystem Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, IPB University, West Java, Bogor, 16680, Indonesia

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