Fatty acids: Feedstocks

How palm export taxes pulled factories to Indonesia

What this tab covers What it is made from and what it feeds: the raw materials and energy per tonne with their share of cost (linked to the commodity table), who is low-cost and why, and the chemicals made from it.

Oil is 80-90% of the cost, so producers sit next to palm refineries in Indonesia and Malaysia, where export taxes on crude palm oil have long made exports of oleochemicals cheaper than exports of oil. The oil chosen sets the chain lengths produced.

Inputs per tonne

Input	Quantity per tonne	Role	Share of cost	Source
PO Palm oil	about 1.05-1.1 t oil per t fatty acids (indicative)	main feedstock; palm kernel oil gives lauric acids	about 80-90% (indicative)	palm_oil tile; indicative
Cnt Coconut oil	about 1.05-1.1 t per t	lauric source (45-53% lauric acid, coconut tile)	about 80-90% (indicative)	coconut tile
Bf Beef	about 1.05-1.1 t per t	stearic and oleic acids in the US and Europe	about 80-90% (indicative)	indicative
Tm Timber	about 2-2.5 t per t TOFA (indicative)	unsaturated acids for alkyds	high (indicative)	indicative
Steam and hydrogen	1-1.5 t steam; small hydrogen for stearic acid (indicative)	splitting, distillation, hardening	about 5-10% (indicative)	indicative

Who is low-cost, and why

Integrated Indonesian and Malaysian producers are lowest cost because they own oil supply and benefit from export levy structures; Chinese producers import oils and are mid-cost; European and Indian producers import oils and compete on specialties and service.

Raw materials on the commodity table

PO Palm oil Cnt Coconut oil

What it is made into

Product	Note
Glyc Glycerine	about 0.1 t per t of oil split
FAl Fatty alcohols	by hydrogenation of fatty acids or their methyl esters
Srf Surfactants	soaps, amides, betaines, esterquats
Amn Specialty amines and ethanolamines	fatty amines and quats
DOP Plasticisers	epoxidised and ester plasticisers