CHEMICAL INDUSTRY IN MALAYSIA WITH SPECIAL

发布时间：2016年05月06日 来源：中国化学会

Choo Yuen May
Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia (PORIM)
P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia　

ABSTRACT

Introduction
Malaysian has transformed from a commodity-based economy into a manufacturing-based economy in the past two decades. This transformation can be attributed to macroeconomic and structural adjustment policies and strategies undertaken by the Government in the mid-eighties, which significantly contributed to major inflow of foreign direct investments (FDIs) and the rapid growth of the manufacturing sector. The first Industrial Master Plan (IMP), 1986-1995 has laid the foundation for the growth of the manufacturing sector. Such rapid growth of the manufacturing sector will have to be sustained in the next decade in order to attain the objective of becoming a fully developed industrialised nation by the year 2020.

The successful growth and transformation of the economy requires the nation to address the challenge of efficient and optimal utilisation of existing resources in order to address the challenge of efficient and optimal utilisation of existing resources in order to sustain and further improve the national competitiveness. The rapid changes in the global trading and investment environment necessitates the enhancement of the competitiveness and resilience of the manufacturing sector. The second Industrial Master Plan (IMP2), 1996-2005 thus focuses on increasing competitiveness through strengthening industrial linkages, both forward and backward, enhancing value-added activities, and increasing the productivity of the manufacturing sector (1).

The Manufacturing Sector
The growth of the manufacturing sector began in the sixties and accelerated with the introduction of the Investment Incentives Act, 1968 and the promotion of free zones (FZs) in 1971. Since the industrialisation drive in the 19670s, the manufacturing sector has overtaken the agriculture sector as the engine of growth of the economy. In view of its size and strong links with the other sectors of the economy, the manufacturing sector is and will continue to be the major engine of growth for the Malaysian economy. Thus the manufacturing sector, considered to be the backbone of the Malaysian economy, contributed 34% towards the gross domestic product (GDP), 27% of the total employment and 83% of total export earnings in 1998 (Table 1). It will have a significant bearing on macroeconomic performance of the economy.

Table 1: Major Indicators of the Manufacturing Sector, 1995-1998

Source：Economic Planning Unit Prime Minister's Department. 
Mid-Term Review of the Seventh Malaysia Plan 1996-2000

Broadly speaking, the manufacturing sector can be classified into resource and non-resource-based industries. Being part of the manufacturing sector, the resource-based chemical industry plays an important role in revitalising and sustaining the long-term growth of the economy. In 1998, the resource-based contributed about 51% of the total manufacturing output. The resource-based industries include chemical and chemical products, food manufacturing, wood and wood based products, rubber products, non-metallic mineral products and non-ferrous metal industries (Figure 1). However, resource-based industries expanded 6.1% compared to only 2.6% for the non-resource-based industries in 1998. Among the resource-based industries the growth is uneven, for example, the output of the non-ferrous metal at 11% per year, the chemical and chemical products at 10% per year and the rubber products at 8% per year are significantly higher than the others (Table 2).

Figure 1: Share of Manufacturing Output by Industries 1998
 
Source: Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister's Department, Malaysia. 
Mid-Term Review of the Severth Malaysia Plam 1996-2000

Table 2 : Manufacturing Output, 1995 and 1998

Source: Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister's Department, Malaysia. 
Mid-Term Review of the Severth Malaysia Plam 1996-2000

Of the resource-based industries, the wood and wood-based products, plastic fabricated products and rubber products (mainly gloves) are export-oriented industries. The contribution of these to the share of gross manufactured exports is still relatively small at 14% compared with the non-resource-based sector. However, there is a clear trend of notable increase in the exports of chemical and chemical products, rubber gloves and condoms, wood and wood-products in the past four years. Overall the manufacturing sector taken as a whole is the leading source of foreign earnings for the country. The share of the manufactured exports to total exports was high and continued to increase from 80% in 1995 to 83% in 1998. This reflects the success of the export-driven industrialisation strategy prusued by the Malaysian government.

Chemical Industry In Malaysia
This can broadly be classified into the following categories:
1.Petroleum products and natural gas 
2.Chemicals and chemical products

• petrochemical
• agricultural chemetic : pesticides, fertilisers
• soap, detergent, cosmetic and toiletry preparations
• inorganic chemicals
• pharmaceutical
• industrial gases
• paint and paint products
• oleochemicals

3.Plastics products
4.Rubber products

Resource-Based Chemical Industry With Special Reference To Palm-Based Industry
The oil palm fruit produces two types of oil, palm oil from the mesocarp and palm kernel oil from the nut, the endosperm. They are chemically different and have between them practically the entire range of long, medium and short chain fatty acids.

The Malaysia production of crude palm oil in 1998 was about 8.3 million tonnes, together with 1.1 million tonnes of crude palm kernel oil. About 80% of the palm oil found its way into food products, leaving about 20% for non-food applications. The two main non-food uses are in the manufacture of oleochemicals and soaps.

Oleochemicals

Oleochemicals refer to chemicals obtained from palm oil and palm kernel oil; they can be divided into two groups of products, i.e. basic oleochemicals and oleochemical derivatives.

Basic oleochemicals are fatty acids, methyl esters, fatty alcohols, fatty amines and glycerol. They are essentially the building blocks of the oleochemicals industry. From these basic oleochemicals, a very wide range of oleochemical derivatives can be produced. Figure 2 is a flow chart leading from palm oil to basic oleochemicals and their derivatives (2). Since palm oil and palm kermel oil contain between them almost the entire range ot ratty acids, practically all the oleochemicals can be produced from them.
 
Figure 2. Oleochemicals from palm oil and palm kernel oil

Due to the similarity of the fatty acid composions with palm oil and palm stearin (the soild fraction) resemble that of tallow, while palm kernel oil resembles that of coconut oil (Tables 3 & 4), there is a great possibility for inter-substitution among these fats and oils. Technically, therefore, palm oil and palm stearin could to a large extent replace tallow, and similarly palm kernel oil and coconut oil are inerchangeable materials in oleochemicals manufacturing. In fact, plam oil and plam kernel oil offer the following advatntages:

• They are renewable resources and their products are more environmentally friendly.
• They are recognised as vegetable oils and thus their deivatives and applications are fully acceptable to people for whom animal fats may be subjected to religious taboos.

Table 3. Fatty Acid Composition (%) of Palm Oil and Palm Stearin Compared to Tallow

Table 4. Fatty Acid Composition (%) of Palm Kernel Oil Compared to Coconut Oil

The basis for the further development of the Malaysia palm oil industry is to increase and export high value added oleochemicals, which is emphasized in the Second Industrial Master Plan. The oleochemical industry in Malaysia started in the 1980s. Most of the Malaysian oleochemical companies are formed with the partcipation of foreign investors who contributed in technology, capital as well as captive market for the products, and in return, secured strong foot-holds at the source of the renewable raw materials. There are now 22 companies producing various olecohemical products mainly for the export market, 14 are producing the basic oleochemicals and 8 in the derivatives. Most of these oleochemical companies have the state-of-the-art technolohies for the production of basic oleochemicals like fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fatty esters; oleochemcials derivatives-fatty amines, amides, stearates, oleates, food emulsifiers, plasticizers, sulfonates, sulfates, soap noodles. Currently Malaysia is the largest producer of basic oleochemicals in the world (fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fatty methyl esters). Production in 1998 was estimated at 0.65 million m.t. Exports ranges from 0.54 million m.t. in 1996 to 0.56 million m.t. in 1998 valued at RM1.8 billion for 1998. Future development will emphasize increasingly on high value-added oleochemicals derivatives and consumer products from oleochemiccals.

PORIM: Oil Palm-Based Oleochemical R & D Centre
Existing technologies employed in the oleochemical industry is up-to-date and efficient. However, for the industry to remain competitive, R & D efforts towards product innovations and process improvements are essential. The Advanced Oleochemical Technology Centre (AOTC) in PORIM has been set up by the government to conduct market driven R& D. Among many other R & D efforts conducted in PORIM are oleochemicals surfactants which are more environmentally friendly, palm based printing ink, plam diesel, palm derived lubricants, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and personal care products. Great emphasis is being placed on the development of plam based active ingredients for the production of high-end value-added consumer products.

Conclusions
Malaysia is the largest oil plam-based oleochemical producer and exporter in the world. However, there is increasing competition from other countries in the region in supply capabilities. In response to this challenge, efforts should be directed towards developing Malaysia into a global centre for oils and oleochemicals. It is clear that oleochemicals are able to replace petrochemicals in most applications. Olecohemicals being renewable resources, thus have tremendous growth potential. Malaysia being the largest producer of plam kernel oils, is well position to become the flobal centre for oleochemicals. The challenges for the oleochemical industry will be the development of the down-stream derivatives and plam-based active ingredients besides the development of new markets for the products.

Acknowledgement
The author wishes to thank the organising committee of the 8th Asian Chemical Congress for the invitatin and Datuk Director General of PORIM for permission to present this paper.

References
1.Second Industrial Master Plan (1996-2005) Published by Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia, 1996.
2.Ong, S.H., Cheah, K.Y. and Choo, Y. M. (1990). Oleochemicals from Palm and Plam Kenel Oil. Elasia: The International Journal of Oil Palm Research and Development, Vol. 1,No.1,pp 35-51.