Coconut industry

Since 2001 we are involved into the coconut industry of the Philippines, where we did a feasibility study on the integrated processing of the whole coconut. During this study it became clear that the coconut industry has the potential to turn from a poor-man’s industry into a thriving and booming business through a large number of new and innovative products.

The most important are:

Pot soil mainly for agriculture in green houses. Made from coconut peat, the rest product after extracting the fiber from the husk. This market is large and expanding fast.

ICT and car components These components are pressed from coconut peat under a pressure of 50 bar and a temperature of about 160ºC to activate the lignine present in the peat. These components have excellent properties and are conform “cradle to cradle” criteria.

Bio-oil. Through pyrolysis the husks are converted into bio-oil. Main benefit is the reduction in transport costs, as oil is much easier and cheaper to transport than truck loads of husks. And the bio-oil can be converted into many added-value products. This technology is developed by TNO and BTG.

Cattle feed. Through fermentation the coconut peat can be turned into a cattle feed for ruminants with a conversion rate of 10 : 1. This will create new opportunities in coconut regions like cattle fattening farms and dairy farms.

Virgin coconut oil or VCO. This organic oil retains all of its original properties as during the process it is not heated. VCO is considered as a very healthy oil, due to its high content of lauric acid.

Copra fish meal. Through a fermentation process the protein content of the copra cake, the rest product after extraction of the oil from the copra, increases from 15% to over 48%. This will create new opportunities especially in the field of organic aqua culture.

Coconut pellets. These pellets are an excellent bio-fuel for small households or electricity plants and made from coconut peat.

Energy drinks. Made from coconut water it is considered as the best sports drink one can get. It is known to enhance the immune system of human beings, so very important for small children.

The lists of products is much higher, but we believe that the above mentioned products have the highest potential. Rainbow Sustainable Solutions has and is putting much efforts into the development of these products, partly through research and development with knowledge institutes like Wageningen UR, HAN Biocentre in Nijmegen and universities in the Philippines and Indonesia.

As only a small percentage of the coconuts is utilized no rain forest have to be cut. Most coconut plantations are bad maintained. Through better farmer techniques these plantations can easily increase production threefold, which will have a great impact on the lives of the smallholders.