Palm-based alpha-sulfonated methyl esters (SME) were successfully produced using a 20 kg/h-capacity pilot plant at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board. This anionic surfactant was used as an active ingredient to formulate powder detergent. The production of palm-based powder detergents (PPD) was carried out at the pilot-plant scale. The performance of powder detergents formulated with SME was found to be excellent. At a total concentration of 0.8 g/L, good detergency of PPD was obtained when only using 12% to 18% SME, compared to the commercial detergent with 27% surface-active agent. The foaming power and wetting characteristics of PPD were also comparable to the values for the commercial detergent. The study has shown that PPD were able to biodegrade faster than the commercial detergent, where the maximum time period to reach the pass level (60%) is within 14 days. The toxicity of the PPD, which ranged from 5.66 to 8.0 mg/L, is similar to the toxicity of the commercial detergent. A detailed description of the SME application technologies in powder detergents and the properties of formulated powder detergents are highlighted in this paper.

Biodynes, tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF), and tocopherol have shown antiaging properties. However, the combined effects of these compounds on skin aging are yet to be investigated. This study aimed to elucidate the skin aging effects of biodynes, TRF, and tocopherol on stress-induced premature senescence (SIPS) model of human diploid fibroblasts (HDFs) by determining the expression of collagen and MMPs at gene and protein levels. Primary HDFs were treated with biodynes, TRF, and tocopherol prior to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) exposure. The expression of COL1A1, COL3A1, MMP1, MMP2, MMP3, and MMP9 genes was determined by qRT-PCR. Type I and type III procollagen proteins were measured by Western blotting while the activities of MMPs were quantified by fluorometric Sensolyte MMP Kit. Our results showed that biodynes, TRF, and tocopherol upregulated collagen genes and downregulated MMP genes (P < 0.05). Type I procollagen and type III procollagen protein levels were significantly increased in response to biodynes, TRF, and tocopherol treatment (P < 0.05) with reduction in MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, and MMP-9 activities (P < 0.05). These findings indicated that biodynes, TRF, and tocopherol effectively enhanced collagen synthesis and inhibited collagen degradation and therefore may protect the skin from aging.

Lipased-catalyzed synthesis of palm-based wax esters, J. Oleo Sci. 53(10). (2004), pp. 471-477.[Gunawan et al., 2004], [Mat Radzi et al., 2006] and [Basri et al., 2007]) as the lipophilic phase was studied with nonionic surfactants and water. The palm-based nanoemulsions were prepared using high-energy emulsification to supply the emulsion system with sufficient amount of energy as to form the dispersed surfactant-encapsulated nanodroplets. The effects of amount of surfactant and different pressures, cycles, stirring rate and duration were studied to produce the nanodroplets. Stability of the palm-based nanoemulsions was also investigated with regards to their Ostwald ripening rate. The results showed that the type and composition of surfactant were important for the formation and stability of the nanoemulsions. Lipophilic surfactant, SPAN® 20 gave the smallest droplets size range (78-120 ± 2 nm) as compared to hydrophilic surfactant, Tween® 60 (105-180 ± nm). Introducing high pressure and cycle reduced the size tremendously after the pre-mixing. Stirring rate and duration also affected the nanodroplets formation. Increasing processing temperature led to the deformation of the nanodroplets which is the key finding in the searching of emulsification route that produce the most stable system. The investigation on the formation and stability of palm-based nanoemulsions is very important in the preparation for poorly water-soluble lipophilic actives/drugs for cosmetic and medicinal formulations. Moreover, its water-like fluidic rheological behavior is excellent as a vehicle for topical cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

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This study is carried out to evaluate the actual relationship between the three hole areas (9.62, 15.90 and 23.76 mm 2 ) and the feeding device parameters (seeding speed, peripheral speed of metering wheel device. The hole of feeding device was controlled by seed lever control which lies in seed tank bottom. All parameters were measured at constant level of seed brush parameters. Quality of feed, miss, multiple indexes and preciseness of seed index are the most common characteristics used to evaluate the metering wheel device performance. Varies physical properties of seeds including seeds density, projected area, sphericity and one thousand seeds mass are the most important factors in determining the optimum levers dimensions for metering device. The highest seed feed index was achieved on the seed plate with oblong holes (Aob2) for all cowpea moisture content (M1 of 64.45%; M2 of 56.13% and M3 of 49.74%), and the plates with circular holes followed this. The lowest seeding feeding ratio was obtained from the experiments using the plates with oblong hole (Aob1). The highest seed feed index was with moisture content (M1=86.08%) at 1.0 km/h, whereas the lowest the seed feed index was with M3 (46.21%) at 4.0 km/h. When the seed feed index was 86.73%, 79.77% and 74.56% for M1, M2 and M3 cowpea moisture content at 1.0 km/h planting speed, the seed feed index reached 71.04%, 61.07% and 46.21%, respectively, in a planting speed of 4.0 km/h. The changing planting speed had a greater effect on the feed index of M3 cowpea seed on the other 2 seed moisture content.