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The 79th Annual Convention of Oil Technologists’ Association of India was organized at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad during January 10-11, 2025. The topic of the conference was “Oil Palm: Recent Trends in Production, Processing and Applications in Food and Non-Food Sector”. The conference was ably supported by CSIR-IICT, SEA and IVPA. There were 300 registered delegates attending the conference. The conference was inaugurated by Chief Guest Dr B Sesikiran, Former Director, National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR). Dr D Srinivasa Reddy, Director, CSIR-IICT, in his opening remarks welcomed delegates, distinguished speakers, senior members of OTAI and students to IICT, Hyderabad and thanked OTAI for choosing IICT to organize this vital conference focussed on palm oil. Dr Rajeev Churi, National President, OTAI stressed on pivotal role of OTAI in knowledge sharing and building strong relation with industry through OTAI conferences. Chief Guest, Dr B Sesikiran, in his inaugural address stressed upon the ill effects of negative branding and need for regulation. He also mentioned uniqueness of each oil, including palm and suggested rotation of oil to get the goodness of each oil. Dr Sanjit Kanjilal, Convener spoke on importance of palm oil to bridge the huge gap between demand and supply of edible oils as India and its growing importance in view of recent regulation of trans fat. After the inauguration, OTAI Annual Merit Awards were announced and notable among these awards are Dr S Hussain Zaheer Memorial award, conferred to Prof Amit Pratap, ICT, Mumbai and Dr JG Kane Memorial award to Prof Shishir Sinha, DG, CIPET. Dr K Shivashanker, Co-convener proposed vote of thanks.
There were five sessions during the two days deliberation. In the Session I: Award & Plenary session, Prof DN Bhowmick delivered the 15th Dr K T Achaya Memorial Lecture on “Reminiscences from the period 1971-2013”. Dr RBN Prasad, Chief Scientist &Former Head, Lipid Science & Technology Division, CSIR-IICT delivered the plenary lecture on “Oil Palm Tree: An amazing source of edible oils, structured fats, biodiesel, biomass and Oleochemicals”. There were four theme-based Technical Session.
Theme of Technical Session II was “Policy and Sustainability” and two eminent speakers, Dr Anupam Bagchi, Former Additional Commissioner (Oilseeds), Ministry of Agriculture, Govt of India spoke on progress and aim of National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP). Dr Suresh Motwani, Director, Solidaridad in his lecture on “IPOS Aligned Sustainable Production of Oil Palm in India”, spoke on IPOS framework representing transformative opportunity for the country for sustainable production of oil palm in India.
In the Technical Session III: Processing Challenges, there were three distinguished speakers. Mr DV Chame, CEO, DVC Process Technologists spoke on Innovative approaches for crude palm oil processing, whereas Mr Rajan Skhariya, MD, Mecpro Heavy Engineering Ltd spoke on methods to have a zero effluent zero waste palm oil mills with 100% more Oil Extraction Rate. Third speaker, Mr Rohit A Bangera, Novonesis proposed a greener approach through enzyme-assisted palm oil extraction.
Day 2 of the conference started with Technical Session IV: Nutritional Benefits of Oil Palm: Myths and facts. Dr Bhavana Shah, Deputy CEO, NK Protein delivered her lecture “Palm oil: Driving global sustainability, nutrition and economic growth”. She showcased the multifaceted advantages of palm oil to achieve food security and economic growth. Dr Sanjit Kanjilal, Senior Principal Scientist, CSIR-IICT spoke on growing importance of palm oil in view of recent regulation of trans fat and the need to remove myths associated with its consumption, which has no scientific basis. He also explained in his presentation the structural and nutritional advantages of palm oil.
Theme of Technical Session V was Food and Non-Food Application of Palm Oil. Mr Akshay Salgarkar, DGM, Frigorifico Allana Pvt Ltd., the first speaker of this session spoke on numerous applications of palm oil and its fractions besides cooking oil such as in the preparation of margarines, spreads, confectionary fats, ice cream, emulsifier etc. and all these are due to the unique fatty acid composition and triglyceride structure. Dr Akshay Kadam, AVP, Liberty Oil Mills Ltd, delivered his lecture on “Industrial Application of Palm Oil”, especially its potential as raw material for the production of biofuel and lubricants. He also spoke on a variety of non-food applications of palm oil in the cosmetics and personal care sector.
Panel Discussion on “Oil Palm: Opportunities and Challenges was organized in the post-lunch session of Day 2. There were six panel members ably represented by people linked with oil palm. Mr AV Rao, a representative of palm oil farmer in Telangana, Mrs P Lahari, Asstt. Director (Oil Palm), Govt of Telengana, Dr BN Rao, Retd Scientist, Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research, Andhra Pradesh, Dr Ahmad Ibrahim, Scientist G, National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR), and two industry representatives. The remarks by the panel members on several aspects of palm oil starting from farmers issues, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Mission programs and finally processing challenges enthralled the audience. In the end, there were four best posters student presentations. The conference ended with National Anthem.
