Batu Pahat, Malaysia -- Malaysian foam group Wansern Foam Industry Sdn Bhd has introduced a new range of palm oil-based memory pillows and mattresses under the brand name Natura.
Managing director of Wansern Group Eu Tian Chiek said in the company's 4 July announcement that all these products use Wansern's own palm oil polyol, which was developed in-house.
Wansern Foam Industry claims it is a leader in flexible PU foam manufacturing in Malaysia, with products ranging from conventional to technical foams, conventional and palm oil based mattresses and natural oil polyols.
Eu says:"Our bedding products are at least of comparable quality to the internationally imported well known products but we are selling at a cheaper price."
According to Dr Ooi Tian Lye of Wansern Biotechnology Sdn Bhd, currently only part of the petroleum polyol in flexible foams is replaced with palm oil polyol. At present, Wansern can replace from 10 to 70 percent of the conventional polyol with palm oil types, depending on the product.
"Our ultimate goal is to completely replace the petroleum polyol using 100 percent biobased polyol," Ooi added.
In its memory foam products made with palm oil polyols, measurements of sound absorption coefficients and noise reduction coefficients (NCR) show that "our palm-oil-based memory foam has better sound absorption/reduction than a similar 100-percent petroleum based memory foam of the same density," the company said.
Wansern developed polyols based on palm oil as feedstock since "this is our country's main crop and the highest oil yielding crop per hectare," said the company.
Palm oil plantations are highly productive, at about 5 tonnes of oil/hectare /year and it is a sustainable resource, Wansern notes. World production of palm oil in 2011 was about 46 million tonnes with Malaysia producing about 18 milion tonnes -- about 40 percent of the world total.
Currently, about 80 percent of palm oil is used in food -- cooking oils, margarine, ice-cream, instant noodles and confectionery. Soaps and detergents constitutes more than 90 percent of its non-food applications, with other non-food uses in cosmetics, personal care products, rubber, lubricants, candles and others.
PIC: Wansern promotes its palm-oil based foam: Eu Tian Chiek (left) and Dr Ooi Tian Lye
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