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L1.1 PALM OIL MANUFACTURING AND APPLICATION

 CHAP 1
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Introduction to palm oil milling and refining

The chemistry of palm oil

Palm oil milling process

The purpose of palm oil refining

Development in the Malaysia palm oil refining

industry.
 Learning Outcomes
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Student should be able to:

Explain the palm oil milling

process.
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 The fruit is made up of:
- Exocarp - skin
THE OIL PALM FRUIT - Mesocarp palm oil and fibers
- Endocarp - shell
- Kernel seed oil & meal
 Palm Oil Milling
Process

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EXTRACTION
 8 Processes of palm oil production in mill:
1. Bunch reception 5. Digestion
2. Loading ramp 6. Oil Extraction
3. Sterilization 7. Clarification & purification
4. Threshing 8. Nut and kernel station
1. Bunch Reception
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Upon reception at the mill, the fruit is graded to ensure a high

standard of harvesting. Grade as follows:
(a) Fruit bunch < 10 loose fruitlets unripe
(b) Fruit bunch 10 loose fruitlets ripe
(c) Fruit bunch with excessive loose fruits detached overripe
(d) Bunch with loose fruits completely detached rotten
1. Bunch Reception (cont)
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Appropriate action will be

taken by mill and estate
management based on the
grading.

- Fruit will carried by

trucks to the loading
ramp.
 2. LOADING RAMP
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Empty fruit bunch

 2. LOADING RAMP (cont)
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Purpose of ramp operation:

- to ensure that old fruits are first taken out for processing, to avoid
accumulation of old fruit which otherwise will rot over a short period
- creating high FFA problem (should not exceed 5%).
 2. LOADING RAMP (cont)
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- Fruit from the hopper are loaded into the fruit cages waiting
underneath.
- Each cage hold about 2 tons of fruit and these are pushed in a
train/locomotive to the sterilizer yard.
3. Sterilization
2. LOADING RAMP (cont)
- The fruit arriving inside the
cages are then charged into the
sterilizer to be cooked under
saturated steam at 40 psig.

- Quality of the cooked fruit is

very important for subsequent
process.
 3. Sterilization
3. Sterilization
Objective of sterilization:
(a) Prevention of any further rise in FFA due to
enzyme action by inactivation of the lipolytic
enzymes
(b) To loosen fruit still attached to the bunch stalk
(c) Preparation of the fruit for subsequent
processing.
(d) Preconditioning of the nuts to minimize kernel
breakage during both processing and nut cracking
(e) Coagulations of the protein material and
hydrolysis of the other materials present in the
palm fruit.
4. THRESHING
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 4. THRESHING (cont)
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Purpose:
Threshing or stripping is done to separate the
sterilized fruits from the sterilized bunch stalks.

- The sterilized fruit together with the fruit cage is

lifted by a hoisting crane and then poured on to the
threshing machine.
 4. THRESHING (cont)
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5. DIGESTION
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5. DIGESTION
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PURPOSE: Process of reheat, where pericarp loosened from the nuts and prepared
for pressing.

Digestion take place in steam heated vessels provided with stirring arms known as
digester or kettles.

Temperature 100C, the arms stir and rub the fruit, loosening the pericarp from
the nuts and breaking open as many of the oil cells possible.
The digester converts the stripped fruits into a homogeneous mash.
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 Palm oil is extracted by pressing in the
screws press- consist of perforated
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cage in which runs a single or double
screw
Press screw: tough and wear resistant
steel; press cage: stainless steel.
The outlet end of perforated cage is
restricted by a cone and it is this
restriction of the discharge that creates
a pressure in the cage.
Discharge from screw press:

crude palm oil liquor and matte of oily

fibre and nuts
 Fibre and nuts: carried by the steam
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jacketed conveyor
Crude oil: passed on to the
vibrating screens to be separated
from the accompanying solids.
7. Clarification & Purification
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Purpose:
- to give a clear stable product of
acceptable appearance. Water and
impurities must be removed.
 7. Clarification & Purification (cont)

The crude oil is diluted first with hot water to reduce its viscosity.
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The diluted crude oil is screened to remove any coarse fibrous
2 material which is returned to digester.
The screened crude oil is heated (90-95C) and pumped to the
3 continuous settling tank.
Retention of the crude liquor in settling tank enables the oil to rise to
4 the surface and overflow continuously into a reception tank.
Settled oil purified by centrifuging reduce the dirt content to
5 0.01% or less
8. Nut & Kernel Station
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8. Nut & Kernel Station (cont)
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Nuts are normally not

processed for the oil content
in the same mill.
Separation of nuts from the
accompanying fibre is done
in depericarper station.
8. Nut & Kernel Station (cont)
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Function of depericarper:
nut polishing
partial drying of fibre
transport of fibre to the boiler
house
grading out of oversize
foreign material e.g wood,
stones, metal bits and stalks
 8. Nut & Kernel Station
Application
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Pressed fibres uses as fuel to

the boiler.
The separated shells are sent
to the yard as fuel to the
boiler whereas the kernels are
then sorted in kernel silo dryer
before final storage in the
bulk kernel silo.
 The purpose of
palm oil refining

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EXTRACTION

REFINING
 Why refining?

Water, insoluble impurities, free fatty acids, oxidation

product should be kept a minimum level.
However, the refining treatment should retain as much
as possible the tocopherols and tocotrienols because
of their antioxidant effect to the product.

Two methods of refining: physical or chemical refining.

 Summary/Take Home Message
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8 Processes of palm oil production in mill:

1. Bunch reception 5. Digestion
2. Loading ramp 6. Oil Extraction
3. Sterilization 7. Clarification & purification
4. Threshing 8. Nut and kernel station