PROCESSING STATION DESIGN & SCREW PRESS

PART 1
Ir. AMIN BUHARI MD ZAIN

SIME DARBY PLANTATIONS SDN BHD

INTRODUCTION
The equipments that make up the pressing station in Palm Oil Mill
Fruit Elevator/Scrapper conveyor Fruit Distribution Conveyor Fruit Return Conveyor Press Station Structure complete with platform, handrails and walkways Hot water tank for press station Digesters normally of type 3500L-5000L capacity Twin Hydraulic Screw Press normally P15 or P9 type. New Press P20-P30 type

 Crude oil collection gutter preferably SS (New Mill used 10-12 slanting pipe) Desanding Tank (sand trap) Sand Removal conveyor for sand trap Sand Removal Elevator with screen buckets Hopper with support for sand waste Vibrating Screen 60 circular double deck type c/w ms structure, platform & walkway

Screen waste conveyor Crude Oil Tank with auto steam heating Crude Oil Transfer Pumps with auto level switch. Manpower Should not be more than 2 persons per shift Maintenance 20% of the total maintenance hours goes towards pressing station and out of this 20%, almost more then 50% for press maintenance. Total maintenance cost in the region of 85 90 cents/ton ffb processed (depend on locations)

PRESSING STATION LAYOUT

A Satisfactory layout of pressing station could be achieved in many different ways Each case of layout will definitely having special reasons incorporated in the design New approach in arranging press station layout is to meet the user friendly concept, easy maintenance, easy supervision and etc.

Presentation Title

BOILER HOUSE

MAIN PROCESS STATION

MACHINERY LAYOUT

FRONT ELEVATION

Hot Water Tank/Dilution Fruit Distribution / Return Conveyor Digester Platform Digester 1 2 3 4

Fruit Elevator /Scrapper Conveyor

Screw Press Press Platform Crude Oil Collection Gutter Cake Breaker Conveyor Sand Trap Vib Screen

Crude Oil Tank

PRESSING STATION

SIDE ELEVATION
Fruit Elevator /Scrapper Conveyor

Hot Water Tank/Dilution Fruit Distribution / Return Conveyor

Digester

Screw Press

Crude Oil Collection Gutter Cake Breaker Conveyor

Sand Trap

PRESSING STATION

PRESSING STATION

 Fruit Conveyor
Normally for bigger capacity mills, two units will be installed adjacent to each other

Fruit Elevators
Two of this unit normally one is a standby Shaftless conveyor is now started been used to replace this bucket elevator

Top Fruit Conveyor Crude Oil Screening Station Sand Trap Tank Crude Oil Pump

1) Fruit Elevator
Elevators are the simplest and most reliable units for making vertical lift and widely used in Palm Oil Mill. There are 2 main types
Chains and Buckets ; Buckets are carried on one or two chain (chain from malleable cast iron or mild steel) Belt and Buckets; Buckets are attached to the canvas rubber or synthetic fabric belting.

Most common types of elevator used in POM is the spaced buckets with centrifugal discharge, the contents of the buckets are thrown out at the head shaft by centrifugal force.

Elevator Design
This type of elevator can handle most of the free flowing fine or small lump materials. The buckets are loaded partly by the material flow and partly by scooping-up material from the elevator boot. The limiting factor for the elevator height is the strength of the chain. Normally elevators rarely exceed 22m height. Inclined single chain elevators are limited to 30o C Double chain type elevators can exceed 30 degrees if roller chains are used. Choice of chain is very important as the wrong choice will almost lead to increase in maintenance, high upkeep cost and lost of production.

Elevator Capacity
The capacity of a bucket elevator can be estimated as
Theoretical Capacity = C x V x 60 P C = Capacity Bucket, V = Chain Speed (feet/minute) P = Spacing or pitch of buckets (feet)

Elevator Capacity contd.

The actual capacity will normally less than theoretical figure and the following formula will give the actual capacity Actual Capacity = C x W x V x B P x 36.7
where; C = Capacity of Bucket (ft3) W = Density of material (lb/ft3) V = Chain Speed (ft/min) B = Bucket Loading Factor (vary between 0.6 0.85) P = Buckets spacing or pitch of buckets (ft)

POWER REQUIRED FOR ELEVATOR

The simplest formula to calculate power required to drive elevators is to take the theoretical power and increase the figure by 50 to 100% to cover friction Theoretical HP = C x W x V x B x H 33000 x P Where
HP = Horsepower C = Capacity of Bucket (ft3) W = Density of material (lb/ft3) V = Chain speed (ft/min) B = Bucket Loading Factor H = Lift (ft) P = Spacing or pitch of buckets (ft)

Fruit Elevator Operation Cost

Normal operation cost where no chain replacement is required is in the region of not more than 4 5 cents/ton ffb When chain replacement is necessary / (major overhaul) than operation cost will vary to between 12 18 cents/ton ffb

2) Fruit Conveyor
Another method of materials handling commonly used to transport fruitlets in the pressing station feeding the fruit elevator and digester / return conveyor etc. It is a common type screw conveyor and consists of
a helicoid (helix rolled from flat steel bar) or Sectional flight (individual sections pressed and formed into a helix from flat plate) Mounted on a pipe or shaft and turning it through.

Screw Conveyor (600mm Dia)

 Screw conveyors standard pitch is approximately equal to the diameter and is generally suitable for horizontal installation and inclined up to 20 degree. For inclines greater than 20 deg half standard pitch of the screw is adopted. For moving difficult material and controlling feed rate, double and triple flights, variable pitch and stepped diameter screws are adopted. Ribbon screw are used for wet and sticky substances. Wear problem at flight outer edge normally is reduced by doubling strip on the edges.

Interlocking System
Since almost any conveyor can jam for some reason, Interlocking system in a conveyor system are obviously important to stop all incoming materials if the conveyor trips/stop thus will avoiding spillage.

Screw Conveyor Capacity

Theoretical capacity can be calculated by

C(ft3/hr) = ((D2 d2) x P x RPM)/36.7

Where D = Screw diameter (in) d = Shaft diameter (in) P = Screw Pitch (in) RPM = Revolutions of screw Actual capacity normally a lot less than that given by the above formula. Recommended that when specific operating data is not available figure of between 30 50% of the theoretical capacity be adopted.

Simple Calculation Fuel Conveyor

Mill Capacity % of fibre Quantity fibre Fibre bulk density Volume of fibre % of shells Quantity shells Shell bulk density Total volume of shell Total volume fibre+shell Diameter of screw Shaft diameter Screw Pitch Conveyor RPM : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 60,000kg/hr 12% 7200kg/hr 250kg/m3 28.80m3/hr (1016.64cu.ft/hr) 6% 3600kg/hr 500kg/m3 7.20 m3/hr (254.16 cu.ft/hr) 36.00m3/hr (1270.80 cu.ft/hr) 22 in (0.56m) 4 in (0.102m) 22 in (0.56m) 40

Theoretical Capacity C (cu.ft/hr) = ((D2 d2) x P x RPM)/36.7

CAPACITY DATA FOR HORIZONTAL STANDARD PITCH SCREW CONVEYORS Filled Screw % Screw Dia Maximum Recommended Capacity at One RPM in speed (RPM) Cu ft / hour

45

6 9 12 14 16 18 20 24 6 9 12 14 16 18 20 24

165 150 140 130 120 115 105 95 120 100 90 85 80 75 70 65

2.27 8.00 9.30 30.80 46.60 66.10 95.00 164.80 1.50 5.60 13.30 21.10 31.40 45.40 62.10 109.90

30

Conveyor Horsepower
The required Hp made up of two components
Hp necessary to move the empty screw (function of conveyor length, rotation speed and friction in conveyor bearings) Hp that to move the material (function of total weight of material conveyed per unit time, conveyor length and depth to which the trough is loaded.

 Formula for approximate Hp figure Hp = (ALN + CWLF) x 10-6

Hp = Horsepower at conveyor shaft A = Factor for size of conveyor L = Conveyor Length (ft) N = Speed RPM C = Capacity (ft3/hr) W = Material density (lb/ft3) F = Factor for materials The above formula gives the approx. conveyor shaft Hp and for the size of driving motor. It is recommended that
If HP<1 to multiply by factor 2, 1<hp<2 to multiply by factor 1.5 2<hp<4 to multiply by factor 1.25 4<hp<5 to multiply by factor 1.1 and if Hp above 5 no correction is necessary

TABLE FOR FACTOR "A" SCREW DIAMETER IN 6 9 10 12 14 16 18 20 24

FACTOR A

54 96 114 171 255 336 414 510 690

APPROXIMATE VALUE FOR "F" PALM FRUITS PALM NUTS & KERNELS FLUE DUST SILICA SAND AND CLAY

0.4 0.5 4.0 2.0

Screw Conveyor Operation Cost

Screw conveyors require minimum maintenance and the normal cost of spare parts, consumables and labour for upkeep of a screw conveyor is comparatively very low between 1 2 cents/ton ffb

PRESS STRUCTURE
Press structure in oil mill usually varies between 3m to 6m for press platform and 9m 12m height for digester platform. Reasons of the engineers designing this platform height was to allow smooth gravity flow of mesh and crude oil from press for further process. If the height too low than the gravity flow of oil to vibrating screen and entry point press cake to depericarper is not sufficient In most cases, press were installed at about 4-5m height from ground level There were also mills the press were at Ground Level with slight modification to the process flow.

DIGESTER
The digester is an essential part of the continuous twin screwpress. It is matched in every respect to the screw press. It is supplied as a complete extraction unit. This extraction unit is unsurpassed in oil extraction efficiency and in continuous trouble free pressing operation Design ranging from 600 litres to 3500 litres and exceptionally to 5500 litres Commonly used matching the twin screwpress are 2,800 / 3,200 and 3,500 litres model. The digesters are supplied either with wear rings in front of the arms or more frequently with complete liners

SIDE AND TOP VIEWS OF TYPICAL DIGESTER

Digester contd
The standard digesters are supplied either with a steam injection device or less often with a steam jacket (42 45psi) The digesters can be fitted with a stainless steel liner and stainless steel bottom instead of mild steel parts.

Digester system
Optional system for Digester
Temperature regulator Hydro-flow coupling slip ring motor Level Indicator Hour counter Various types of control panel for digester alone also combined for press & digester

Function of Digester
The rupturing of all oil bearing cells The complete loosening of the pericarp from nuts To prepare mash for efficient oil extraction by the press The mash to be made homogeneous I.e. fibre and nuts mixed evenly The temperature of the mesh to be raised to not less than 95 C

Normal Operation
The digester is supplied fitted with 4 sets of digesting arms and one set of expeller arms. In practice only 3 sets of digesting arm is usually used. It is normal to remove the top set and keep them as spares in store. For normal operation the digester should be kept completely full at all times. The digester temperature should be maintained high at 95oC. Steam valve to the digester steam jacket should be kept fully opened during the operation of the digester. The temperature of the fruit in the digester should be adjusted by controlling the steam to the live steam jets.

Bottom Digester Oil Drainage

There are 2 valves connecting the bottom of digester for bottom oil drainage. These valve should be checked from time to time to ensure that they are not blocked. In general, bottom digester oil drainage tends to directly increase clarification difficulties and at the same time introduce the bad effect of over digestion When there is excessive oil visible at the digester chute window, a limited amount of bottom drainage is desirable

 Bottom oil drainage should not be so great that no surplus oil is seen at the window. It should be borne in mind that excessive bottom drainage is sometimes the result of operation at too low temperature. Low temperature operation impedes the proper passage of the oil through screw press cage and strainer. The Digester should never be left full overnight

Effect of Over Digestion

Increase Iron Contamination of the palm oil Increase the Clarification loss Increase Upkeep Cost Increase Power Consumption

Maintenance cost for digester is in the range of 8-12 cents/ton ffb

SCREW PRESS
Details about this screw press will be cover in the next lecture after tea break There were few well established press in the market with the throughput ranging from 10ton ffb/hr 20ton ffb/hr The Screw press were named after their designed capacity I.e. P9, P15 and P20 Operation and maintenance cost are vary between 25 to 55 cents/ton ffb processed depend to the condition of the press itself.

CAKE BREAKER CONVEYOR

It serves the purpose of taking the cake of pericarp residue delivered by the press to the depericarper. The cake is given a preliminary treatment as it is transported, I.e the fibre and nuts are loosen after the lumps of cake have been deposited into the conveyor through the chute at the press, being broken down by the adjustable paddles fitted on the conveyor shaft or by the screw outer edge cut into paddle type.

 Earlier design was equipped with steam jacketted to dried out the cake moisture for efficient separation of fibres at the depericarper As the efficiency of hydraulic twin screw press improved, there is a growing tendency of the mill engineers to remove or isolate steam from the jacketted conveyor.

 Most of new mills, CBC was no longer equipped with steam jacketted. Padle arm has been phased out and was replaced with full ribbon screw type. To ensure screw conveyor still performing function as CBC, some engineers has weld flat bars at the outer screw edge New innovation was to cut the outer edge of the ribbon. CBC usually fitted with renewable liner plate to combat the heavy wear takes place in this conveyor.

CBC
It is a reliable peace of equipment and most of the maintenance is due to the abrasive wear plate, shaft and screw The cost of maintaining the CBC is in the region of 5 8 cents/ton ffb

Vibrating Screen
Performing a useful function in an oil mill by screening out the large fibre particles in the crude oil. Require continuous attention and it is not a very pleasant equipments because of the splashing of crude oil in and around the screens. It is not really an ideal equipments for this particles screening due to the fact that fibre can pass through the holes in the screens and the crude oil is exposed to air when passed over screen.

 Normal cost to maintain this double deck vibrating screen is in between 5 7 cents/ ton ffb.

Crude Oil Tank

Common practice the tank is installed below the vibrating screen. This should be avoided as the hot vapour emitted from the tank make it impossible to carry out maintenance. Different design had been tried out from the closed tank and now an open tank with a sloping bottom towards the suction. Fitted with open steam injection coil to keep it homogeneous and to keep crude oil temperature at desired level of 90 0C and above. Maintenance cost is about 1 cents/ton ffb. Trend todays is fabricating this tank from stainless steel.

Crude Oil Pump

Various type of pumps are used for the purpose pumping the crude oil to clarification station. Whatever pump type is used, wear and tear rates are high due to abrasive nature of the fibre and sand particles in the crude oil.

Types of Pumps
Centrifugal Pump
Since crude oil is a viscous liquid which contains solid materials. Pump with an open or semi-open type impeller should be used. Pumps for crude oil usually has a volute casing. This casing take the form of a volute increasing in cross sectional area as the outlet is approached. The volute converts the velocity energy imparted to the liquid by the impeller into pressure energy with comparatively low losses.

 A continuous cavity pump

Made up of male metal rotor rotates with minimum clearance in an elastometric female stator. The screw pumps are ideal for handling viscous liquids but they must be operated at relatively low speed in order to attain best performance from this type of pump Maintenance cost = 10 12 cents/ton ffb.