CHAPTER 1

1.3 EDIBLE PALM OIL MILLING

 PALM OIL MILL PROCESSING
 A palm oil mill produces crude palm oil
(CPO) and crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) as
the primary products and biomass as
secondary products.
 Capacity of mill varies between 60 – 100
tons FFB/h.

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 PALM OIL MILL PROCESSING
 The typical mill have many unit operations
which of sterilization, stripping, digestion
and pressing, clarification, purification,
drying and storage. For the kernel line, there
are steps such as nut/fibre separation, nut
conditioning and cracking, cracked mixture
separation, and kernel drying, storage.

3
PALM OIL MILL PROCESSING

4
TRADITIONAL CRUDE PALM OIL PROCESSING

5
MODERN CRUDE PALM OIL PROCESSING

6
 CRUDE PALM OIL RECOVERY

Weight Sterilisation Threshing Pressing Screening Clarifying

Bridge

Recovered
Vacuum Purifying Oil
Drying

Oil Recovery

Sludge

Storage Tank Effluent Treatment Plant

7
1. Reception

Weight bridge Loading Ramp

FFB Truck
Grading FFB
Over Ripe Bunch
Unripe Bunch
Empty bunch
Under ripe bunch
Old Crop
Ripe bunch
Long stalk bunch 8
1. Reception
 Fresh fruit arrives from the field as bunches or
loose fruit.
 Weight the fresh fruit in the truck using weight
bridge.
 Grading the FFB to identify the quality of bunches.
 The quality standard achieved is initially
dependent on the quality of bunches arriving at the
mill.

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1. Reception
 The mill cannot improve upon this quality but can
prevent or minimize further deterioration.
 The field factors that affect the composition and
final quality of palm oil are genetic, age of the tree,
agronomic, environmental, harvesting technique,
handling and transport

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 2. Sterilisation

Sterilizer
Receive

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2. Sterilisation
 The purposes of sterilization are:
– prevents build-up of free fatty acids (FFA) in the
oil by inactivates the lipases in the fruits
– loosens the fruits from bunches to facilitate
stripping
– softens the fruit mesocarp for digestion and
release of oil
– preconditioning of nuts to reduce kernel
breakage

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2. Sterilisation
 The sterilisers consists of a long cylindrical
pressure vessel of about 1.8m diameter,
with rails running along the length of the
interior.
 The fruit is loaded into cages
 These cages are pushed on the rails into the
steriliser.
 Once the steriliser has been loaded and
closed, steam is introduced.
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2. Sterilisation
 Pressure is built up to about 3 kg/cm2 which
corresponds to a temperature above 130oC
for 1hr.
 When high-pressure steam is used for
sterilization, the heat causes the moisture in
the nuts to expand.

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 2. Sterilisation

 When the pressure is reduced the contraction

of the nut leads to the detachment of the
kernel from the shell wall, thus loosening the
kernels within their shells.

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 3. Threshing/Stripping Station

Reception Sterilisation

Thresher

Mulching at field Empty Bunches

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3. Threshing/Stripping
 The purpose of stripping is to separate the
fruits from the empty bunch
 Modern mills used drum stripper
 The drum rotates at about 22 rpm
 Sterilized FFBs are fed into a drum stripper
and the drum is rotated, causing the fruits to
be detached from the bunch

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3. Threshing/Stripping
 The bunch stalks are removed as they do
not contain any oil and being disposed by
incineration, giving ash as potash fertilizer,
and fuel for boilers
 It is important to ensure that oil loss in the
bunch stalk is kept to a minimum
 Prolonged sterilization will increase oil loss
in stalks

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3. Threshing/Stripping
 Irregular feeding of the stripper may also
result in increase of oil loss in stalks.
 Stalks which have fruits still attached on
them are called hard bunches, and have to
be recycled back to sterilizers for further
cooking. Hard bunches are detected by
visible inspection

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 4. Digestion and Pressing

Reception Sterilisation Threshing

Function:
• to digest the fruit lets Digester
•Maximize oil extraction with minimize broken nut
•To break press cake before depericarping

Oil Recovery Plant

Kernel Recovery Plant

Screw Press
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4. Digestion and Pressing
 The purpose are:
– To digest the fruits
– To maximize oil extraction with minimize broken
nut
– To break press cake before depericarping

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4. Digestion and Pressing
 After stripping, the fruits are moved into a digester
where, the fruits are reheated to loosen the
pericarp.
 Digestion is the process of releasing the palm oil
in the fruit through the rupture or breaking down of
the oil-bearing cells.
 The digester consists of a steam-heated
cylindrical vessel fitted with a central rotating shaft
carrying a number of beater (stirring) arms.

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4. Digestion and Pressing
 The fruits are rotated about, causing the
loosening of the pericarps from the nuts
 The digester is kept full and as the digested
fruit is drawn out, freshly stripped fruits are
brought in
 The fruits are passed into a screw press,
where the mixture of oil, water, press cake
or fibre and nuts are discharged.

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4. Digestion and Pressing
 Contamination from iron is greatest during
digestion when the highest rate of metal
wear is encountered in the milling process.
Iron contamination increases the risk of oil
oxidation and the onset of oil rancidity.

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5. Clarification
 The crude oil from the press consists of a mixture
oil, water and other non-oily solids
 Consists of 4 stages:
– Screening
– Clarifying
– Oil recovery
– Purifying

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 5. Clarification (Screening)

Reception Sterilisation Threshing Pressing

Vibrating Screen

Waste
screen

Oil have
been screen
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5. Clarification (Screening)
 The main purpose is to separate crude oil from dirt
 A mixture of oil, water, solids from the bunch fibres
is delivered from the press to a clarification tank.
 The mixture containing the crude oil is diluted with
hot water to reduce its viscosity

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5. Clarification (Screening)
 The dilution (addition of water) provides a barrier
causing the heavy solids to fall to the bottom of the
container while the lighter oil droplets flow through
the watery mixture to the top when heat is applied
to break the emulsion (oil suspended in water with
the aid of gums and resins)
 A vibrating screen helps remove some of the
solids

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 5. Clarification Station (Clarifying)

Reception Sterilisation Threshing Pressing Screening

CPO
Purifying

Clarifier Tank

Underflow
Sludge
Oil Recovery
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5. Clarification (Clarifying)
 The purpose is to collect oil from crude oil using
continuous settling tank.
 Separation of the oil from the rest of the liquor is
achieved by setting tanks based on gravity.
 The screened mixture is boiled from one or two
hours and then allowed to settle by gravity in the
large tank so that the palm oil, being lighter than
water, will separate and rise to the top

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 5. Clarification (Oil Recovery)

Reception Sterilisation Threshing Pressing Screening

CPO

Recovered Oil
Clarifier
Purifying Clarifying

Function:
• To collect oil from sludge
using decanter Underflow
Sludge

Sludge
Effluent DECANTER
Treatment
Plant
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5. Clarification (Oil Recovery)
 The purpose is to collect oil from sludge
using decanter

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 5. Clarification (Purifying)

Reception Sterilisation Threshing Pressing Screening Clarifier

CPO
Purifier

Dirt < 0.02%

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5. Clarification (Purifying)
 The purpose is to purified the crude palm oil
 Oil from the top is skimmed off and purified
in the centrifuge prior to drying
 The dirt level must be less than 0.02%

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 6. Drying

Reception Sterilisation Threshing Pressing Screening Clarifying

Purifying

Vacuum Dryer
Oil Recovery

Moisture < 0.18%

Sludge

Effluent Treatment Plant

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6. Drying
 The purpose is to reduce moisture content
of crude palm oil using vacuum dryer
 The oil must be dried to prevent increasing
of FFA through autocatalytic hydrolysis of
the oil
 The moisture content must be less than
0.18%

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 7. Storage of CPO

Reception Sterilisation Threshing Pressing Screening Clarifying

Recovered
Oil
Moisture< 0.18% Vacuum Purifying
Drying
Dirt < 0.02%
DOBI > 2.3
FFA < 3% Oil Recovery

Sludge

Storage Tank Effluent Treatment Plant

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7. Storage of CPO
 The purpose is to keep CPO with controlling
of quality
 The final crude palm oil is then cooled and
stored.
 Storage is in welded steel tanks contain
heating coils to prevent crystallization and
subsequent settling out of the solid phase.

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7. Storage of CPO
 May be filled with carbon dioxide or other
inert gas above the oil to prevent oxidation
 The temperature is controlled between 32 –
40oC during storage
 Temperature should be kept as low as
possible to minimise deterioration in quality
during storage

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7. Storage of CPO
 The quality of CPO have to maintain at:
– Moisture< 0.18%
– Dirt < 0.02%
– DOBI > 2.3
– FFA < 3%

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8. Palm Oil Mill (POM )- Buyer
(Refinery- Extract Plant)

Moisture< 0.18%
Dirt < 0.02%
DOBI > 2.3 Palm Oil Mill Buyer
FFA < 3%

Buyer

Function:
CPO Storage Tank •To keep CPO before delivery to Buyer

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 PALM KERNEL RECOVERY

Reception Sterilisation Threshing Pressing Depericarping

Heater

Hydro Clay bath Winnower Nut Cracking

Shell
Boiler Turbine
&
Fiber
Kernel
Cyclones
Despatch Silo 42
 9. Nut Recovery (Depericarping)

Reception Sterilisation Threshing Pressing

Depericarper
Fibre

Fibre
Cyclone Polishing Drum

Nuts
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9. Nut Recovery (Depericarping)
 The purpose are:
– To separate fiber from nut
– To clean up nut from fiber
 The residue from the press consists of a mixture
of fibre and palm nuts
 The press cake from the digester is fed to a
vertical column (depericarper) where air is
channeled to lift the fibre, thus separating the fibre
from the nuts

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9. Nut Recovery (Depericarping)
 The nuts are passed to a polishing drum at
the bottom of the depericarper, where
pieces of stalks are removed.

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 10. Nut Cracking

Reception Sterilisation Threshing Pressing Depericarping

Secondary
Nut
Depericarper
Cracker

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10. Nut Cracking
 The purpose is to crack kernel with minimize
broken kernel
 A nutcracker cracks the nuts after the
conditioning and drying process

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 11. Kernel Separation (Winnower)

Reception Sterilisation Threshing Pressing Depericarping

Shell

Nut Cracking

Winnower
Winnower
Cyclone
Function:
• Separately shell from
kernel with pneumatic
system
Nut
Kernel
&
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Shell
11. Kernel Separation (Winnower)
 The purpose to separate shell from kernel
with pneumatic system
 The mixture of cracked nuts and shells are
separated via a winnowing system

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 12. Kernel Separation (Hydro Clay Bath)

Reception Sterilisation Threshing Pressing Depericarping

Heating
Kernel
Winnower Nut Cracking

Shell
Hydro Clay bath

Shell
Cyclone 50
12. Kernel Separation (Hydro Clay Bath)

 The purpose is to separate shell and kernel

using hydro clay bath
 The mixture of cracked nuts and shells are
then separated by a hydrocyclone or a clay
bath
 A hydrocyclone uses centrifugal force to
separate the kernel from the shell using
water

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12. Kernel Separation (Hydro Clay Bath)

 The clay bath principle works on the specific

gravity of kernel of 1.07 and the shell of
1.17.
 The kernels will float while the shells sink in
a clay bath mixture of SG 1.12.

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 13. Kernel Storage

Reception Sterilisation Threshing Pressing Depericarping

Heater

Admixture< 6%
Moisture < 7% Hydro Clay bath Winnower Nut Cracking
FFA < 5%
•Function
•To dry and Keeping The
kernel

Shell
Boiler Turbine
&
Fiber
Kernel
Cyclones
Despatch Silo 53
13. Kernel Storage
 The kernels are then dried in hot air silos to
moisture content of less than 7%
 Quality control of kernel
– Admixture < 6%
– Moisture < 7%
– FFA < 5%

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