Boiler operations play an important part of the mill engineer’s responsibilities and from time to time articles on all aspects of boiler operations shall be included. The series starts with the “Order of Operation” when shutting a boiler down for the annual survey.

This is the first of a four part series of articles which will give a brief insight into the proess of refining and fractionation of palm oil as practised by Malaysian refiners. This part outlines briefly the growth of the refining industry, the need for refining and the initial stages of chemical refining.