FFB – PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN

Improving mill oil extraction rate under the Malaysian National Key Economic Area

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:13:36 +0000

Increasing oil extraction rate (OER) to 23% by 2020 is the aim of the fourth Entry Point Project (EPP) under the palm oil National Key Economic Area (NKEA). The national OER over the years have not made significant improvements due to the inconsistent quality of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) supplied to the mills coupled with inefficient machinery installed in some old mills that had expanded but not their machinery resulting in high oil losses during operation. Several strategies were designed to ensure that the objective of NKEA is achievable. Now close monitoring of FFB quality is being implemented by adopting one mill one enforcement officer policy. As for the oil loss, strict protocol on managing oil loss at mill should be the basis for gauging oil loss. The strategies put forward by the NKEA Laboratory is a testimony to a joint understanding between the policy-maker (government) and the industry.

Removal of abrasive materials from FFB before milling

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:13:43 +0000

Fresh fruit bunches (FFB) delivered to mills in Malaysia contain a high volume of trash that accompany the loose fruits when scooping loose fruits from the field using hand or tractor shovels. In the early days of the industry when loose fruits were handpicked, the problem of FFB contamination by trash was virtually non-existent. The acute labour shortage coupled with high labour cost has generated the present problem of high trash content in FFB. The sand, the main component of trash causes serious erosion on process machinery. In addition, the wasted iron is also picked up by the palm oil, which in turn become contaminated by the iron it picks up resulting in oxidation of the palm oil. In order to address this serious problem, many methods were tried out by the industry but none offered a satisfactory solution. This article presents a simple and effective method of selective elimination of trash in FFB based on 12 trials conducted in a mill in August and September 2011. The volume of sand and stones removed was observed to exceed those observed in the conventional system. The implication of the study reveals that further system extension and development can bring about even better trash removal efficiency.

FFB decoring technology revolutionizes palm oil milling process

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:13:50 +0000

The decoring technology (patented by Loh, T W) revolutionizes the decades’ old palm oil milling process by utilizing spikelets/loose fruits rather than fresh fruit bunch (FFB) as feed stock in the cooking/sterilization process. The decoring machine and bucket decoring conveyor remove the core of the FFB thus producing a mixture of loose fruits, spikelets, stalk fibre, debris of organic matters and loose sand, etc. The spikelets are mildly cooked continuously for separation of the loose fruits from the stalk. Clean loose fruits are then sterilized in a continuous sterilizer using steam of about 0.68 barg (10 psig.) in less than 18 min. Empty fruit bunch (EFB) and sterilizer condensate are eliminated. The sterilized fruits are then fed into conventional digesters. The digested fruit mash is first washed by very hot water to get rid of much oil and sludge therein. The nuts are removed before the nut-free fibre is fed into a screw press. By so doing, additional oil can be recovered thus boosting oil extraction rate (OER). Elimination of EFB and sterilizer condensate also would increase OER for the industry and it is a significant monetary return for the country. The decoring technology also ffers many other advantages and benefits such as saving more than 25% in capital cost in mill construction, lower operation and maintenance costs, lower power and steam consumption, and lower wastewater discharge. The oil-free stalk fibre and spikelets together with the excess press fibre are good source of organic materials for making compost, pulp and paper.

Mongana basics: part 19 – plasticity

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:13:58 +0000

In order to satisfy the user’s oil of fairly constant plasticity, we have studied the relationship between the composition of the glycerides and the plasticity. At the same time, a survey was carried out on the plasticity of a few Congo oils.

Clarification station operation

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:13:58 +0000

I am sure that most millers will concede that the clarification operation in a palm oil mill plays an important role in efficient oil extraction. But whether all millers are really concerned about this is questionable as in some mills despite the oil losses being higher than the normal values, no positive action seem to have been undertaken to remedy the situation.

Mongana basics: part 18 – deperoxidation

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:13:58 +0000

As the increase in peroxide value is considered as a sign of deterioration in the quality of oil, possible ways of lowering this value were investigated. The lowering of the peroxide value can be achieved through reduction, in the chemical sense of the word. The laboratory results were very conclusive and the industrial implementation led to a marked decrease in peroxide value but it was not possible to reduce it to nil as in laboratory experiments. The reason lies probably in the lack of intimate contact between the oil and the reducing agent.

Mongana basics: part 17 – oxidation of oil

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:13:58 +0000

Simplified Theory: Olefinic chains in contact with air undergo a slow oxidation process (becoming rancid). The primary degree of this deterioration is the formation of hydroperoxides which attach themselves to the carbon atom adjacent to the double bond.

Mongana basics: part 16 – study of the quality and characteristics of oil

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:14:05 +0000

This has been studied on samples of oil stored in sealed tubes. It is virtually impossible in that case to determine the value of the reaction constant k because a plot of logarithm of acidity against time leads to curves having their concavity towards the t axis. The apparent rate of the reaction decreases very quickly as the reaction proceeds. Furthermore, aberrant results are recorded frequently owing to the very small amounts of moisture to be determined

Mongana basics: part 14 – study of the quality and characteristics of oil

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:14:05 +0000

In the preceding chapters, the conditions required to produce a pure oil, that is free impurities and moisture were examined. Other criteria make it possible to assess the quality of crude palm oil.

Mongana basics: part 13 – de-hydration and re-hydration of oil

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:14:05 +0000

Experiments on the spontaneous hydrolysis of palm oil have shown that the reaction is of the type of the common hydrolysis, the so-called catalysed monomolecular hydrolysis, that is, the formula of the instantaneous speed of reaction does not include a factor linked to the moisture concentration so long as the latter is close to saturation.