OIL EXTRACTION RATE (OER) – PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN

Palm Oil Mill Innovation for Improved Efficiency, Based on Creativity and Profitability

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:13:23 +0000

Can life for palm oil mill managers and engineers be (ever) made ‘easy’? Actually, yes with a solution that is both easy and simple. Just picture this managers and engineers focusing on mill processes and production matters rather than tending to persistent mill utility issues. This will lead to enriching their daily working life and enhancing the core business of their company.

Palm Oil Mills and Oil Extraction Ratio

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

This article that appeared in the Engineering Bulletin No. 70 has summarised the gist of the dilemma faced by palm oil millers from day one the modern palm oil mills made their debut in Malaysia or for that matter anywhere in the world. The refusal of some planters to accept the reality of where the mill oil is coming from, the national oil extraction rate (OER) will remain low. It is absolutely pointless to expect the fruit bunches to create more oil than what it contains. As far as oil synthesis is concerned, the moment a bunch is harvested, it cannot produce any more oil. Despite the oil palm planters having this knowledge, they still continue to point their fingers at the mill and put the blame on them when the mill OER drops. If we are sincere in our efforts under the National Key Economic Area (NKEA) to increase our national OER, the focus has to shift from the mill to the estate. This article is republished so that the industry can use the information to increase the national OER. The millers are kindly requested to convey the information to all the contributing estates.

Declining Trends in Oil Extraction Rate (OER): Are We Facing an Impasse?

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

Are we facing an impasse in our drive for an increase in productivity? All the efforts taken to ensure that only good quality crop is delivered to the mill do not seem to have made any significant impact in achieving the goals. There are limitations in what human beings can do as many contributing factors for increased production are beyond human control. While oil loss, harvesting ripe crop and trash control are manageable by human effort, climatic conditions, weevil activity, inflorescence sex ratio etc. fall under the domain of mother nature, where we have little control. Many papers have been presented on all the possible areas where oil losses can take place leading eventually to a decline in the oil extraction rate (OER). They were written by different authors representing different plantation agencies and as a result they were not fully integrated to give the operational people a holistic view for them to effectively enforce them. The agronomists, planters and millers often present their views from different angles that may confuse the owners or the Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of companies who would be unable to make the right decision to benefit the company as a whole.

Significance of Oil Extraction Rate (OER) Efficiency in a Palm Oil Mill

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

The other day, a mill manager contacted us to say that his boss was always finding fault with him when the oil loss was on the high side. His boss, the General Manager, was a planter by profession but was vested with the mandate to monitor mill operations as well. As the General Manager was always finding fault with the mill manager and turned a deaf ear to his explanations, he was contemplating on resigning and taking up a job overseas. We told to him to hold on and find out a way to make him understand the factors involved. This could be a tough job as another factor called ego also played a vital role in this. If the General Manager said that the total mill process loss should have been below 1.5%, it should have been applicable in all the mills. He had a point there, but not a valid one as there were other factors he had overlooked. As this issue is widespread among the organisations, where the plantation managers take charge of the mills, we thought Perhaps we should make some clarifications for the planters to carefully consider the relevant reasoning behind the rational that oil losses are a function of the oil extraction ratio. Surprisingly, even the mill engineers are not aware of this simple truth. In order to justify this statement, some definitions would be of help.

Datasheet : Year of planting and oil content

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:14:19 +0000

Datasheet – 1) Combustion reactions for fuel elements with combining weights and volumes with heating values, 2) Monthly oil extraction rate (OER) for the year 2002 in Malaysia

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 17:14:39 +0000