PALM OIL-Processing & Milling – PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN

A Critical Look at the Palm Oil Operations

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

This article is a repeat of the article previously published. As I felt that it contains some important points that will not get dated anytime in the near future, the millers are requested to read it through to improve the milling activity in their mills. The fabricating industry should also be well versed with what the millers seek so that they can fabricate machinery to fulfil the requirements of the industry.

Malaysia’s Entry to Ultra Supercritical Boiler Technology Club

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

This write-up will be of interest to our steam engineers working in all palm oil mills in Malaysia as well as in Indonesia. Perhaps this will inspire the mill owners to consider improving their current dated technology they are holding tight to high-tech boiler technology for their mill boilers. This technology is not new as it is a common knowledge for mechanical engineers that at high superheat temperatures the specific steam consumption will be low resulting in high boiler efficiency. At high boiler pressures and the corresponding steam temperatures, the boiler tubes will have to be made of costly alloy steel as the normal steel has its limitations to withstand the high gas temperatures prevailing in the boiler furnace. This is equally true for high altitude jet propelled fighter aircraft gas turbines whose ability to withstand the gas temperature of the hot gases determines its performance during combat operations.

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.

Mongana basics: part 25 – appendices

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

This is a continuation of Appendices from p.37 of Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin Issue No. 98.

Future milling concepts or idiosyncrasies? – part 2

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

This is a continuation of the part 1 of the article from p.25 of Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin No. 98.

Mongana basics: part 24 – general conclusions

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

This article reviews the results of four years of research which can be considered as extremely satisfactory. Areas reviewed as below: – Oil received at the factory – Sterilization – Extraction – Clarification of crude oil – Quality of oil – Processing of nuts – Utilisation of stalks

Future milling concepts or idiosyncrasies? Part I

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

The contents of this article are intended to offer to the industry discussions of some imaginary mill design concepts that should not be taken too seriously as they are far from perfect. It may even be qualified to be termed idiosyncrasy but even then it will still serve the purpose of tickling the intelligence of our mill engineers who are no doubt quite innovative. This is only a simple offshoot from the mind of a palm oil mill engineer based on his years of experience in the industry reinforced by his research exposure in the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, a combination very few people will have the opportunity to be blessed with. When writing this article, I tried my best to totally remove all the knowledge I have on existing methods of milling operation to prevent my current thinking from being skewed towards it. Perhaps this exercise itself may merit the credentials of a research work. In order to simplify this exercise, the system boundary and mill compound fencing shall be the same so that activities outside the mill like plantation operation and effluent treatment may be excluded.

Mongana basics: part 23- study of fuel and valorization of the waste products

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

The Waste Product the Palm Oil Mill – The approximate percentage composition of bunches processed in palm oil mills is given in Table 1. The amount of waste products is therefore dependent upon the type of bunch. Moreover, the extraction process affects the amount of non-oily solids and fibre which can be recovered or used. In the wet process, two-thirds of the fibre is washed away in water, in the continuous pressing process, one-third of it finds its way into the crude oil. Finally, in the centrifugal extraction technique or by manual press method, only very little of the fibre are removed.

Milling laws

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

During process operation there are many basic principles which should be adhered to in order to operate the mill efficiently. Do you know that a large volume of oil is lost in the sludge water simply because the oil filled cells were not ruptured to release oil? The oil extraction rate (OER) of the mill can be raised quite easily if only certain simple procedures are followed. They are now documented under the code of practice (CoP). They are given in Figure 1 in a consecutive order so that it is easy to comprehend the correct flow from upstream to downstream. There are seven of them. Millers have to depend only on one upstream activity, i.e. good estate practice.