INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCTION,

PROCESSING AND QUALITY OF PALM

AND PALM KERNEL PRODUCTS
Chong Chiew Let
Head
Analytical & Quality Development Unit
Product development and Advisory Services Division

Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)

Kementerian Produk Peladang dan Komoditi (KPPK)

Palm Oil Familiarization Programme

2009 Kuala Lumpur

INTRODUCTION
Oil palm is a tree crop
which bears fruit three
years after planting

INTRODUCTION (cont)
Palm oil: from mesocarp of the palm fruit

Palm kernel oil: from kernel inside the fruit

Palm kernel oil is meant for propagation of the
specie

Plantation sector

Milling sector
Refining sector

Oleochemical sector

Five
major sectors of
Malaysian PO
industry

Kernel crushing
sector

Effect of Plantation Practices on the

Quality of CPO
Bunch ripeness

Bruising of fruits during

harvesting
Transportation of ffb to
mill as soon as possible

B) Sterilization
Objectives of bunch sterilization are: Deactivation of enzymes to prevent
further rise in FFB

Facilitate stripping of fruits

Preparation of fruit mesocarp by
coagulating mucilaginous material
which facilitates oil cell rupturing
Reconditioning of nuts to minimise
kernel breakages during pressing and
nut cracking

Sterilization (cont)
Horizontal sterilizers are generally used
FFB is subjected to steam-heat
treatment
Saturated steam at a pressure of 3
kg/cm2 is used for heating
3 peak sterilization cycle used

Sterilizing cycle time: 75 to 90 minutes

C) Stripping
cooked FFB are fed into a rotary drum thresher for
separation of fruits from bunch stalk
As drum stripper rotates, bunches are lifted up and then
dropped repeatedly as the bunches travel along the stripper
The fruits are knocked off the bunch by impact action
Detached fruits pass through the bar screen and are collected
underneath by conveyors and discharged into digester

Empty bunches (EFB) are discharged at the end of the

stripper continuously

D) Digestion
Sterilized fruit mesocarp must be
loosened from the nuts in preparation
for mesocarp pressing
Digestion involves mashing of palm
fruits heated conditions
Heating : by steam jacket around
digester or live steam injection
The digester is a vertical cylindrical
vessel fitted with a rotating shaft fitted
with a number of stirring arms
Fruits are mashed and heating will
rupture oil bearing cells

E) Pressing
CPO is extracted by means of a twin screw press
Hot water added to assist oil flow when necessary
CPO slurry is collected in crude oil tank for purification
Press cake is conveyed to a depericarper for separation
The press is operated to press out oil without breaking any nuts
Possible to reduce nut breakages by employing double pressing
which is practiced by a number of palm oil mills in the country

F) Clarification and Purification of CPO

Oil is sent to a vibrating screen of 30-40 mesh to remove fibres and residues
It is then pumped to a continuous horizontal or vertical clarification tank for
oil separation
Temperature of clarification: 90C to enhance oil separation by density
differences

Clarified oil is centrifuged to remove impurities

Cleaned oil is then vacuum dried and cooled to 45C before storage
CPO: moisture and dirt content of below 0.2% and 0.025% respectively.

G) Depericarping
Press cake consists of a moist and oily fibres and nuts
mixture
Mixture is conveyed to a depericarper for nut and fibre
separation

Fibre, separated from by winnowing, is sent to boiler

house for boiler fuel
Nuts are sent to a rotating drum where remaining fibre is
removed by attrition before being sent to a nut cracker

H) Kernel Extraction
Nuts are dried and cooled to loosen kernel from shell
before cracking : conditioning
Nuts are cracked in a nut cracker by impact
The shell and kernel are separated by winnowing
followed by a clay bath or hydrocyclone
Kernel is then dried in a kernel silo dryer to reduce
moisture to below 7% to prevent mould growth

Palm oil milling process

ling Practices
at can affect
e quality of
O:

Fresh fruit bunches (ffb)

Loading ramp bruising

Steriliser
Stripping

Empty fruit bunches

Iron

Digester

Press

Nut/fiber
separation

Oil/water
separation
crude oil storage

heating

fiber for fertilising

nuts to storage

Quality of Crude Palm Oil

The sale specifications of
crude palm oil within
Malaysia are (MPOA):FFA
M&L
DOBI

5.0% max
0.25% max
2.3 min

Quality of Palm Kernel

MEOMA
Dirt & Shell (%)

6% max

10%

rejectable
Moisture (%)
FFA (%)
(as lauric acid)

7% max
rejectable
5% max

10%

PALM KERNEL CRUSHING SECTOR

Extraction Process
Three types of extraction processes are
used:

Mechanical Extraction using high

pressure screw press
Direct solvent exraction
Prepressing followed by solvent
extraction
Mainly mechanical extraction used

Palm Kernel Oil Extraction: Pretreatment

Feed kernels are cleaned using magnetic traps to remove

metal debris
Vibrating screens for sieving out sand, stones/other
undesirable materials
Kernels are than broken into small fragments to facilitate
flaking by roller mill

Roller mill roll kernel into flakes of 0.25 0.4mm thick

Kernel flakes are then steam conditioning in stack
steamer to, rupture cell wall

Screw Pressing
Cooked kernel meal is fed into a screw-press
Expelled oil is drained through perforations cage
Oil Clarification
Expelled palm kernel oil is decanted or screened to
remove fines and foot

A filter press is also used in order to produce a clean

oil prior to storage
The cake discharged from the press is conveyed for
storage in a silo

Quality of Crude Palm

Kernel Oil
FFA
M&I
IV

5.0% max
0.5% max
19 max

PALM OIL REFINING

Objectives of refining
palm oil products
Removal of
odoriferous materials
Reduction of ffa

Reduction of oil colour

Preservation of minor
components

REFINING OF PALM OIL

Two type of processes
chemical (alkali)
physical refining

Chemical Refining
Chemical Refining consists of degumming,
neutralising, bleaching and deodorising
High operating costs and high refining losses,
problems of pollution due to soapstocks

ALKALI REFINING
DEGUMMING

PHYSICAL
REFINING
DEGUMMING

NEUTRALISATION
PRETREATMENT
BLEACHING

PRETREATMENT
BLEACHING

DEODORIZATION

DEACIDIFICATION/
DEODORIZATION

NBD

RBD

Malaysia:Mainly physical refining

Physical Refining
Physical refining process involves only
degumming, bleaching and deodorisation
In the deodoriser, stripping steam is used
to deacidify the oil under vacuum
Refining losses and costs are much lower
Physical refining is most widely used in
Malaysian palm oil refining industry

PRETREATMENT: DEGUMMING and BLEACHING

DEGUMMING
Phosphoric acid is added to degum the oil
Conditions phospholipids and trace metals prior
to earth bleaching
BLEACHING
Bleaching : non-activated clay, activated carbon
and silica are generally used

Acid activated bleaching earth is sometimes used

Pretreatment bleaching
The most important property is the
catalytic decomposition of the
hydroperoxides in the oil
The primary function of the bleaching
earths during pretreatment is the
removal of peroxides and secondary
oxidation products
The secondary function is to clean up
traces of soap, phosphatides, trace
metals and pigments in the oil

CRUDE PALM OIL

PHOSPHORIC ACID
DEGUMMING
BLEACHING EARTH
VACUUM BLEACHING

FILTRATION

Vertical Leaf Filter

SECURITY FILTRATION
DEG BL PO

PRETREATMENT BLEACHING

DEODORISATION
The last step in the refining process is deodorisation
Oil is heated to 260C under vacuum to remove undesired
odours in chemical refining

For physical refining, main aim is removal of FFA with

injected steam
Deodorization removes:
free fatty acids
ketones & aldehydes
pesticides & other HC

carotenoids break down

other volatiles
volatile oxidation products

PORAM Standard Specifications

For NBD/RBD Palm Oil
FFA (as palmitic)
0.1% max
M&I
0.1% max
IV (Wijs)
50-55
MP/oC
33-39
(AOCS Cc3-25)
Colour (51/4cell) 3 or 6 Red max

NBD/RBD Palm Kernel Oil

Specifications For Export
FFA (as lauric)

0.1% max

M&I

0.1% max

IV (wijs)
time)

19 max (shipment

Colour (51/4cell)

Red 1.5 max

FRACTIONATION
Three fractionation methods used:

Crystallisation of PO; separation by filtration (Dry

Fractionation)
Crystallisation of PO in solvent; filtration (Solvent
Fractionation)
Partial Crystallisation of PO and mixing with surface
active agent (sodium lauryl sulphate) ; centrifuging
(Detergent Fractionation)
Liquid fraction: olein

Solid fraction: stearin

Liquid fraction: refractionated to yield superolein and

PMF

Fractionation principle
Molten
fat
crystallisation

Slurry

solid/liquid separation

Olein

Stearin

Membrane filter press

Courtesy of

Some Value-added Down Stream Products of A

Refinery

Palm Mid-Fraction for Cocoa Butter Equivalent

(CBE)
Cocoa Butter Substitute (from Palm Kernel Oil)
Cocoa Butter Extender (from hydrogenated
superolein)

Fully hydrogenated products

Interesterified products

PORAM Specifications of Palm

Olein and Stearin

FFA (as palmitic)

M&I
IV
MP
Colour

RBD/NBD
Palm Olein

RBD/NBD
Palm Stearin

0.1% max
0.1% max
56 min
24 max
3 or 6 Red

0.1% max
0.1% max
48 max
44 min
3 Red

Thank you