PROCESSING OF

EDIBLE OIL
(PALM OIL)

CHAPTER 3
OBJECTIVES

• To expose students about palm oil refining

processes
• To introduce terms in refining crude palm oil
such as RBD, Olein & Stearin
 LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this chapter, students should
be able to:

• state basic refining process from crude oil until

intermediate products such as palm olein, palm stearin
and others
• describes important parameters such pressure,
temperature and others in the processes
3.1 REFINING
PROCESS
INTRODUCTION

• Crude palm oil extracted commercially from the

fresh fruit bunches contains a small but variable
amount of undesirable components and impurities.
• These include some mesocarp fibers, moisture and
insolubles, free fatty acids, phospholipids, trace
metals, oxidation products, and odoriferous
substances
 INTRODUCTION

• As a result, palm oil is normally refined to a bland,

stable product before it is used for direct
consumption or for formulation of edible product.
IMPURITIES IN CRUDE PALM OIL

• Hydrolytic
– Moisture, dirt, free fatty acids,partial
glycerides and enzymes
• Oxidative
– Metals, oxidation products, pigment,
tocopherols , and phospatides
IMPURITIES IN CRUDE PALM OIL

• Catalyst poison
– Compounds containing nitrogen, sulphur &
halogens
• Hydrocarbons
– Terpenes, resdin, waxes ad unsaturated
compounds
REFINING PROCESS

• The objectives of refining process are:

– to convert the crude oil to quality edible oil
by removing objectionable impurities to the
desired levels in the most efficient manner.
– to neutralized Free Fatty Acid present in the
crude oil
 REFINING PROCESS
• The refining routes of palm oil is quite identical and depends
on its characteristic:
– Product approach and refiners requirement
– Higher oil yield,
– Reduction of the use of chemical
– Reduction in water use
– Effluent 75 to 90% reduce
– Quality and acidity of crude oil
– Ability to remove soapstock
– Environmental legislation
REFINING PROCESS

• There are two routes are taken to process crude

oil into refined oil:
– chemical refining
– physical refining
• They differ basically in the manner in which
the free fatty acids are removed.
REFINING PROCESS
• Characteristics of Crude Palm Oil
 Physical Refining diagram
To TOH From TOH
Storage
Tank
Vacuum
SHE SHE SHE
H3PO4

Vacuum

Bleaching Vacuum
Bleacher Level

Motorised Mixer

Static MIxer

BPO
Pre-
Buffer Stripper
Tank
FA
PHE Condenser
To Slope
Tank
PHE

PHE
Silo BPO
Trap FA
PHE Niagara Filter Filter Condenser

PHE

PHE RBDPO
Slurry Tank Trap
Filter
RBDPO RBDPO

Outlet

CPO
Inlet
REFINING PROCESS

Refining basically involves 4 stages:

1. Degumming – to remove phospholipids
2. Neutralization – to remove fatty acids (chemical
refining)
3. Bleaching – to remove pigments by adsorptive
treatment
4. Deodorization – to remove odor in vacuum
condition
PHYSICAL REFINING

• Physical refining is a refining process using

steam distillation under higher temperature and
vacuum to remove free fatty acids.
• Consists of 2 stages:
– Pretreatment : Degumming & Bleaching
– Steam distillation : Deodorization
PHYSICAL REFINING
PHYSICAL REFINING
PHYSICAL REFINING

• Suit when raw materials is low gums and high FFA,

unsaponifiable and others by stream stripping
• Need pretreatment with 2 steps:
– Addition of chemical to remove small amount of
gums
– Using steam distillation to remove FFA and
impurities.
STEP 1: DEGUMMING
• Chemical used for degumming process is phosphoric
acids
• Crude palm oil is first heated up to a temperature
about 90 – 110oC before added with phosphoric acids.
• The dosage of phosphoric acids normally used is 80 –
85% concentration at the rate of 0.05 – 0.2% feed oil.
STEP 1: DEGUMMING

• The purpose of phosphoric acids is to

precipitate the non hydratable phosphatides
and coagulate the phosphatides making it
insoluble and thus easily removed during
bleaching.
STEP 2: BLEACHING

• Degummed oil is passed to bleacher where

bleaching earth is added as slurry.
• The dosage of bleaching earth within the range of
0.8 – 2.0% by weight of oil.
• Bleaching is carried out under a vacuum of 20–25
mmHg and at a temperature of 95–110oC with
retention time of 30–45 min
STEP 2: BLEACHING
• The functions of bleaching earth are:
– to adsorb the undesirable impurities such as trace metals,
moisture, insolubles, and part of the carotenoids and other
pigments
– to reduce the oxidation products
– to adsorb the phospholipids precipitated by the phosphoric acid
– to remove any excess phosphoric acid present in the oil after
degumming
STEP 2: BLEACHING
• During bleaching process, traces metal complexes,
pigments, phosphatides, oxidation products and any
residual of phosphoric acids are removed by adsorptive
effect of the bleaching earth.
• The slurry containing the oil and earth is then filtered
using plate and frame presses or verticle or horizontal
pressure filters to recover a clear, light orange color
pretreated oil.
STEP 2: BLEACHING

• A small amount of diatomaceous earth is used to

precoat the filter leaves to improve the filtration
process
• As a quality precaution, the filtered oil is
polished through another security filter bag in
series, to trap any earth particles that escape
through the first filter.
STEP 2: BLEACHING

• This is essential as the presence of spent earth

particles in the pretreated oil reduces the
oxidative stability of the final RBD oil.
• The spent earth from the filter normally
contains about 20–40% oil, and this is the
major source of oil loss in the refining process.
STEP 3: DEODORIZATION

• The pretreated oil is then ready for

deodorization process to remove FFA using
steam distillation.
• The pretreated oil is first deaerated followed by
heating to 240–270oC in an external heat
exchanger before pumping into the deodorizer,
which is kept under a vacuum of 2–5 mm Hg.
STEP 3: DEODORIZATION

• Superheated high-pressure steam is used as a

heating medium
• Temperatures above 270oC are to be avoided to
minimize loss of neutral oil,
tocopherols/tocotrienols, and also the
possibilities of isomerization and undesirable
thermochemical reactions
STEP 3: DEODORIZATION

• During this process, the free fatty acids, which

were still present in the pretreated oil, are
distilled together with the more volatile
odoriferous and oxidation products such as
aldehydes and ketones
• At the same time, the residual carotenoids
present are also thermally decomposed
STEP 3: DEODORIZATION

• The residual carotenoids present are also

thermally decomposed and the end result is the
production of a light-colored, bland RBD palm
oil
DESIRED QUALITY OF RBDPO
ADVANTAGES OF PHYSICAL
REFINING
• Higher efficiency
• Less operating cost
• Simple effluent treatment
 PHYSICAL REFINING….
Low Phosphatides High Phosphatide
Crude fats & Oil Crude Fats & Oil

Acid Refining or
Physical refining process flow Degumming (Water Acid,
diagram Enzymatic or Another
Process

Dry Degumming or
Dry Degumming Bleaching

Dewaxing,
fractionation
Hydrogenation

Steam Distillation

Deodorized Fat or Oil

CHEMICAL REFINING

• Chemical refining is the refining process

using appropriate amount of caustic soda (lye)
to remove free fatty acids by neutralization.
• The neutralization process will produce
soapstock.
CHEMICAL REFINING

• Consists of 4 stages:
– Degumming
– Neutralization
– Bleaching
– Deodorization
CHEMICAL REFINING
STEP 1: DEGUMMING

• The crude oil is heated to a temperature of 80–

90oC
• Phosphoric acid of 80–85% concentration is
then dosed in at a rate of 0.05–0.2% (of the
feed oil)
STEP 2: NEUTRALIZATION

• The degummed oil is further treated with a caustic

soda solution of about 4 N concentration with a
calculated excess (based on free fatty acid content
of the crude oil) of about 20%
• The phosphatides and gums are absorb alkali and
coagulated through hydration or degradation
STEP 2: NEUTRALIZATION

• The reaction between caustic soda and the free

fatty acids in the degummed oil results in the
formation of sodium soap (soapstocks)
• The lighter phase discharged consists mainly
of neutralized oil containing 500–1000 mg/kg
of soap and moisture
STEP 2: NEUTRALIZATION

• The heavy phase is mainly soap, insoluble

impurities, gums, phosphatides, excess alkali,
and a small quantity of oil loss through
emulsification
• As an excess of alkali is used, it is unavoidable
that a slight loss of neutral oil through
saponification also occurs
STEP 2: NEUTRALIZATION

• The non-hydratable phosphatides are separated

from the oil by using centrifugal separator.
• The neutralized palm oil (NPO) is then washed
with 10–20% hot water to remove traces of soap
still present.
• The washed oil is then dried under vacuum to a
moisture level below 0.05%.
STEP 3: BLEACHING

• The neutralized palm oil is treated with

bleaching earth in a similar manner as that
described in physical refining
• However, the bleaching earth also removes
traces of soap that are present
STEP 4: DEODORIZATION
• The neutralized and bleached oil is then channeled to the
deodorizer in a similar manner to that in the physical refining
• The oil is subjected to distillation at a temperature of 240–
260oC and a vacuum of 2–5 mm Hg with direct steam injection
• During this process, residual free fatty acids, volatile oxidation
products, and odoriferous materials are removed together with
thermal decomposition of carotenoids
STEP 4: DEODORIZATION

• The final product, called neutralized, bleached,

and deodorized (NBD) palm oil is then cooled
down to 60oC and passed through polishing
filter bags before pumping to the storage tanks
DESIRED QUALITY OF NBD
PALM OIL
RESULTS

Colour of oil