1.

3 EDIBLE PALM OIL MILLING

CHAPTER 1

PALM OIL MILL PROCESSING

A palm oil mill produces crude palm oil
(CPO) and crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) as
the primary products and biomass as
secondary products.
Capacity of mill varies between 60 100
tons FFB/h.

CPD 30203 (JAN 2016)

PALM OIL MILL PROCESSING

The typical mill have many unit operations
which of sterilization, stripping, digestion
and pressing, clarification, purification,
drying and storage. For the kernel line,
there are steps such as nut/fibre separation,
nut conditioning and cracking, cracked
mixture separation, and kernel drying,
storage.
CPD 30203 (JAN 2016)

PALM OIL MILL PROCESSING

CPD 30203 (JAN 2016)

TRADITIONAL CRUDE PALM OIL PROCESSING

CPD 30203 (JAN 2016)

MODERN CRUDE PALM OIL PROCESSING

CPD 30203 (JAN 2016)

CRUDE PALM OIL RECOVERY

Sludge

Storage
Storage Tank
Tank

Effluent
EffluentTreatment
TreatmentPlant
Plant
CPD 30203 (JAN 2016)

1. Reception

Weight
Weight bridge
bridge
FFB Truck

Loading
Loading Ramp
Ramp

Grading
Grading FFB
FFB
Over Ripe Bunch

Unripe Bunch
Under ripe bunch
Ripe bunch

View FFB Grading

Empty bunch
Old Crop
Long stalk bunch

CPD 30203 (JAN 2016)

1. Reception
Fresh fruit arrives from the field as bunches or
loose fruit.
Weight the fresh fruit in the truck using weight
bridge.
Grading the FFB to identify the quality of bunches.
The quality standard achieved is initially
dependent on the quality of bunches arriving at the
mill.

CPD 30203 (JAN 2016)

1. Reception
The mill cannot improve upon this quality but can
prevent or minimize further deterioration.
The field factors that affect the composition and
final quality of palm oil are genetic, age of the tree,
agronomic, environmental, harvesting technique,
handling and transport

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2. Sterilisation
Receive
Receive

Sterilizer
Sterilizer

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2. Sterilisation
The purposes of sterilization are:
prevents build-up of free fatty acids (FFA) in the
oil by inactivates the lipases in the fruits
loosens the fruits from bunches to facilitate
stripping
softens the fruit mesocarp for digestion and
release of oil
preconditioning of nuts to reduce kernel
breakage
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2. Sterilisation
The sterilisers consists of a long cylindrical
pressure vessel of about 1.8m diameter, with
rails running along the length of the interior.
The fruit is loaded into cages
These cages are pushed on the rails into the
steriliser.
Once the steriliser has been loaded and
closed, steam is introduced.
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2. Sterilisation
Pressure is built up to about 3 kg/cm 2 which
corresponds to a temperature above 130 oC
for 1hr.
When high-pressure steam is used for
sterilization, the heat causes the moisture in
the nuts to expand.

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2. Sterilisation
When the pressure is reduced the
contraction of the nut leads to the
detachment of the kernel from the shell wall,
thus loosening the kernels within their
shells.

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3. Threshing/Stripping Station

Thresher
Thresher

Mulching
Mulchingat
atfield
field

Empty Bunches

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3. Threshing/Stripping
The purpose of stripping is to separate the
fruits from the empty bunch
Modern mills used drum stripper
The drum rotates at about 22 rpm
Sterilized FFBs are fed into a drum stripper
and the drum is rotated, causing the fruits to
be detached from the bunch
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3. Threshing/Stripping
The bunch stalks are removed as they do
not contain any oil and being disposed by
incineration, giving ash as potash fertilizer,
and fuel for boilers
It is important to ensure that oil loss in the
bunch stalk is kept to a minimum
Prolonged sterilization will increase oil loss
in stalks
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3. Threshing/Stripping
Irregular feeding of the stripper may also
result in increase of oil loss in stalks.
Stalks which have fruits still attached on
them are called hard bunches, and have to
be recycled back to sterilizers for further
cooking. Hard bunches are detected by
visible inspection

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4. Digestion and Pressing

Function:
to digest the fruit lets
Maximize oil extraction with minimize broken nut
To break press cake before depericarping

Digester
Digester

Oil
Oil Recovery
Recovery Plant
Plant
Kernel
Kernel Recovery
Recovery Plant
Plant
Screw
Screw Press
Press

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4. Digestion and Pressing

The purpose are:
To digest the fruits
To maximize oil extraction with minimize broken
nut
To break press cake before depericarping

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4. Digestion and Pressing

After stripping, the fruits are moved into a digester
where, the fruits are reheated to loosen the
pericarp.
Digestion is the process of releasing the palm oil
in the fruit through the rupture or breaking down of
the oil-bearing cells.
The digester consists of a steam-heated
cylindrical vessel fitted with a central rotating shaft
carrying a number of beater (stirring) arms.
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4. Digestion and Pressing

The fruits are rotated about, causing the
loosening of the pericarps from the nuts
The digester is kept full and as the digested
fruit is drawn out, freshly stripped fruits are
brought in
The fruits are passed into a screw press,
where the mixture of oil, water, press cake
or fibre and nuts are discharged.
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4. Digestion and Pressing

Contamination from iron is greatest during
digestion when the highest rate of metal
wear is encountered in the milling process.
Iron contamination increases the risk of oil
oxidation and the onset of oil rancidity.

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5. Clarification
The crude oil from the press consists of a mixture
oil, water and other non-oily solids
Consists of 4 stages:
Screening
Clarifying
Oil recovery
Purifying

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5. Clarification (Screening)

Vibrating
Vibrating Screen
Screen

Waste
screen
Oil have
been screen
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5. Clarification (Screening)
The main purpose is to separate crude oil from dirt
A mixture of oil, water, solids from the bunch fibres
is delivered from the press to a clarification tank.
The mixture containing the crude oil is diluted with
hot water to reduce its viscosity

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5. Clarification (Screening)
The dilution (addition of water) provides a barrier
causing the heavy solids to fall to the bottom of the
container while the lighter oil droplets flow through
the watery mixture to the top when heat is applied
to break the emulsion (oil suspended in water with
the aid of gums and resins)
A vibrating screen helps remove some of the
solids

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5. Clarification Station (Clarifying)

Purifying
Purifying

CPO

Clarifier
Clarifier Tank
Tank
Underflow
Sludge

Oil
Oil Recovery
Recovery
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5. Clarification (Clarifying)
The purpose is to collect oil from crude oil using
continuous settling tank.
Separation of the oil from the rest of the liquor is
achieved by setting tanks based on gravity.
The screened mixture is boiled from one or two
hours and then allowed to settle by gravity in the
large tank so that the palm oil, being lighter than
water, will separate and rise to the top

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5. Clarification (Oil Recovery)

Recovered Oil
Clarifier
Clarifier

Function:
To collect oil from sludge
using decanter

Effluent
Effluent
Treatment
Treatment
Plant
Plant

Underflow
Sludge

Sludge

DECANTER
DECANTER
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5. Clarification (Oil Recovery)

The purpose is to collect oil from sludge
using decanter

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5. Clarification (Purifying)

CPO

Purifier
Purifier
Dirt < 0.02%

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5. Clarification (Purifying)
The purpose is to purified the crude palm oil
Oil from the top is skimmed off and purified
in the centrifuge prior to drying
The dirt level must be less than 0.02%

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6. Drying

Vacuum
Vacuum Dryer
Dryer
Moisture < 0.18%
Sludge

CPD 30203 (JAN 2016)

Effluent
EffluentTreatment
TreatmentPlant
Plant

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6. Drying
The purpose is to reduce moisture content
of crude palm oil using vacuum dryer
The oil must be dried to prevent increasing
of FFA through autocatalytic hydrolysis of
the oil
The moisture content must be less than
0.18%

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7. Storage of CPO

Moisture< 0.18%
Dirt
< 0.02%
DOBI
> 2.3
FFA
< 3%
Sludge

Storage
Storage Tank
Tank

Effluent
EffluentTreatment
TreatmentPlant
Plant
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7. Storage of CPO
The purpose is to keep CPO with controlling
of quality
The final crude palm oil is then cooled and
stored.
Storage is in welded steel tanks contain
heating coils to prevent crystallization and
subsequent settling out of the solid phase.

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7. Storage of CPO
May be filled with carbon dioxide or other
inert gas above the oil to prevent oxidation
The temperature is controlled between 32
40oC during storage
Temperature should be kept as low as
possible to minimise deterioration in quality
during storage

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7. Storage of CPO
The quality of CPO have to maintain at:
Moisture< 0.18%
Dirt < 0.02%
DOBI > 2.3
FFA < 3%

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8. Palm Oil Mill (POM )- Buyer

(Refinery- Extract Plant)

Moisture< 0.18%
Dirt
< 0.02%
DOBI
> 2.3
FFA
< 3%

Palm Oil
Mill

Buyer

Buyer

CPO
CPO Storage
Storage Tank
Tank

Function:
To keep CPO before delivery to Buyer

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PALM KERNEL RECOVERY

Heater

Kernel
Kernel
Despatch
Despatch Silo
Silo

Shell
&
Fiber

Boiler
Boiler
Cyclones
Cyclones

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Turbine
Turbine

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9. Nut Recovery (Depericarping)

Depericarper
Depericarper

Fibre
Fibre
Fibre
Cyclone
Cyclone

Polishing
Polishing Drum
Drum

Nuts
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9. Nut Recovery (Depericarping)

The purpose are:
To separate fiber from nut
To clean up nut from fiber
The residue from the press consists of a mixture
of fibre and palm nuts
The press cake from the digester is fed to a
vertical column (depericarper) where air is
channeled to lift the fibre, thus separating the fibre
from the nuts
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9. Nut Recovery (Depericarping)

The nuts are passed to a polishing drum at
the bottom of the depericarper, where
pieces of stalks are removed.

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10. Nut Cracking

Nut
Nut
Cracker
Cracker

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Secondary
Secondary
Depericarper
Depericarper

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10. Nut Cracking

The purpose is to crack kernel with
minimize broken kernel
A nutcracker cracks the nuts after the
conditioning and drying process.

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11. Kernel Separation (Winnower)

Shell

Winnower
Winnower

Winnower
Winnower
Cyclone
Cyclone

Nut

Kernel
&
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Shell

Function:
Separately shell from
kernel with pneumatic
system
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11. Kernel Separation

(Winnower)
The purpose to separate shell from kernel
with pneumatic system
The mixture of cracked nuts and shells are
separated via a winnowing system

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12. Kernel Separation (Hydro Clay Bath)

Heating
Heating
Kernel

Shell

Shell
Shell
Cyclone
Cyclone

Hydro
Hydro Clay
Clay bath
bath
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12. Kernel Separation (Hydro

Clay Bath)
The purpose is to separate shell and kernel
using hydro clay bath
The mixture of cracked nuts and shells are
then separated by a hydrocyclone or a clay
bath.
A hydrocyclone uses centrifugal force to
separate the kernel from the shell using
water.
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12. Kernel Separation (Hydro

Clay Bath)
The clay bath principle works on the specific
gravity of kernel of 1.07 and the shell of
1.17.
The kernels will float while the shells sink in
a clay bath mixture of SG 1.12.

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13. Kernel Storage

Heater
Admixture< 6%
Moisture < 7%
FFA
< 5%
Function
To dry and Keeping The
kernel

Kernel
Kernel
Despatch
Despatch Silo
Silo

Shell
&
Fiber

Boiler
Boiler
Cyclones
Cyclones

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Turbine
Turbine

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13. Kernel Storage

The kernels are then dried in hot air silos to
moisture content of less than 7%
Quality control of kernel
Admixture < 6%
Moisture < 7%
FFA < 5%

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