TABLE OF CONTENTS

No. Contents Page Number

1 Summary/Abstract 2
2 Introduction and theory 2
3 Results 4
4 Discussions 7
5 Conclusion 10
6 Recommendations 10
7 References 11
8 Appendices 12

1.0 SUMMARY/ ABSTRACT

Dry fractionation is basically the process when the melted oil been crystalized which
separation from solid liquid portion of the oil and more specific the dry fractionation of RBD
palm oil is needed to obtain solid Stearin or known as cake Stearin and liquid Olein which is the
CPB30303- Oil and Fat Process Technology
Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

filtrate. Result obtained from this experiment when feed RBDPO 8.00 kg are 4.80 kg soft Olein
(liquid), 2.30 kg Stearin (cake) and the yield is 60 %. The highest iodine value obtained for the
experiment is Olein which the average is 3.06 and the value is proven when it show the highest
the average iodine value. For the average iodine value for stearin is 2.52 and for RBDPO feed is
2.97. The effects of agitation rate on crystallization kinetics of butter fat show that increased
agitation rate caused an increase in nucleation rate (more crystals generated per unit time) and an
increase in total crystallization (mass deposition) rate. Besides the effects of agitation on growth
rates of individual crystals were dependent on temperature of operation.

2.0 INTRODUCTION AND THEORY

The rising price of petroleum in the world market, together with the increasing
concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, has driven the need of biofuels as an alternative to
fossil fuels for use in transportation in many countries (Tverbeg, 2013). In Malaysia, Palm oil
entered a bull market on rising demand for the edible oil. The price of palm oil according to
Bursa Malaysia Derivatives in Kuala Lumpur settled at RM2,643 a tonne. Thats 21% above the
closing price of RM2,188 reached on July 12 (Online, 2016). As a consequence, biofuels help,
not only reduce crude oil imports, but also boost the economics of the local livelihoods in the
country's oil palm plantations areas due to an increased demand for palm oil to produce
biodiesel.
Since the demand for Para rubber in the world's market has declined and its price
lowered, more and more rubber tree cultivating land is being converted to oil palm plantations.
Thus, an important advantage for the use of biodiesel is that in addition to money savings from
less imported crude oil and reductions of carbon emitted from fossil diesel use, plant growers are
given more flexibility in their livelihood because of their ability to convert cultivation to crops
suitable for biofuel production. Biofuels also offer a renewable source of energy as compare to
fossil fuels (CEF, n.d).
Malaysia currently accounts for 39 % of world palm oil production and 44% of world
exports. If taken into account of other oils & fats produced in the country, Malaysia accounts for
12% and 27% of the world's total production and exports of oils and fats. Being one of the

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CPB30303- Oil and Fat Process Technology
Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

biggest producers and exporters of palm oil and palm oil products, Malaysia has an important
role to play in fulfilling the growing global need for oils and fats sustainably (MPOC, n.d).
Fractionation Process

Basically, palm oil is the liquid fraction obtained from fractionation of palm oil. In edible
oil processing, a fractionation process consists of a controlled cooling of the oil, thereby inducing
partial or fractional crystallization (Calliauw, 2011). The fractionation process involves a
physical process of cooling the oil under controlled conditions to low temperatures, followed by
filtration of the crystals through membrane press. Dry fractionation through batch
crystallization of oil without using additives by controlled cooling and subsequent continuous
filtration.

Dry fractionation process is used to separate palm olein and palm stearin from RBDPO
produced by physical treatment. Basically, palm oil is the liquid fraction obtained from
fractionation of palm oil. The fractionation process involves a physical process of cooling the oil
under controlled conditions to low temperatures, followed by filtration of the crystals through
membrane press. The remaining liquid palm olein is then separated from the solid fraction palm
stearin by means of a filtration or centrifugation (Calliauw, 2011).

In this experiment of dry fractionation of RBD palm oil, the products are olein and
stearin. The RBDPO is passed through further fractionation process to get various grade of palm
olein and palm stearin which the types of olein produced are normal grade olein, super grade
olein and olein with cloud point 7-8e.

RBD palm olein and RBD palm stearin

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CPB30303- Oil and Fat Process Technology
Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

The olein is fully liquid at ambient temperature in warm climates. It can be blended with
various vegetable oils in different proportions to obtain liquid oils which can withstand lower
temperatures. For example, blends of palm olein with more than 70% soft oils such as soybean
oil, corn oil or canola oil remain clear at 0C for at least 5 hr. Oxidative stability of soft oils are
also extended and improved by the palm olein (MPOB, 2016).

RBD Palm Stearin is solid fraction obtained by the fractionation of palm oil after
crystallization at controlled temperatures. The application of RBD palm stearin is for shortenings
and margarine. RBD Palm Olein is the liquid fraction obtained by the fractionation of palm oil
after crystallization at controlled temperatures. It is especially suitable for frying and cooking.
Main applications of RBD Palm Olein include salad and cooking oils in households, industrial
frying fat of instant noodles, potato chips, doughnuts and condensed milk.

Crystallization Process

Crystallization is a separation technique that is being used to separate solid that has
dissolved in the dry fractionation which the temperature of the solution is being lowered causing
the solution to melt. The product fractions are both being influenced by the crystallization
temperature, cooling rate and agitation speed. For the stearin fraction, it is only being affected by
the cooling rate and on the other hand, olein fraction is affected by the crystallization
temperature and cooling rate (Peer, 2013).

The stearin can then be separated from oil olein by different methods and the oil is thus
divided into two fractions which are stearin with a high melting point and olein with a low cloud
and melting points. The fractional crystallization and used to obtain oils or fats more suitable for
example, as cooking oils or for margarine/shortening production.

Filtration Process

Filtration is the process where the solid matter is being separated from a liquid by causing
the latter to pass through the pores of substances. The crystal slurry will go through the
membrane filter, where it will separate the stearin fraction and olein fraction.

Iodine Value

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CPB30303- Oil and Fat Process Technology
Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

Quality parameters for fractionation are Iodine Value (IV). Iodine value is number of
centigrams of iodine absorbed per gram of sample which represents degree of saturation of an oil
or fat which lower IV means the oil of high saturation and vice versa. IV for RBD palm oil is 52
and IV for palm olein is 56.

Natural oils and fats have different characteristics due to the fact that they are composed
of a great number of different triglycerides. These contain fatty acids with carbon chins of
different lengths and with different degrees of unsaturation. Triglycerides with a high degree of
unsaturation, indicated by a high iodine value, have a lower melting point than those containing
more saturated fatty acids.

Iodine Value Rbd Palm Oil Feed

Iodine value for RBD palm oil feed by using Wijs method is in range 50-55 Wijs which is 52
Wijs.

Iodine Value Rbd Palm Olein

Basically, there are two major grades of palm olein: standard olein and super olein
(iodine value greater than 60). The standard olein has an iodine value of about 56.0-59.1 Wijs
and cloud point of 10C max. The specifications are given in Malaysian Standard
MS816:2007(Table 3). Super olein is more suited to cooler climates and has cloud points of
about 2C-5C.

Iodine Value Rbd Palm Stearin

The range iodine value RBD palm stearin in Malaysia is 27.8-45.1 Wijs (MPOB,
2016).

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 CPB30303- Oil and Fat Process Technology
Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

3.0 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS (with calculation)

Program Pattern
80 80
70 70
60 60
50 50

30 30 30
25 25
20 20

Table 1: Data of experiment

Segmen
t 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Starting
set point 30 30 80 80 70 70 60 60 50 50 30 30 25 25
(oC)
Target
set point 30 80 80 70 70 60 60 50 50 30 30 25 25 20
(oC)
Time
0 25 30 53 30 46 30 30 30 138 60 100 60 30
(min)

Weight of RBD Palm Oil feed: 8.00 kg

Weight of RBD Palm Olein : 4.80 kg

Weight of RBD palm Stearin: 2.30 kg

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Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

Production Yield (%) : 60 %

Iodine Value Analysis

Table 2: Result of iodine value for RBD Palm Oil Feed

RBD Volume of sodium thiosulphate solution used (ml)

Mass of test Iodine
Palm Oil
Blank sample, V1 Palm oil feed, V2 sample, M (g) value
Feed
Sample 1 25.1 17.9 3.0 3.05
Sample 2 25.1 18.8 3.0 2.66
Sample 3 25.1 17.5 3.0 3.21
Average 2.97

Table 3: Result of iodine value for RBD Palm Olein

RBD Volume of sodium thiosulphate solution used (ml)

Mass of test Iodine
Palm Oil
Blank sample, V1 Palm olein, V2 sample, M (g) value
Feed
Sample 1 25.1 18.2 3.0 2.92
Sample 2 25.1 17.5 3.0 3.21
Sample 3 25.1 17.9 3.0 3.05
Average 3.06

Table 4: Result of iodine value for RBD Palm Stearin

RBD Volume of sodium thiosulphate solution used (ml)

Mass of test Iodine
Palm Oil
Blank sample, V1 Palm stearin, V2 sample, M (g) value
Feed
Sample 1 25.1 19.1 3.0 2.54
Sample 2 25.1 19.3 3.0 2.45
Sample 3 25.1 19.0 3.0 2.58
Average 2.52

Analysis of Result

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CPB30303- Oil and Fat Process Technology
Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

The weight of RBD Palm Oil Feed is 8.00 kg, weight of RBD Palm Olein is 4.80 kg and
the weight of RBD Palm Stearin produced is 2.30 kg. Thus, the measured production yield is
60%.

Table 2 shows the iodine value for palm oil feed for sample 1, sample 2, and sample 3.
The values obtained by calculation for three samples are 3.05, 2.66 and 3.21 respectively with
the average value of 2.97. Besides, Table 3 shows the iodine value for palm oil olein for sample
1, sample 2, and sample 3. The values obtained are 2.92. 3.21 and 3.05 respectively with average
value of 3.06. Table 4 shows the iodine value for palm oil stearin for sample 1, sample 2, and
sample 3 which are 2.54, 2.45 and 2.58 respectively with average value is 2.52. It shows that
palm olein has the highest iodine value followed by palm oil feed and palm stearin.

4.0 DISCUSSIONS

Basically, dry fractionation is the process in which separation from solid liquid portion of
the oil is achieved by a process of gradual cooling preheated oil (MPOB, 2010). The process
actually separates RBD palm oil into olein and stearin. A typical plant consists of crystallisation
and filtration sections. During crystallisation, RBD palm oil is being heated up first and then
cooled under a controlled cooling program inside the crystallisers. At the end of this cooling
program, the oil becomes slurry of crystal and liquid oil. The slurry is then fed into the filtration
section which consists of membrane filters to separate the olein which is the liquid oil) and
stearin which is the crystal. It is fair to state that other typical fat crystallization phenomena such
as polymorphism are of secondary importance compared to intersolubility; typical fractionation
conditions are generally sufficiently restricted in time and temperature range to only allow one
type of molecular arrangement to form. For palm oil, this is typically in a -form from start to
finish. [1]

RBD-palm oil was fractionated into stearin fraction (the cake, as solid phase) and olein
fraction (the filtrate, as liquid phase). Physical appearances in room temperature (25-30C), the

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CPB30303- Oil and Fat Process Technology
Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

stearin was solid while the olein was liquid compared to the initial palm oil that was semi-solid.
The physical changes of the fractions compared to the initial RBD-palm oil were influenced
mainly by shifted in the chemical compositions.

To start the operation, RBDPO obtained from a local palm oil refinery was pumped by a
peristaltic pump into the CC until the crystalliser is completely filled. Then, it was immersed in a
refrigerated water bath. The CC was connected to a peristaltic pump by a silicone tube and the
RBDPO was circulated in the system for a period of an hour. Before starting the circulation at the
desired temperature, the CC containing RBDPO must first be heated at a temperature of 80C to
avoid the presence of unwanted crystal and also to remove previous thermal history.

After that, the process proceeds to the designated reducedMtemperature, usually from
28C until 24C, which corresponds to the melting point of stearin and olein, which are about 48
C and 20C, respectively.

The effects of agitation rate on crystallization kinetics of butter fat were studied by Grall
and Hartel (64). In a 2 L batch crystallizer, increased agitation rate caused an increase in
nucleation rate (more crystals generated per unit time) and an increase in total crystallization
(mass deposition) rate. [3]

However, the effects of agitation on growth rates of individual crystals were dependent
on temperature of operation. At 30C, increased agitation led to a decrease in growth rate,
whereas for crystallization at either 15C or 20C, increased agitation caused an increase in
growth rate. These results may be related to the different composition effects at the different
temperatures (different TAGs cocrystallize). [2]

Furthermore, the quality parameter that is nominally monitored for fractionation is Iodine
Value (IV) and Cloud point. Iodine value is defined as the number of centigrams of iodine
absorbed per gram of sample. It represents the degree of saturation of oil or fat. Lower IV means
the oil is of high saturation and vice versa. The theoretical IV for RBD Sterin is 48 and for palm
olein is 56. Other quality parameters which are quite important but cannot be controlled in
fractionation plant are colour and Free Fatty Acid. Besides checking the ICV, the cloud point of

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CPB30303- Oil and Fat Process Technology
Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

the oil is another way to check the quality of the palm oil. The cloud point test is done by slowly
cooling the oil sample. The temperature of the oil when it changes from clear liquid to cloudy is
recorded. This temperature is taken as the cloud point.

Palm stearin is the solid phase of RBD-palm oil fractionation while palm mid fraction is
the solid phase of palm olein fractionation. Even though both palm stearin and palm mid fraction
are the solid phases of the dry fractionation process, it seems that they have different
physicochemical properties. The main reason is RBD-palm oil and palm olein which served as
raw materials for dry fractionation have different levels of unsaturation.

At the end of the experiment, we have obtained the IVs of olein and stearin are 3.06 and
2.52 respectively. From the first dry fractionation, According to Knothe (2002), IV was used as a
general measure of the unsaturation of the oil. IV shows the amount of double bonds present in
the fatty acids. As the oil is more liquid (less saturated), it will impart a higher IV. So the IV of
olein must be higher than the stearin. This is due to the composition of stearin which is more
saturated than olein and super olein respectively.

Yield becomes higher when coolant temperature increased. This confirms the theory that
the yield has a correlation with coolant temperature, where a better yield needs high range of
temperature. The common yield of olein from dry fractionation or conventional fractionation
using vacuum suction filter gives a yield of 65-68%. Therefore, the results obtained from this
study are acceptable because the production of yield that we get are 60% that are near to
theoretical.

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Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

5.0 CONCLUSION

This experiment was assigned in order for the student to understand more about the concept
of the dry fractionation of the RBD oil. The fractionation itself are the process where there is a
procedure for adding value to an oil or fat by separating it into two (or more) fractions differing
in fatty acid and triacylglycerol composition where this will change affect the physical properties
and so increase oil range of usefulness. Theoretically, it can be said, from the fractionation it will
produce two different phase which are solid known as the stearin fraction and also the liquid
which are the olein fraction. Stearin is said to be a crystal which less soluble, higher melting and
also more saturated compared to he olein fraction. From the result, it can be conclude that result
of iodine value RBD palm olein have recorded the highest iodine value which is 3.06 compared
to RBD palm oil feed and RBD palm oil stearin which is 2.97 and 2.52. The influence of these
parameters such as crystallization temperature, cooling rate and agitation speed during the
fractionation process need to be taken into consideration in order to obtain a good quality olein
and stearin fraction. Based on the past study, Crystallisation temperature and cooling has an
influence on the chemical property of the olein fraction but not for the stearin fraction. On the

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CPB30303- Oil and Fat Process Technology
Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

other hand, agitation speed does not have any effect on both the chemical properties of olein and
stearin fraction.

6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to obtain a good results in this experiment, some errors should be avoided and
precaution steps must be taken throughout the experiment. Firstly, ensure the filter press have
optimum pressure so that the oil can be separated nicely. Then, ensure the filter press is clean
before proceeding the experiment to avoid any presence of contaminant in the final product. The
temperature must be controlled correctly in order to have a good texture of product. Next, during
the analysis, the titration method must be done by dropping the potassium hydroxide, KOH
slowly while shaking the conical flask to observe the change. Besides, the volume of any
chemicals used must be accurate to the amount required. Therefore, by following these
recommendations, the results obtained might be accurate or closer to the theoretical value.

7.0 REFERENCES

1. Dry Fractionation. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18, 2016, from

http://lipidlibrary.aocs.org/OilsFats/content.cfm?ItemNumber=40328
2. Radiation Pneumonitis. (n.d.). Encyclopedia of Cancer, 2520-2520. doi:10.1007/978-3-
540-47648-1_4904
3. Crystallization of Fats and Oils. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18, 2016, from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/047167849X.bio021/full
4. Razam, Ab. Latib (2013). Journal of Peer-Reviewed & Open Access: Palm -based
diacylglycerol fat dry fractionation: effect of crystallisation temperature, cooling rate and
agitation speed on physical and chemical properties of fractions. Retrieved from
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3654720/

6. Nusantoro, B. P. (2007). DRY FRACTIONATION OF RBD . Agritech, 171-175.

7. Ribeiro, A. P. (2015). Crystallization modifiers in lipid systems. PMC, 3925

3946.

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Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

8. CEF. (n.d). What is Biodiesel? Retrieved December 21, 2016, from Conserve Energy
Future: http://www.conserve-energy-
future.com/Advantages_Disadvantages_Biodiesel.php

9. MPOC. (n.d). ONE OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST PALM OIL EXPORT. Retrieved
December 21, 2016, from Malaysia Palm Oil Industry:
http://www.mpoc.org.my/Malaysian_Palm_Oil_Industry.aspx

10. MPOB. (2016). About palm oil. Retrieved from

http://www.palmoilworld.org/about_palmoil.html

11. Online, T. S. (2016, August 18). Palm oil enters bull market as demand rises. Retrieved
December 21, 2016, from The Star Online: http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-
news/2016/08/18/palm-oil-enters-bull-market-as-demand-rises/

12. Tverbeg, G. (2013, January 17). Ten Reasons Why High Oil Prices are a Problem.
Retrieved December 21, 2016, from Our Finite World:
https://ourfiniteworld.com/2013/01/17/ten-reasons-why-high-oil-prices-are-a-problem/

8.0 APPENDICES

Figure 1: Stearin (solid-phase)

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Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

Figure 2: Group members with the product of dry fractionation(stearin)

Sample Calculation

Weight of Olein Produced

Production Yield = 100
Weight of RBD palm oil feed

4.80
= 100
8.00

= 60 %

Iodine Value, IV

12.69 C (V 1V 2 )
IV = M

Where,

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CPB30303- Oil and Fat Process Technology
Experiment 1: DRY FRACTIONATION of RBD OIL

C: concentration of the sodium thiosulphate solution (mol/L)

V1: volume of sodium thiosulphate solution used for blank sample (ml)

V2: volume of sodium thiosulphate solution used for the determination (ml)

M: mass of the test sample (g)

Sample calculation of IV value of RBD Palm Oil Feed:

12.69( 0.1 mol/ L)(25.1 ml18.8 ml)

IV = 3.0 g = 3.05

Sample calculation of IV value of RBD Palm Olein:

12.69(0.1 mol/ L)(25.1 ml18.2 ml)

IV = 3.0 g = 2.92

Sample calculation of IV value of RBD Palm Stearin:

12.69(0.1 mol/ L)(25.1 ml19.1 ml)

IV = 3.0 g = 2.54

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