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At The Industrial Level

Palm oil is extracted through a multi-step industrial process near the plantations due to the short conservation time of the fruit. The process involves destalking, sterilization, blending, pressing, and clarification of the fruits to extract the crude palm oil. The waste is used as fuel and livestock feed. Further refining steps neutralize, wash, dry, whiten, and deodorize the crude palm oil. Transesterification with methanol produces fatty acid methyl esters which can be used as diesel fuel.

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36 views

At The Industrial Level

Palm oil is extracted through a multi-step industrial process near the plantations due to the short conservation time of the fruit. The process involves destalking, sterilization, blending, pressing, and clarification of the fruits to extract the crude palm oil. The waste is used as fuel and livestock feed. Further refining steps neutralize, wash, dry, whiten, and deodorize the crude palm oil. Transesterification with methanol produces fatty acid methyl esters which can be used as diesel fuel.

Uploaded by

onejako12
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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At the industrial level

Oil extraction factories are always found near the plantations because the fruit, once picked, only has about 24 hours
of conservation time before oxidizing and developing free fatty acids.
On the industrial level, palm oil extraction follows five main steps:
1. Destalking, in which the fruit is separated from its stalk
2. Sterilization, in which the fruits are steamed
3. Blending, in which the fruits are heated and steeped
4. Pressing, the steeped and heated fruits are pressed to extract the brute oil, the residue from pressing becomes
the meal for the feed cakes
5. Clarification, in which the brute oil is boiled in order to evaporate all of the remaining water and then filtered to
eliminate any remaining impurities.
Note that the dry waste (stalks, fibers, shells, etc, makes up 50% of the weight of everything involved) is generally
used as fuel to make steam and perform the hot extraction method. Furthermore, the waste involved in pressing (oil
cake) is recovered and used as livestock feed.
The graphic below represents the principal steps in the production and extraction of palm oil and palm kernel oil
(source CEESE-ULB).



Source : "Calcul de coefficients dmission. Lhuile de palme" CEESE-ULB

Upon the completion of the process, the brute palm oil obtained goes towards the refinery where it undergoes several
treatments before becoming refined oil. The steps are as follows:
1. Neutralization, which removes the free fatty acids
2. Washing and drying to remove the humidity
3. Whitening
4. Deodorizing
5. Separation in general
The transesterification of vegetable oils leads to the production of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), whose properties
can be used as fuel for diesel engines. The methyl esters are obtained through the reaction and transesterification of
triglycerides with methanol such as in the following diagram. This reaction is balanced. It takes place in the presence
of a catalyst.
Production of biodiesel with a homogenous catalyst

Schematic Diagram of the Continual Process of Producing FAME (process proposed by Lurgi)


Source : ifpenergiesnouvelles
Production of biodiesel with a heterogenous catalyst

Schematic Diagram of the Continual Process of Producing FAME (IFP process)

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