Introduction
In my previous posts on Palm Oil Processing Methods,I wrote about the various mechanical methods of producing crude palm oil (CPO) from from palm fruits. Cursory mention was made concerning further processing of crude palm oil (CPO)into other useful products. To see the various products which are derivable from palm oil and palm kernel oil, visit he American Palm Oil Council (APOC) website.
Processing Technologies and Routes
The first step is to refine, bleach and deodorize crude palm oil to yield RBD palm ooil. RBD palm oil is then further processed by the direct or the Oleochemical routes into several food, non-food and industrial products for the consumer markets.
The Direct Route
A few of the products that are obtained by the direct route include soap and biodiesel. To obtain soap, RBD is mixed with lye and perfumes in correct proportions, and mixed with lye and methanol (as catalyst) to make biodiesel in a biodiesel generator or reactor. The details for these processes can be obtained elsewhere.
The Oleochemical Route
Products obtainable by the Oleochemical Route include cosmetics, body care products, plastics,and
pharmaceuticals to name a few.
Renewable Energy and Environmental Considerations
In the context of renewable Energy and Environmental considerations, it is impotant to note that palm oil presents a prospect to replace crude petroleum as the world's safe source of energy. When cultivated properly palm fruits are the highest oil yielding source of all oil yielding seeds. Palm plantations are being created where existing wild groves are replaced with high yielding palm varieties without bush burning or interfering with the ability to use the land for the production of other food crops like cassava at least until the oil palm trees start yielding. In any case, there is no dearth of farming land in West Africa where the palm tree grows naturally.
Recent disasters occurring in the crude petroleum oil exploration sites like the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska underscore the importance of developing alternative sources like the palm oil Industry.
Economic Development Considerations and Investment Opportunities
Global Politics must be set aside and investments should be encouraged by the developed world into the producction of alternative energy from the palm oil industry wherever the oil palm tree grows. Such energy can be available to the world community wherever the need exists. It is renewable energy and available abundantly.
Furthermore, RBD palm oil can be fractionated, cracked and treated to yield a host of other products useful to mankind just as crude petroleum is presently utilized.
This will help to accelerate the economic development and relevance of the underdeveloped world, where the oil palm trees grow, in the global village in which we now live and also make a positive impact on the lives of the peoples of these areas.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Monday, November 30, 2009
PALM OIL EXTRACTION PROCESS
PALM OIL EXTRACTION PROCESS
Before going into the technologies involved in the process of producing palm oil, we will examine the processes involved. After harvesting the fruits in the groves or plantation, the fruit bunches are moved to the mill. Here the fresh fruit bunches FFBs are weighed, and then quartered before they are transferred to the sterilization unit where they are cooked. After sterilization the next step is stripping and threshing to separate the fruits from the husks or spent bunches (SFBs). The husks are then discarded and later used as fuel for firing the furnaces that power the sterilizer.
The separated fruits are then transferred to the digester where the cooked fruits separated from the husks are mashed into a pulp. Hereafter the mash is transferred to the press from where the crude red palm oil is squeezed out and transferred into a clarifier for sedimentation.
The residue after digestion is a mixture of fiber and palm kernel nuts. This mixture is sent to a nut recovery system where the nuts are separated from the fiber. The nuts are dried and cracked to produce palm kernels.
The palm kernels are processed to produce palm kernel oil.
Companies which produce the technology for both red palm oil and palm kernel oil extraction are
1 Nigerian Institute For Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) in Benin City
2 WACAPOL in England
3 BASICON in Owerri, Nigeria
To name three which are known to me.
THE TECHNOLOGIES FOR PRODUCING PALM OIL
The technologies for producing palm oil do not differ significantly from each other. They are all based on cooking, pounding and pressing process which my grandmother used in her own time which I witnessed. The significant changes are
1 Using steam to cook the fruits either under atmospheric pressure or under high pressure
2 The motorization of the digestion and pressing stages
3 The use of a continuous rather than a batch process
4 Sterilization of the whole bunch rather than winnowed fruits.
The production of palm kernel oil will
Before going into the technologies involved in the process of producing palm oil, we will examine the processes involved. After harvesting the fruits in the groves or plantation, the fruit bunches are moved to the mill. Here the fresh fruit bunches FFBs are weighed, and then quartered before they are transferred to the sterilization unit where they are cooked. After sterilization the next step is stripping and threshing to separate the fruits from the husks or spent bunches (SFBs). The husks are then discarded and later used as fuel for firing the furnaces that power the sterilizer.
The separated fruits are then transferred to the digester where the cooked fruits separated from the husks are mashed into a pulp. Hereafter the mash is transferred to the press from where the crude red palm oil is squeezed out and transferred into a clarifier for sedimentation.
The residue after digestion is a mixture of fiber and palm kernel nuts. This mixture is sent to a nut recovery system where the nuts are separated from the fiber. The nuts are dried and cracked to produce palm kernels.
The palm kernels are processed to produce palm kernel oil.
Companies which produce the technology for both red palm oil and palm kernel oil extraction are
1 Nigerian Institute For Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) in Benin City
2 WACAPOL in England
3 BASICON in Owerri, Nigeria
To name three which are known to me.
THE TECHNOLOGIES FOR PRODUCING PALM OIL
The technologies for producing palm oil do not differ significantly from each other. They are all based on cooking, pounding and pressing process which my grandmother used in her own time which I witnessed. The significant changes are
1 Using steam to cook the fruits either under atmospheric pressure or under high pressure
2 The motorization of the digestion and pressing stages
3 The use of a continuous rather than a batch process
4 Sterilization of the whole bunch rather than winnowed fruits.
The production of palm kernel oil will
Friday, November 20, 2009
PALM OIL PROCESSING METHODS
THE TRADITIONAL METHOD
This is the method employed by peasant women and small processors using mortars
In Nigeria, as in most other West African countries, red palm oil has always been processed by women using the traditional primitive rural technique of cooking the palm fruits in a pot and pounding the cooked fruits in a wooden mortar or mashing it using a vessel that resembles a canoe. The mash is then squeezed either by hand or any other method which will squeeze the oil out of the mash.
This method yields about 5% of the oil in the mesocarp, compared with about 18 to 25% achieved by other more sophisticated methods.
With this method you are not able to process a lot of palm fruits. Your processig capacity is greatly limited.
INDUSTRIAL SCALE PROCESSING(ISPE)
These are processing equipment of capacity greater than 5 metric tons per hour
The coming of the more sophisticated processing technologies has resulted in the higher and more effective yields of about 18% to 25%. Thus the wastage attendant to the traditional primitive methods has brought more income into the pockets of the farmers who have adopted these more sophisticated methods.
The Industrial scale processing methods can process from about 5 metric tonnes of fresh fruit bunches an hour compared to the very negligible throughput of the traditional methods but this method is capital intensive and beyond the reach of the peasant farmers. Also, the wild palm groves which are the sources of fruit for the peasant farmers cannot provide enough fresh fruit bunches for these types of installations.
In addition this class of processing equipment requires sophisticated infrastructure.
Due to the harsh operation's environment and insufficiency of fresh fruit bunches in the dry season these large scale facilities often prove ineffective in the West African setting.
With Industrial Scale Processing equipment you can process more than 5 metric tonnes of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs up to 120 metric tonnes of FFB per hour
SMALL SCALE PROCESSING EQUIPMENT(SSPE)
These are processing plants of capacity between 0.5 to 4.5 metric tonnes per hour
As a result of the cumbersome nature and highly sophisticated technology involved in the use of Industrial Scale Processing equipment, local fabricators have produces smaller scale processing systems that are easier to manage and operate, and are within the reach of some local entrepreneurs. Many such processing plants have sprung up all over the eastern states of Nigeria and are helping to encourage the establishment of larger cultivation of palm plots and small plantations with higher yielding varieties of palm trees.
Recently a company based in the UK has developed Small Scale Processing equipment which seems to be more appropriate to the Nigerian and West African environment.
THE ADVENT OF THE SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE INVESTORS INTO THE MARKET
Investment into Industrial scale processing might run into tens of millions of US dollars
As the Small Scale Processing type of equipment gains acceptance it is expected that more small scale entrepreneurs will be willing to invest into the palm oil processing business. This may also encourage other entrepreneurs to venture into the downstream sector of refining and oleo chemicals. This will greatly boost the economic development of the region and help to reduce poverty and unemployment in the region.
The other downstream industries which can be established include bio diesel refineries, pharmaceutical industries, cosmetics industries, plastics industries, body care products industries to mention a few.
ECONOMIC IMPACT OF INVESTMENT IN SMALL SCALE PALM OIL INDUSTRIES
Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs)could be the technology driver in Nigeria. The Federal, state and local governments should put in place policies which will encourage entrepreneurs to invest in the Palm Oil Industry particularly in the downstream sector of production of crude palm oil. Investments in refineries, oleo chemical industries, pharmaceutical industries, plastic industries would boost technological progress and economic development.
The Federal government has created the Small and Medium Industries Development Agency of Nigeria (SMIDAN) to encourage the commercial banks to set apart 10% of their profits before tax as funds for equity participation in Small and Medium Industries in partnership with entrepreneurs who have worthy projects. This could be the vehicle for jump starting development of the suggested palm oil based industries.
Palm trees and palm oil are renewable resources while crude petroleum is not. So the future belongs to this sector. href="http://palmoilprocessingmethods.blogspot.com">
This is the method employed by peasant women and small processors using mortars
In Nigeria, as in most other West African countries, red palm oil has always been processed by women using the traditional primitive rural technique of cooking the palm fruits in a pot and pounding the cooked fruits in a wooden mortar or mashing it using a vessel that resembles a canoe. The mash is then squeezed either by hand or any other method which will squeeze the oil out of the mash.
This method yields about 5% of the oil in the mesocarp, compared with about 18 to 25% achieved by other more sophisticated methods.
With this method you are not able to process a lot of palm fruits. Your processig capacity is greatly limited.
INDUSTRIAL SCALE PROCESSING(ISPE)
These are processing equipment of capacity greater than 5 metric tons per hour
The coming of the more sophisticated processing technologies has resulted in the higher and more effective yields of about 18% to 25%. Thus the wastage attendant to the traditional primitive methods has brought more income into the pockets of the farmers who have adopted these more sophisticated methods.
The Industrial scale processing methods can process from about 5 metric tonnes of fresh fruit bunches an hour compared to the very negligible throughput of the traditional methods but this method is capital intensive and beyond the reach of the peasant farmers. Also, the wild palm groves which are the sources of fruit for the peasant farmers cannot provide enough fresh fruit bunches for these types of installations.
In addition this class of processing equipment requires sophisticated infrastructure.
Due to the harsh operation's environment and insufficiency of fresh fruit bunches in the dry season these large scale facilities often prove ineffective in the West African setting.
With Industrial Scale Processing equipment you can process more than 5 metric tonnes of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs up to 120 metric tonnes of FFB per hour
SMALL SCALE PROCESSING EQUIPMENT(SSPE)
These are processing plants of capacity between 0.5 to 4.5 metric tonnes per hour
As a result of the cumbersome nature and highly sophisticated technology involved in the use of Industrial Scale Processing equipment, local fabricators have produces smaller scale processing systems that are easier to manage and operate, and are within the reach of some local entrepreneurs. Many such processing plants have sprung up all over the eastern states of Nigeria and are helping to encourage the establishment of larger cultivation of palm plots and small plantations with higher yielding varieties of palm trees.
Recently a company based in the UK has developed Small Scale Processing equipment which seems to be more appropriate to the Nigerian and West African environment.
THE ADVENT OF THE SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE INVESTORS INTO THE MARKET
Investment into Industrial scale processing might run into tens of millions of US dollars
As the Small Scale Processing type of equipment gains acceptance it is expected that more small scale entrepreneurs will be willing to invest into the palm oil processing business. This may also encourage other entrepreneurs to venture into the downstream sector of refining and oleo chemicals. This will greatly boost the economic development of the region and help to reduce poverty and unemployment in the region.
The other downstream industries which can be established include bio diesel refineries, pharmaceutical industries, cosmetics industries, plastics industries, body care products industries to mention a few.
ECONOMIC IMPACT OF INVESTMENT IN SMALL SCALE PALM OIL INDUSTRIES
Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs)could be the technology driver in Nigeria. The Federal, state and local governments should put in place policies which will encourage entrepreneurs to invest in the Palm Oil Industry particularly in the downstream sector of production of crude palm oil. Investments in refineries, oleo chemical industries, pharmaceutical industries, plastic industries would boost technological progress and economic development.
The Federal government has created the Small and Medium Industries Development Agency of Nigeria (SMIDAN) to encourage the commercial banks to set apart 10% of their profits before tax as funds for equity participation in Small and Medium Industries in partnership with entrepreneurs who have worthy projects. This could be the vehicle for jump starting development of the suggested palm oil based industries.
Palm trees and palm oil are renewable resources while crude petroleum is not. So the future belongs to this sector. href="http://palmoilprocessingmethods.blogspot.com">
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