Complete Palm Oil Production Line Turnkey Project

From Oil Extraction To Filling And Packaging

Harvesting the Palm Fruit
The fruits grow in thick bundles which are tightly lodged in-between the branches. When ripe, the color of the palm fruits is red-orange. ln order to dislodge the bundle, the branches must first be chopped off. Palm fruit harvesting is physically exhausting and is even much harder when the palm-fruit bunches are bigger. The fruits are collected and transported to the processing plant. 

Sterilizing and Softening Of the Fruits
Palm fruits are very hard and so they have to first be softened before doing anything with them. They are heated with high temperature (140 degrees Celsius), high-pressure (300 psi) steam for about one hour. The process at this stage of the palm oil production line softens the fruits in addition to making the fruits separable from the fruit-bunches. Detachment of the fruits from the bunches is achieved with the aid of a threshing machine. Furthermore, the steaming process stops the enzymes which cause free fatty acids (FFA) to increase in the fruits. The oil in a palm fruit is held in miniature capsules. These capsules are broken down by the steaming process, thereby making the fruits pliable & oily.

Palm Oil Pressing Process
The fruits are then conveyed to a screw palm oil press which efficiently extracts the oil from the fruits. The screw press outputs press cake and crude palm oil. The extracted crude oil contains fruit particles, dirt and water. On the other hand, the press cake is composed of palm fiber & nuts. Before being transferred to the clarification station for further processing, the crude palm oil is first screened using a vibrating screen so as to get rid of dirt and coarse fibers. The press cake is also transferred to the depericarpper for further processing. 

The Clarification Station
This stage of the palm oil production line includes a heated vertical tank which separates the oil from the sludge by gravity. The clean oil is skimmed from the top and then transferred through a vacuum chamber to get rid of the remaining moisture. The palm oil is pumped into storage tanks and at this point, it’s ready to be sold as crude oil. 

Uses of the Fiber and Nuts in the Press Cake
When the fiber and nuts are separated from the press cake. The fiber is burnt as fuel for steam generation, whereas the nuts are cracked into shells and kernels. The shells are also used as fuel whereas the kernels are dried and packed in bags for sale. Oil (kernel oil) can also be extracted from these kernels, refined and then used in chocolate, ice cream, cosmetics, soap, etc. 

Treatment of Waste Water (Effluent)
At one point in a palm oil production line, water is used to separate the oil from the solids and sludge. Before discharging the waste water from the mill to a water course, the effluent is first discharged from the mill into a pond so as to allow the bacteria to decompose the vegetable matter in it (the effluent).

The paragraphs above give a simple explanation of a palm oil production line. The waste products of the palm fruits can also be used to produce electricity.