Clarification and drying of palm oil - BTMA

Clarification and drying of palm oil — BTMA

October 11, 2022

Clarification and drying of palm oil

The point of clarification is to separate the oil from the entrained impurities. The fluid coming out of a palm oil press is a mixture of palm oil, water, cell debris, fibrous material and “non-oily solids”. The mixture is very viscous due to the non-oily solids.

So add hot water to the oil press output mix to thin it out. When heating breaks the emulsion, dilution (adding water) provides a barrier. Water was added in a ratio of 3:1.

Pass the diluted mixture through a screen to remove coarse fibers. The sifted mixture is boiled for an hour or two and then settled by gravity in a large tank so that the palm oil, which is lighter than water, will separate and rise to the top. Clarification and drying of palm oil

Pour the clear oil into the receiving tank. This clarified oil still contains traces of water and dirt. To prevent the increase of FFA through autocatalytic hydrolysis of the oil, the moisture content of the oil must be reduced to 0.15% to 0.25%. Reheat the poured oil in the cooking pot and carefully skim the dry oil from any ingrained dirt to remove any residual moisture.

The continuous clarifier consists of three compartments for processing the crude oil mixture, drying the decanted oil and holding the refined oil in a housing that acts as a heat exchanger.

Wastewater from the clarifier is discharged into a nearby sludge pit dug for this purpose. There is no further treatment of the sludge in the small palm oil press plants. The accumulated sludge is usually collected in buckets and used to kill weeds in the processing area.