Palm oil refining

Abstract

Crude palm oil is rich in minor components that impart unique nutritional properties. The most relevant are tocopherols and tocotrienols (vitamin E) and carotenoids (a-and b-carotene). Palm oil is generally refined by the physical process, which is preferred over the chemical process since high acidity (up to 5%) can lead to excessive loss of neutral oil in the soapstock after alkali neutralization. The quality of the crude oil is to be considered as it can greatly affect the efficiency of the refining process and the quality of the end-products. The deterioration of bleachability index (DOBI) is a good indicator of the capability of palm oil to be successfully refined. Beside commodities, especially refined oils open a market for new high-quality products like golden palm oil, red palm oil, white soaps, fractionated products (CBE), etc. Optimization of the deodorization technology and of the process conditions for a maximal retention of natural characteristics without affecting the quality of the palm oil is an important challenge.

Innovation platforms and institutional change: the case of small-scale palm oil processing in Ghana

“…Their practice of storing palm fruits for between two and four weeks before processing leads to CPO with a high free fatty acid (FFA) content. This is not utilised by the refining industry because removal of FFAs incurs high oil losses and costs (Gibon et al, 2007). As a result, the country imports large quantities of CPO for industrial production of refined cooking oil, high value cosmetics and luxury soaps.…”

N on Dispersive Chemical Deacidification of Crude Palm Oil in Hollow Fiber Membrane Contactor

“…In conventional alkaline neutralization [2,4], the soapstock and neutralized oil mixture are separated in a centrifugal separator. The discharged oil contains 500-1000 ppm of soap.…”

“…The non triglyceride materials in crude palm oil (CPO) consist of free fatty acids (FFA), partial acylglycerols, phospatides, glycolipids, tocopherols, tocotrienols, carotenoids, sterols, methylsterols, triterpene, isoprenoid alcohols, and hydrocarbons [2]. These components are valuable and their recovery from the oil also increases the quality of the oil in terms of color, taste, odor and stability.…”

“…The main drawback of chemical deacidification is excessive loss of triglycerides due to saponification of triglycerides and emulsification of oil to the soaps formed. The neutral oil loss is about 20 to 30% [2]. In the physical refining process, degummed and bleached oil is deacidified during the deodorizing step using steam stripping under high temperature and vacuum condition.…”

A Rapid Liquid Chromatography Method for Determination of Gylphosate in Crude Palm Oil with Fluorescence Detection

“…According to Gibon et al [2] crude palm oil (CPO), which is rich in minor components, has high value nutrients, such as tocopherol and tocotrienol (vitamin E), as well as carotenoid (α and β-carotene). Meanwhile, Nuzul Amri et al [3] reported that the properties of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) are unchanged over the last 17 years based on a survey carried out for a year.…”