The development of a small-scale palm oil mill producing crude palm oil by
the vacumm frying process
การพัฒนาโรงงานสกัดน้ำมันปาล์มขนาดเล็กชนิดแยกน้ำมันเปลือกโดยใช้กระบวนการทอด
ผลปาล์มภายใต้สภาพสุญญากาศ
Sunchai Klinpikul, Assoc. Prof., D. of Industrial Eng., F. of Eng., PSU.
Chukiat Kooptanond, Asst. Prof., D. of Mechanical Eng., F. of Eng., PSU.
Chit Limworaphan, Expert, The Royal Project for Small-scale Palmoil Industry, PSU.
Corresponding e-mail : ksunchai@ratree.psu.ac.th
Grant : Ministry of Industry
Published : Songklanakarin J Sci Technol 2000, 22(4) : 515-522
Key words : CPO (Crude Palm Oil), RBD (Refining Bleaching Deodorizing), palm oil,
thin film, PFAD (Palm Fatty Acid Distilled)
This study aims to design and develop a new dry palm oil milling process which yields a good quality Crude Palm Oil (CPO) without mixing of Crude Palm Kernel Oil (CPKO) in the first extrac-tion. The process uses vacuum fruit frying process with a twin screw press. The advantages of this process are (1) no waste water (2) a good quality crude palm oil in the first extraction (3) safety due to no pressure vessel and better working condition for workers since there is no smoke during the frying process (4) low maintenance cost due to the homogeneity of the fried fruits. After the extraction pro-cess, the palm cakes are milled and dried before extracting the residual palm oil in the fibre and the kernel oil by using single screw presses. The mixed oil from the second extraction process is suitable for raw material in small-scale soap making factories. The palm cake can be used for animal feed or can be sold to granulated tapioca factories, or can be used as fuel.
This project was supported by the Department of Industrial Economics, Ministry of Industry, with a budget of 2 million Baht in 1997-1998. A pilot mill at a production capacity of 1 ton FFB
(Fresh Fruit Bunch) per hour was established at Pikul Thong Research Center in Narathiwat Province in August 1998. The extraction efficiency was 19% of FFB for the first extraction and 3.5% of FFB for the second extraction. The unit operation cost is 0.65 Baht per kilogram of palm fruit which is
higher than the operation cost of the large mill. However, the appropriate capacity of such mill should be between 2-5 tons FFB per hour which requires an investment cost about 12 to 20 million Baht.
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