What is the process of making palm oil?

The process of making (crude) palm oil is very simple process, the process is basically extract the oil from the fruit using a series of palm oil machines. The standard palm oil extraction process consists of the following processes: sterilizing, threshing , digesting, pressing, filtering, filling and so on. But in the actual production process, due to the palm oil production scale and customer budgets different, the process and equipment might be different. (Related post: How to extract palm oil?)

From the above photo we can know how to extract palm oil

In general, palm oil extraction method can be divided into 3 kinds: Manual palm oil extraction method, small scale mechanical extraction method and modernized automatic palm oil press production line extraction method.

Here I am very glad to introduce to you these palm oil extraction methods and how do they extract palm oil.

1.Manual palm oil extraction method:

From pick palm fruit bunches (FFB ) from palm tree to final produce palm oil, the whole palm oil processing process are manual. At first, it use sickle to collect palm fruit bunches.Then farmer use hand to separate palm fruit from bunches. Next they use pot to cook palm fruit to make it soften, and use stick to digest palm fruit to extract palm oil. Finally they use washing and cooking to get clean palm oil .

Note: The manual palm oil extraction method is original method to produce palm oil. It is popular in the farmer who have small palm plantation. But this palm oil extraction method is low efficient and low oil yield. Now it is being replaced by mechanization.

Africa traditional palm oil extraction method——Manual palm oil extraction

2, Small scale mechanical extraction method:

Small scale mechanical extraction is the process of extracting palm oil through small scale palm oil presser machine. It is mainly used to squeeze the oil out of the palm fruit through mechanical pressure.

Small scale palm oil presser machine is the most widely used machine in palm oil extraction process

3, Modernized automatic palm oil press production line extraction method;

Modernized automatic palm oil press production line extraction method adopts international advanced and mature palm oil extraction technology to extract palm oil. It is suitable for small palm oil mill and large palm oil mill. Next, i will introduce processing steps to produce palm oil.(Related post: What are the stages involved in palm oil production process in Nigeria?)

Small scale palm oil processing machine is very suitable small scale palm oil mill

First, the palm fruits go through a process known as sterilizing.This process can be done by either roasting/smoking which is done after threshing process or by steaming/boiling which should be done before threshing process.

Next, the palm fruits go through a process known as threshing, in which each piece of fruit is separated from the rest of the bunch. Large palm oil mill plant place the fruit in rotary drums to complete this process, while small palm oil production facilities perform threshing by hand.

After threshing, the next step in palm oil production involves pressing the fruit to separate the oil from the skin and pulp.

A mixture of oil, water, and solids from the bunch fibers is delivered from the palm oil digesting & pressing station to a clarification tank of palm oil mill equipment machinery. In the conventional process, separation of the oil from the rest of the liquor is achieved by settling tanks based on gravity. The mixture containing the crude oil is diluted with hot water to reduce its viscosity. A vibrating screen helps remove some of the solids. The oil mixture is heated to 85-90°C and allowed to separate in the clarification tank. A settling time of 1-3 h is acceptable. Oil from the top is skimmed off and purified in the centrifuge prior to drying in vacuum dryer. The final crude palm oil is then cooled and stored. So far, the palm oil production process is fully finished.

The above is the introduction to palm oil extraction process, if you still have questions about what is the process of making palm oil, welcome to contact us.