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PALM OIL PROCESSING

3. PALM OIL PROCESSING

3. 1 General processing description

Research and development work in many disciplines - biochemistry, chemical and mechanical
engineering - and the establishment of plantations, which provided the opportunity for large-scale
fully mechanised processing, resulted in the evolution of a sequence of processing steps designed
to extract, from a harvested oil palm bunch, a high yield of a product of acceptable quality for the
international edible oil trade. The oil winning process, in summary, involves the reception of fresh
fruit bunches from the plantations, sterilizing and threshing of the bunches to free the palm fruit,
mashing the fruit and pressing out the crude palm oil. The crude oil is further treated to purify and
dry it for storage and export.

Large-scale plants, featuring all stages required to produce palm oil to international standards, are
generally handling from 3 to 60 tonnes of FFB/hr. The large installations have mechanical handling
systems (bucket and screw conveyers, pumps and pipelines) and operate continuously,
depending on the availability of FFB. Boilers, fuelled by fibre and shell, produce superheated
steam, used to generate electricity through turbine generators. The lower pressure steam from the
turbine is used for heating purposes throughout the factory. Most processing operations are
automatically controlled and routine sampling and analysis by process control laboratories ensure
smooth, efficient operation. Although such large installations are capital intensive, extraction rates
of 23 - 24 percent palm oil per bunch can be achieved from good quality Tenera.

Conversion of crude palm oil to refined oil involves removal of the products of hydrolysis and
oxidation, colour and flavour. After refining, the oil may be separated (fractionated) into liquid and
solid phases by thermo-mechanical means (controlled cooling, crystallization, and filtering), and
the liquid fraction (olein) is used extensively as a liquid cooking oil in tropical climates, competing
successfully with the more expensive groundnut, corn, and sunflower oils.

Extraction of oil from the palm kernels is generally separate from palm oil extraction, and will often
be carried out in mills that process other oilseeds (such as groundnuts, rapeseed, cottonseed,
shea nuts or copra). The stages in this process comprise grinding the kernels into small particles,
heating (cooking), and extracting the oil using an oilseed expeller or petroleum-derived solvent. The
oil then requires clarification in a filter press or by sedimentation. Extraction is a well-established
industry, with large numbers of international manufacturers able to offer equipment that can
process from 10 kg to several tonnes per hour.

Alongside the development of these large-scale fully mechanised oil palm mills and their
installation in plantations supplying the international edible oil refining industry, small-scale village
and artisanal processing has continued in Africa. Ventures range in throughput from a few hundred
kilograms up to 8 tonnes FFB per day and supply crude oil to the domestic market.

Efforts to mechanise and improve traditional manual procedures have been undertaken by
research bodies, development agencies, and private sector engineering companies, but these
activities have been piecemeal and uncoordinated. They have generally concentrated on removing
the tedium and drudgery from the mashing or pounding stage (digestion), and improving the
efficiency of oil extraction. Small mechanical, motorised digesters (mainly scaled-down but
unheated versions of the large-scale units described above), have been developed in most oil palm
cultivating African countries.

Palm oil processors of all sizes go through these unit operational stages. They differ in the level of
mechanisation of each unit operation and the interconnecting materials transfer mechanisms that
make the system batch or continuous. The scale of operations differs at the level of process and
product quality control that may be achieved by the method of mechanisation adopted. The
technical terms referred to in the diagram above will be described later.

The general flow diagram is as follows:

PALM OIL PROCESSING UNIT OPERATIONS

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Harvesting technique and handling effects

In the early stages of fruit formation, the oil content of the fruit is very low. As the fruit approaches
maturity the formation of oil increases rapidly to about 50 percent of mesocarp weigh. In a fresh
ripe, un-bruised fruit the free fatty acid (FFA) content of the oil is below 0.3 percent. However, in the
ripe fruit the exocarp becomes soft and is more easily attacked by lipolytic enzymes, especially at
the base when the fruit becomes detached from the bunch. The enzymatic attack results in an
increase in the FFA of the oil through hydrolysis. Research has shown that if the fruit is bruised,
the FFA in the damaged part of the fruit increases rapidly to 60 percent in an hour. There is
therefore great variation in the composition and quality within the bunch, depending on how much
the bunch has been bruised.

Harvesting involves the cutting of the bunch from the tree and allowing it to fall to the ground by
gravity. Fruits may be damaged in the process of pruning palm fronds to expose the bunch base to
facilitate bunch cutting. As the bunch (weighing about 25 kg) falls to the ground the impact bruises
the fruit. During loading and unloading of bunches into and out of transport containers there are
further opportunities for the fruit to be bruised.

In Africa most bunches are conveyed to the processing site in baskets carried on the head. To
dismount the load, the tendency is to dump contents of the basket onto the ground. This results in
more bruises. Sometimes trucks and push carts, unable to set bunches down gently, convey the
cargo from the villages to the processing site. Again, tumbling the fruit bunches from the carriers is
rough, resulting in bruising of the soft exocarp. In any case care should be exercised in handling
the fruit to avoid excessive bruising.

One answer to the many ways in which harvesting, transportation and handling of bunches can
cause fruit to be damaged is to process the fruit as early as possible after harvest, say within 48
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hours. However the author believes it is better to leave the fruit to ferment for a few days before
processing. Connoisseurs of good edible palm oil know that the increased FFA only adds ‘bite’ to
the oil flavour. At worst, the high FFA content oil has good laxative effects. The free fatty acid
content is not a quality issue for those who consume the crude oil directly, although it is for oil
refiners, who have a problem with neutralization of high FFA content palm oil.

3.1.1 Bunch reception

Fresh fruit arrives from the field as bunches or loose fruit. The fresh fruit is normally emptied into
wooden boxes suitable for weighing on a scale so that quantities of fruit arriving at the processing
site may be checked. Large installations use weighbridges to weigh materials in trucks.

The quality standard achieved is initially dependent on the quality of bunches arriving at the mill.
The mill cannot improve upon this quality but can prevent or minimise further deterioration.

The field factors that affect the composition and final quality of palm oil are genetic, age of the tree,
agronomic, environmental, harvesting technique, handling and transport. Many of these factors are
beyond the control of a small-scale processor. Perhaps some control may be exercised over
harvesting technique as well as post-harvest transport and handling.

3.1.2 Threshing (removal of fruit from the bunches)

The fresh fruit bunch consists of fruit embedded in spikelets growing on a main stem. Manual
threshing is achieved by cutting the fruit-laden spikelets from the bunch stem with an axe or
machete and then separating the fruit from the spikelets by hand. Children and the elderly in the
village earn income as casual labourers performing this activity at the factory site.

In a mechanised system a rotating drum or fixed drum equipped with rotary beater bars detach the
fruit from the bunch, leaving the spikelets on the stem (Fig. 3).

Most small-scale processors do not have the capacity to generate steam for sterilization.
Therefore, the threshed fruits are cooked in water. Whole bunches which include spikelets absorb
a lot of water in the cooking process. High-pressure steam is more effective in heating bunches
without losing much water. Therefore, most small-scale operations thresh bunches before the
fruits are cooked, while high-pressure sterilization systems thresh bunches after heating to loosen
the fruits.

Small-scale operators use the bunch waste (empty bunches) as cooking fuel. In larger mills the
bunch waste is incinerated and the ash, a rich source of potassium, is returned to the plantation as
fertilizer.

3.1.3 Sterilization of bunches

Sterilization or cooking means the use of high-temperature wet-heat treatment of loose fruit.
Cooking normally uses hot water; sterilization uses pressurized steam. The cooking action serves
several purposes.

· Heat treatment destroys oil-splitting enzymes and arrests hydrolysis and

autoxidation.

· For large-scale installations, where bunches are cooked whole, the wet heat
weakens the fruit stem and makes it easy to remove the fruit from bunches on
shaking or tumbling in the threshing machine.

· Heat helps to solidify proteins in which the oil-bearing cells are microscopically
dispersed. The protein solidification (coagulation) allows the oil-bearing cells to come
together and flow more easily on application of pressure.

· Fruit cooking weakens the pulp structure, softening it and making it easier to detach
the fibrous material and its contents during the digestion process. The high heat is
enough to partially disrupt the oil-containing cells in the mesocarp and permits oil to be
released more readily.

· The moisture introduced by the steam acts chemically to break down gums and
resins. The gums and resins cause the oil to foam during frying. Some of the gums
and resins are soluble in water. Others can be made soluble in water, when broken
down by wet steam (hydrolysis), so that they can be removed during oil clarification.
Starches present in the fruit are hydrolyzed and removed in this way.

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· When high-pressure steam is used for sterilization, the heat causes the moisture in
the nuts to expand. When the pressure is reduced the contraction of the nut leads to
the detachment of the kernel from the shell wall, thus loosening the kernels within their
shells. The detachment of the kernel from the shell wall greatly facilitates later nut
cracking operations. From the foregoing, it is obvious that sterilization (cooking) is one
of the most important operations in oil processing, ensuring the success of several
other phases.

· However, during sterilization it is important to ensure evacuation of air from the

sterilizer. Air not only acts as a barrier to heat transfer, but oil oxidation increases
considerably at high temperatures; hence oxidation risks are high during sterilization.
Over-sterilization can also lead to poor bleach ability of the resultant oil. Sterilization is
also the chief factor responsible for the discolouration of palm kernels, leading to poor
bleach ability of the extracted oil and reduction of the protein value of the press cake.

Fig. 3 Bunch thresher (Centre de Formation Technique Steinmetz-Benin)

Fig. 4 Fruit sterilizer (Centre de Formation Technique Steinmetz-Benin)

3.1.4 Digestion of the fruit

Digestion is the process of releasing the palm oil in the fruit through the rupture or breaking down
of the oil-bearing cells. The digester commonly used consists of a steam-heated cylindrical vessel
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fitted with a central rotating shaft carrying a number of beater (stirring) arms. Through the action of
the rotating beater arms the fruit is pounded. Pounding, or digesting the fruit at high temperature,
helps to reduce the viscosity of the oil, destroys the fruits’ outer covering (exocarp), and completes
the disruption of the oil cells already begun in the sterilization phase. Unfortunately, for reasons
related to cost and maintenance, most small-scale digesters do not have the heat insulation and
steam injections that help to maintain their contents at elevated temperatures during this operation.

Contamination from iron is greatest during digestion when the highest rate of metal wear is
encountered in the milling process. Iron contamination increases the risk of oil oxidation and the
onset of oil rancidity.

3.1.5 Pressing (Extracting the palm oil)

There are two distinct methods of extracting oil from the digested material. One system uses
mechanical presses and is called the ‘dry’ method. The other called the ‘wet’ method uses hot
water to leach out the oil.

In the ‘dry’ method the objective of the extraction stage is to squeeze the oil out of a mixture of oil,
moisture, fibre and nuts by applying mechanical pressure on the digested mash. There are a large
number of different types of presses but the principle of operation is similar for each. The presses
may be designed for batch (small amounts of material operated upon for a time period) or
continuous operations.

3.1.5.1 Batch presses

In batch operations, material is placed in a heavy metal ‘cage’ and a metal plunger is used to press
the material. The main differences in batch press designs are as follows: a) the method used to
move the plunger and apply the pressure; b) the amount of pressure in the press; and c) the size
of the cage.

The plunger can be moved manually or by a motor. The motorised method is faster but more
expensive.

Different designs use either a screw thread (spindle press) (Fig. 4, 5, 6) or a hydraulic system
(hydraulic press) (Fig. 7, 8, 9) to move the plunger. Higher pressures may be attained using the
hydraulic system but care should be taken to ensure that poisonous hydraulic fluid does not
contact the oil or raw material. Hydraulic fluid can absorb moisture from the air and lose its
effectiveness and the plungers wear out and need frequent replacement. Spindle press screw
threads are made from hard steel and held by softer steel nuts so that the nuts wear out faster
than the screw. These are easier and cheaper to replace than the screw.

The size of the cage varies from 5 kg to 30 kg with an average size of 15 kg. The pressure should
be increased gradually to allow time for the oil to escape. If the depth of material is too great, oil will
be trapped in the centre. To prevent this, heavy plates’ can be inserted into the raw material. The
production rate of batch presses depends on the size of the cage and the time needed to fill, press
and empty each batch.

Hydraulic presses are faster than spindle screw types and powered presses are faster than
manual types. Some types of manual press require considerable effort to operate and do not
alleviate drudgery.

3.1.5.2 Continuous systems

The early centrifuges and hydraulic presses have now given way to specially designed screw-
presses similar to those used for other oilseeds. These consist of a cylindrical perforated cage
through which runs a closely fitting screw. Digested fruit is continuously conveyed through the
cage towards an outlet restricted by a cone, which creates the pressure to expel the oil through the
cage perforations (drilled holes). Oil-bearing cells that are not ruptured in the digester will remain
unopened if a hydraulic or centrifugal extraction system is employed. Screw presses, due to the
turbulence and kneading action exerted on the fruit mass in the press cage, can effectively break
open the unopened oil cells and release more oil. These presses act as an additional digester and
are efficient in oil extraction.

Moderate metal wear occurs during the pressing operation, creating a source of iron
contamination. The rate of wear depends on the type of press, method of pressing, nut-to-fibre
ratio, etc. High pressing pressures are reported to have an adverse effect on the bleach ability and
oxidative conservation of the extracted oil.

3.1.6 Clarification and drying of oil

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The main point of clarification is to separate the oil from its entrained impurities. The fluid coming
out of the press is a mixture of palm oil, water, cell debris, fibrous material and ‘non-oily solids’.
Because of the non-oily solids the mixture is very thick (viscous). Hot water is therefore added to
the press output mixture to thin it. The dilution (addition of water) provides a barrier causing the
heavy solids to fall to the bottom of the container while the lighter oil droplets flow through the
watery mixture to the top when heat is applied to break the emulsion (oil suspended in water with
the aid of gums and resins). Water is added in a ratio of 3:1.

The diluted mixture is passed through a screen to remove coarse fibre. The screened mixture is
boiled from one or two hours and then allowed to settle by gravity in the large tank so that the palm
oil, being lighter than water, will separate and rise to the top. The clear oil is decanted into a
reception tank. This clarified oil still contains traces of water and dirt. To prevent increasing FFA
through autocatalytic hydrolysis of the oil, the moisture content of the oil must be reduced to 0.15
to 0.25 percent. Re-heating the decanted oil in a cooking pot and carefully skimming off the dried
oil from any engrained dirt removes any residual moisture. Continuous clarifiers consist of three
compartments to treat the crude mixture, dry decanted oil and hold finished oil in an outer shell as
a heat exchanger. (Fig. 10, 11, 12)

Fig. 5 Spindle press (Luapula, Zambia)

Fig. 6 Spindle press (Luapula, Zambia)

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Fig. 7 Another model of spindle press (Nova Technologies Ltd., Nigeria)

Fig. 8 Hydraulic press (manual)

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The wastewater from the clarifier is drained off into nearby sludge pits dug for the purpose. No
further treatment of the sludge is undertaken in small mills. The accumulated sludge is often
collected in buckets and used to kill weeds in the processing area.

3.1.7 Oil storage

In large-scale mills the purified and dried oil is transferred to a tank for storage prior to dispatch
from the mill. Since the rate of oxidation of the oil increases with the temperature of storage the oil
is normally maintained around 50°C, using hot water or low-pressure steam-heating coils, to
prevent solidification and fractionation. Iron contamination from the storage tank may occur if the
tank is not lined with a suitable protective coating.

Small-scale mills simply pack the dried oil in used petroleum oil drums or plastic drums and store
the drums at ambient temperature.

3.1.8 Kernel recovery

The residue from the press consists of a mixture of fibre and palm nuts. The nuts are separated
from the fibre by hand in the small-scale operations. The sorted fibre is covered and allowed to
heat, using its own internal exothermic reactions, for about two or three days. The fibre is then
pressed in spindle presses to recover a second grade (technical) oil that is used normally in soap-
making. The nuts are usually dried and sold to other operators who process them into palm kernel
oil. The sorting operation is usually reserved for the youth and elders in the village in a deliberate
effort to help them earn some income.

Large-scale mills use the recovered fibre and nutshells to fire the steam boilers. The super-heated
steam is then used to drive turbines to generate electricity for the mill. For this reason it makes
economic sense to recover the fibre and to shell the palm nuts. In the large-scale kernel recovery
process, the nuts contained in the press cake are separated from the fibre in a depericarper. They
are then dried and cracked in centrifugal crackers to release the kernels (Fig. 13, 14, 15, 16). The
kernels are normally separated from the shells using a combination of winnowing and
hydrocyclones. The kernels are then dried in silos to a moisture content of about 7 percent before
packing.

During the nut cracking process some of the kernels are broken. The rate of FFA increase is much
faster in broken kernels than in whole kernels. Breakage of kernels should therefore be kept as low
as possible, given other processing considerations.

Fig. 9 Manual vertical press (O.P.C., Cameroon)

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Fig. 10 Motorised horizontal screw press (Centre Songhai, Benin)

Fig. 11 Combined digester and motorised hydraulic press (Technoserve/Cort Engineering,

Ghana)

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Fig. 12 Flushing extractor (Cort Engineering Services, Ghana)

Summary of Unit operations

Unit Purpose
operation
1. Fruit To loosen fruit base from spikelets and to allow ripening processes to abate
fermentation
2. Bunch To facilitate manual removal of fruit
chopping
3. Fruit sorting To remove and sort fruit from spikelets
4. Fruit boiling To sterilize and stop enzymatic spoilage, coagulate protein and expose microscopic oil
cells
5 Fruit digestion To rupture oil-bearing cells to allow oil flow during extraction while separating fibre from
nuts
6 Mash pressing To release fluid palm oil using applied pressure on ruptured cellular contents
7 Oil purification To boil mixture of oil and water to remove water-soluble gums and resins in the oil, dry
decanted oil by further heating
8 Fibre-nut To separate de-oiled fibre from palm nuts.
separation
9 Second To recover residual oil for use as soap stock
Pressing
10 Nut drying To sun dry nuts for later cracking

Fig. 13 Clarifier tank (O.P.C., Cameroon)

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Fig. 14 Clarifier tank (Nova Technologies Ltd., Nigeria)

Fig. 15 Oil filter (Faith Engineering Workshop, Nigeria)

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Fig. 16 Palm nut cracker (AGRICO, Ghana)

Fig. 17 Palm nut cracker (NOVA, Technologies, Nigeria)

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Fig. 18 Palm nut cracker (Ogunoroke Steele Construction Works Ltd, Nigeria)

Fig. 19 Palm nut cracker combined with Kernel/Shell separator (Hormeku Engineering
works, Ghana)

3.2 Process equipment design and selection criteria

In designing equipment for small-scale oil extraction one of the key factors to consider is the quality
required. ‘Quality’ is entirely subjective and depends on the demands of the ultimate consumer. For

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the edible oil refining industry the most important quality criteria for crude oil are:

low content of free fatty acids (which are costly to remove during oil refining);
low content of products of oxidation (which generate off-flavours);
readily removed colour.

The most critical stages in the processing sequence for a processor seeking to satisfy these
criteria are: bunch sterilization as soon as possible after harvest; and effective clarification and
drying of the crude oil after extraction.

By contrast, for the domestic consumer of crude palm oil, flavour is the primary quality factor. This
is boosted by the fermentation that takes place within the fruit when the bunches are allowed to
rest for three or more days after harvesting. Thus sterilization immediately after harvesting is not a
crucial consideration. Herbs and spices for flavour are introduced during the oil-drying phase of
operations to mask off-flavours. Therefore rigid process control during oil clarification need not be
prescribed or incorporated in the design.

The free fatty acids and the trace tocopherols contained in the crude palm oil after natural
fermentation also have a laxative effect, which is desirable for African consumers for whom
synthetic substitutes are a luxury. The acidity imparts a ‘bite’ to the oil which some consumers
prefer. Thus the quality requirements of one market, leading to certain processing imperatives,
may conflict with those of another market.

The traditional manual methods are normally referred to as ‘low technology’ production. The
mechanised units are likewise referred to as ‘intermediate technology’ production.

The village traditional method of extracting palm oil involves washing pounded fruit mash in warm
water and hand squeezing to separate fibre and nuts from the oil/water mixture. A colander, basket
or a vessel with fine perforated holes in the bottom is used to filter out fibre and nuts. The wet
mixture is then put on the fire and brought to a vigorous boil. After about one or two hours,
depending on the volume of material being boiled, the firewood is taken out and the boiled mixture
allowed to cool. Herbs may be added to the mixture at this point just before reducing the heat. On
cooling to around blood temperature, a calabash or shallow bowl is used to skim off the palm oil.
Because of the large quantities of water used in washing the pulp this is called the ‘wet’ method.

A mechanical improvement, based on the traditional wet method process, is achieved by using a
vertical digester with perforated bottom plate (to discharge the aqueous phase) and a side chute
for discharging the solid phase components. The arrangement combines digestion, pressing and
hot water dilution into one mechanical unit operation.

The ‘dry’ method uses a digester to pound the boiled fruit, which is a considerable labour-saving
device. The oil in the digested or pounded pulp is separated in a press that may be manual or
mechanical. Motorised mechanical presses are preferred, whether hydraulic or screw type.

Most medium- and large-scale processing operations adopt the ’dry’ method of oil extraction. This
is because the fibre and nut shells may immediately used to fire the boiler to generate steam for
sterilization and other operations, including electricity generation. If the huge volumes of fibre and
shells are not used as boiler fuel, serious environmental pollution problems may result. Too much
water in the fibre increases the amount and cost of steam required to dry the fibre. Hence the
preference for the dry method in plants handling more than six tonnes FFB per hour.

Processing machinery manufacturers tend to make machines to fit individual processing

operations. However, recent developments have been toward the manufacture of integrated
machines, combining several process operations such as digestion, pressing and fibre/nut
separation into one assembly. It is found that these machines fit into two key process groupings:
batch and semi-continuous processes.

Schematic of processing models and associated machinery

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NB: NOS = Non -oily solids entrained in oil such as coagulated protein, gums and
resins, etc.

The extraction of palm oil from boiled palm fruit can be accomplished by handling successive
batches of materials or continuously feeding material to the machines.

3.2.1 Batch systems

The batch systems work directly on successive loads of boiled fruit to extract oil in one operation
for clarification. The ‘wet’ method uses a vertical digester (Fig. 11) with a perforated bottom plate to
pound a batch of fruit and then flush out the oil and other non-oil solids from the mashed pulp with
hot water. The direct screw-press is designed to pound a batch of boiled fruit in the entry section of
the machine while exerting pressure on the mashed pulp in another section to expel the palm oil in
one operation.

The advantage of the wet system is that it is simple and completely leaches all oil and non-oily
solid substances that can be carried in the fluid stream out of the digested mash to give clean and
separated nuts and fibre. The aqueous effluent from the vertical digester goes directly to the
clarification stage of processing. The amount of water needed to flush the pulp is normally the
same as that required for diluting the viscous oil that comes from the mechanical press in
preparation for clarification. An inexperienced operator may use too much hot water to leach out
the oil and thus consume unnecessary wood fuel.

The ‘wet’ method yield of palm oil is severely reduced when the wash water is cold. In the course
of digesting the fruit mash, in the presence of water, there is increased tendency to form an
oil/water emulsion that is difficult to separate from the fibre mass. The emulsified oil loss in the
fibre can be substantial if care is not taken to ensure full loading of the digester. Vertical flushing
digesters, requiring loading and discharging of a specific amount of material, can thus only be
used in a batch operation.

3.2.2 Semi-continuous systems

Continuous systems work sequentially, with one operation feeding directly into another, related to
the arrangement and timing of machine operations. Careful engineering of unit operations is
required to minimise discontinuities in the feeding of one stage into another. Otherwise some
machines have to be stopped periodically for other stations to catch up. When there are
discontinuities in the flow of materials between process stations the operations are known as
semi-continuous. The dry extraction systems with separate digestion and pressing stations are
usually semi-continuous.

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Also when digestion and pressing stations are combined into an integrated unit and there is
discontinuous feeding of boiled fruit to the digester inlet the operation is termed “semi-continuous”.
Once operations have been integrated to attain full continuity the capital investment capacity of
small-scale operators has been surpassed, because both machinery and working capital for raw
material increases greatly with the increased level of mechanisation.

The dry systems do not need much water for processing, although they have the disadvantage of
leaving substantial residual oil in the press cake. The oil content of the press cake can be quite
considerable (2-3 percent), depending on the type of press used and the strength of manual
operators.

The efficiency with which the various presses can extract oil ranges from 60 to 70 percent for
spindle presses, 80-87 percent for hydraulic presses and 75-80 percent for the Caltech screw-
presses. The first-pressing oil extraction rates also range from 12 to 15 percent for the spindle-
presses, 14-16 percent for hydraulic presses and 17-19 percent for the motorised screw-presses.
(Rouziere, 1995)

In many instances the first press cake is then sorted to remove the nuts, and the fibre is
subsequently subjected to a second pressing to obtain more oil (an additional 3 to 4 percent on
FFB). The second press oil is generally of lower quality, in terms of free fatty acid content and
rancidity. Such low-grade oil is used in soap-making. Some village processors undertake the
traditional hot water washing of the entire press cake immediately after pressing instead of sorting
fibre and second pressing.

Local manufacturers have developed a wide range of machinery and equipment for processing
palm oil and palm kernel to fit any budget. All the relevant unit operational machines can be
produced to various degrees of finish and quality in the Sub-Region. It is the combination of the unit
operation into an affordable process chain that distinguishes the manufacturers and their supplies.

From traditional technologies that rely solely on manual labour and simple cooking utensils, raising
the level of mechanization depends largely on a balance between the quantity of bunches available
for processing in a given locality and the money available for investment in machines.

The first consideration should be the availability of raw materials and how to compute the
processing scale. Knowing the optimum scale of operations, it is then possible to consider the
type of processing techniques. The higher the technology, the more skilful operators will be
required to handle the machines. These technical considerations should lead to the equipment
selection and examination of the capital investments needed to acquire the necessary machines.

3.3 Plant sizing

Assume a Village Group decides to plant oil palm and establishes a program to plant a certain
number of seedlings each year over a seven-year period. In the third year the first set of trees
begin to bear fruit. The community wants to establish a processing mill and they call an expert.
How is the estimation made of the size and type of processing unit required by the community?

Start by establishing the block of planted areas by year so the age of the trees may be determined.
The oil palm tree begins to bear fruit from the third year and the yield per tree increases
progressively with age until it peaks around 20 years. The yield begins to decline from year 25
through 40 when the economic life of the tree ebbs.

Table 3 describes the potential yields of palm fruit bunches (in metric tonnes) from the planted
hectares per year. Estimates in Table 3 are used to calculate the expected annual yield for each
annual block. For example, 8 700 seedlings planted in 1998 began to yield fruit in 2000 at the rate
of 3 tonnes per hectare to give 198 tonnes for the year. By Year 7 all planted areas will be in
production, at different yield rates. The estimated annual yield per planting block is calculated and
then the column for the year is added to give the potential raw materials available for processing.
For example, in Year 7, when all planted blocks are yielding fruit, the total is 8 919 metric tonnes
(see the row designated ‘TOTAL’). How the annual yield is distributed over the entire year needs to
be determined in order to know which period demands the attention of processors.

The oil palm tree yield is distributed over the entire year. Most of Central and West Africa
experience two rainfall seasons. The oil palm bears fruit in response to the rainfall pattern and
hence there are two peak harvesting periods in these regions. Southern hemisphere tropical
monsoon regions such as Malawi, Zambia and South East Asia experience only one long rainy
season and therefore tend to have a single peak-harvesting season.

For Central and West Africa the annual monthly distribution pattern for produce is expected to
show the following variations:

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Month Percent yield Seasonal contribution

March 9
April 12
May 16 50 %
June 13
July 8
August 7
September 8 34 %
October 11
November 7
December 5
January 3 16
February 1

In the peak harvesting month it is estimated that 12 to 16 percent of the annual yield is generally
available for processing. The plant that is installed must be capable of processing the peak month
output, which is generally estimated as 15 percent of the annual output. Conservatively, it is
estimated that the plant will work two shifts during the peak season.

Table 3: Estimated annual yield per hectare (from year of planting)

Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 15 20
Estimated yield -- -- 3.0 4.25 5.5 6.0 7.25 8.2 8.6 9.5 10.5 11.0 12.5 13.5

(Tonnes)

Table 4: Estimated FFB yields after planting and related plant capacity

Year/yield in metric tonnes

Hectares 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 15 20

98
66 -- - 198 281 363 396 479 541 568 627 693 726 825 891
190 - - 570 808 1 045 1 140 1 378 1 558 1 634 1 805 1 995 2 375 2 565
800 - -- 2 400 3 400 4 400 4 800 5 800 6 560 6 880 7 600 8 800 10 000
400 -- -- 1 200 1 700 2 200 2 400 2 900 3 280 3 440 4 400 5 200
400 -- -- 1 200 1 700 2 200 2 400 2 900 3 280 3 440 5 000
Total 198 851 3 571 6 041 8 919 10 619 12 526 14 121 15 558 17 041 19 840 23 656
Peak Month 29.7 128 536 906 1 338 1 593 1 879 2 118 2 334 2 556 2 976 3 548
Plant 0.09 0.4 1.7 2.8 4.2 5.0 6.0 6.6 7.5 8.0 9.5 11.0

Capacity/hr Plant

Source: Poku, K. Feasibility study on Malawi palm oil mill establishment

In Year 3 there is the potential of processing 198 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches. Assuming that the
total quantity were to be processed in one location over a 20-day period using 8 hours in the day,
we would need a processing unit that handles 186 kg per hour, or 93 kilos/hr if the choice was
made to operate 16-hours per day. Table 4 shows capacity based on a 16-hour working day. For
this capacity a wet type digester or the dry spindle-press operation would be recommended. By
Year 5 the community would require a fully mechanised mill using motorised digesters and
presses.

Before the sixth year the community would have to decide whether they want to stay in the small-
scale milling category or move up to a medium-scale operation using a continuous system of
machines. If the option is to stay small-scale then the community will need to place orders for
additional small-scale processing modules. The new set of processing machines can be placed to
run alongside the existing facility or located in another village to minimise bunch transportation
costs.

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The best plant size option for rural Africa is still unknown. Large-scale operations normally require
high-skilled labour and management expertise. Most villages do not have such a pool of skilled
labour. The villages also lack the social infrastructure such as good accommodation, schools and
hospitals that would attract high-skilled labour. Thus, in order to establish a large-scale processing
operation, labour needs to be imported from other parts of the country. To maintain these ‘alien’
workers and managers a provision must be made in the capital investment for housing, schools
and clinics near the processing estate. Some of the schooling and medical services must be
extended to the whole community or there will be resentment towards the ‘alien’ workers.

Large-scale operations also require rapid transportation of harvested bunches to the processing
site, hence the need for investment in roads and civil works. The establishment of large-scale
operations creates an overhead burden that is beyond the capacity of a village community.

Many of the large-scale operations established in the early 1970s have declined along with the
national economies of African nations. The cost structure of these establishments has rendered
the output products non-competitive on the international market.

Today decentralised small-scale processing operations are preferred in most parts of Africa.

3.4 Process technology/capital investment considerations

Once the required plant size has been determined, the next item to consider is the amount of
money required to buy the necessary machinery. The more money available, the more units can
be bought, to minimise the drudgery of processors.

The wide array of machinery options makes it possible for a processor to start operations with a
manual spindle-press used to pound the palm fruit. Another may start with a single motorised
vertical wet process digester. Further up the investment scale are those who can afford the
combination horizontal digester and screw-press or combination horizontal digester and hydraulic
press along with the associated sterilizers, threshers, and oil clarifiers. Another combination that is
yet to be tried is the combination of a horizontal motorised screw-press in combination with a
second stage vertical flushing digester for maximum palm oil extraction and fibre/nut separation.

Type of unit Key machines Rated Extraction Capital

capacity efficiency investment

(k g FFB/hr) (%) (US$)

Single batch unit
Dry Spindle 100-200 55 150-200
Hydraulic 200-300 67-74 5 000-7 000
Screw 250-400 77.4 1 500-6 000
Wet Vertical digester 500-800 80-90 1 500-2 500
Dry Motorised horizontal 500-1000 55 2 500-3 000
digester

(only)
Dual separate units
Dry Digester + Spindle 200-300 60-70 3 000-5 000
presses
Digester + hydraulic 400-800 67-78 7 000-10 000
press
Semi-continuous combined Motorised digester + 500-850 70-87 10 000
units
Dry hydraulic + spindle- -15 000
press
Digester + screw-press 500-850 76-90 12 000-15 000

Source: Compiled from various sources

The extraction efficiency refers to the percentage of oil that the machine can extract in relation to
the total oil in the boiled fruit. The type of fruit mix (Dura/Tenera) presented for processing greatly
influences the extraction efficiency of all units.

Many of the installations that use single spindle and manual hydraulic press units require manual
pounding with wooden mortars and pestles, foot stomping, etc. Thus the throughput capacity of
such a mill is determined by the manual pounding rate. The presses are usually not mechanised
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and hence the processing capacity of the press is also limited by the size of the press cage and
the operator’s energy level for turning the press screw or pumping the hydraulic fluid mechanism.

Another limiting condition is the affordability of capital equipment. Where the capital equipment cost
exceeds a certain value villagers will shy away from taking loans to purchase the combination of
operations. The designer must bear in mind that until the rural/urban migration of village youth is
reversed the villages will be mainly populated by the elderly. These elders are naturally reluctant to
take up long-term loans and the local banks are reluctant to lend to a predominantly aged
community group. In Ghana, for instance, capital equipment costs should be around US$10 000 to
be affordable to village-based individuals or groups.

Because of the need to keep initial capital investment to a bare minimum it is imperative that
unnecessary mechanised unit operations are eliminated. Work that can be done manually -
without overly taxing profitability - should be, thereby taking advantage of surplus labour and
creating a stream of wages and salaries in the local community. Operations that are usually
associated with drudgery by processors, such as fruit digestion and oil extraction, can be
mechanised. Other less strenuous tasks, such as fruit separation and fibre/nut separation, can be
contracted out to elderly women and unemployed youth.

“Small-scale” does not necessarily mean a significant decrease in efficiency. It does, however,
mean a reduction in working capital and operating costs. The small mills can be placed at the
heart of local communities, minimising reliance on vehicular transport that is normally unavailable
in rural communities, given the poor condition of road networks and other infrastructure. This
increased accessibility serves to dramatically reduce fruit spoilage and consequent post-harvest
losses.

Culturally, men cultivate or produce while women process and sell. Traditionally, women decide the
form in which the produce is to be traded and hence determine the degree of processing they are
willing to undertake. These decisions form the basis of traditional technologies upon which
innovations are to be derived.

The operating philosophy for equipment innovation should therefore be an attempt to develop
machinery to alleviate the drudgery of female processors while providing additional avenues for the
employment of those displaced by the improved technologies, keeping some operations labour-
intensive. It is therefore important to mechanise the key drudgery-alleviation equipment that can be
easily handled by women.

Prime mover power is also a major consideration. Most villages do not have electricity and hence
the diesel engine is the main source of power. Thus, for cost reasons there cannot be a multiplicity
of these engines to drive the required unit operations. Where there is the need to drive several
machines the answer could be to use diesel power to generate electricity. The cost and
maintenance of this power source would eliminate most small-scale processors and
communities. The power source in such instances acts as a limitation to the number of unit
operations that can be mechanised and powered. Systems of pulleys and gears to drive
operational machines should be actively considered when designing for village based groups.

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