Palm Oil Mill crude palm oil processing crude palm oil separator

From the offloading bay, the FFB fall into cages on a rail system. These cages are pulled into a horizontal steriliser, where during a 90 minutes steaming process, the fruits are sterilised to prevent further acidification of the oil. 

The cages with sterilised fruit bunches are emptied into a bunch hopper that feeds the thresher (bunch stripper) where the fruits are separated from the bunches. Thereafter the loose fruits are conveyed to a digester and then to a screw press. At the press, the palm oil is pressed out of the fruits. The oil goes to the de-sanding and decanting tanks, while cake, also containing the palm nuts, is conveyed to the palm kernel recovery station. 

The empty fruit bunches (EFB) are recycled in the plantation. 

When the oil leaves the screw press it contains water, sand and impurities. During a process of static de-sanding and decanting, most of the impurities in the oil are removed in a centrifugal oil purifier. The last traces of oil in the effluent are recovered in a centrifugal sludge separator. 

Now the crude palm oil (CPO) is ready for storage and further processing in the refinery and fractionation plant. There it is processed into refined bleached deodorised oil (RBDO) and palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD). RBDO is then fractionated into palm olein and stearin.