Value Addition of Palm-pressed Fibre Oil

 

Palm pressed-fibre (PFF) is a by-product from oil extraction process of oil palm fruits in palm oil mills. Conventionally, the recovered fibre is burned as fuel to provide energy for the operation of palm oil mill. The PFF has been found to contain about 5% residual oil after screw-press extraction of crude palm oil. Many techniques have been considered to recover palm-pressed fibre oil (PPFO) such as solvent extraction and supercritical fluid extraction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The PPFO contains high amount of carotenoids, vitamin E and sterols. Residual oil known as the PPFO extracted from the PPF has been known as a good source of health supplement to complement certain daily vitamin requirement including carotenes, vitamin E, squalene, sterol and phosphorus as well as phospholipids composition. The studies suggested that the PPFO has  a wide range of applications in phamaceuticals, food and cosmetics industries.