Premium Oil Segregation Using Near-Infrared (NIR) Online System

(Officer In-charge: Fatah Yah Abd. Manaf)

 

Free fatty acid (FFA) is the most frequently determined quality parameter monitored during the production, storage, and marketing of palm oil products Crude palm oil (CPO) normally contains FFA which needs to be removed during the refining process. Lipase activities causes increment in FFA level in CPO. FFA is formed when the bound fatty acid in triglyceride molecules are split either by chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis.

 

The FFA levels can vary (1% to 5%) from the time of harvesting to the milling processing and storage. High FFA content in CPO must be avoided as it will result in higher refining cost during refining process. The trend to produce CPO with low FFA (<1.5%) has increased among the millers as it commands a premium price due to its hygienic food grade quality. Currently the premium oil at the mill is manually collected every 30 minutes after checking FFA content and switching the flow of CPO into clarifier tank. The NIR online system is an alternative option to segregate the low FFA premium oil which is more efficient, much faster and solvent free compared to the titration method. The system is calibrated using similar product samples. The value obtained using standard laboratory method and the calibration are tested for goodness of fit based on R2, standard error coefficient (SEC) and standard error of prediction (SEP). This project is to develop an automatic system for producing and segregating low FFA premium oil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advantages

Advantages of low FFA content:

• Lower refining losses of oil

• Lower usage of bleaching earth

• Lower dosage of phosphoric acid

• Increased income