Engineering solutions for the palm mill of the future: Increasing extraction rate and sustainability through biotechnology. Issue 1 (October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Silvamany, Hemavathi; Mat Hassan, Nik Suhaimi; Mat Yasin, Nik Mohd Farid; Abdul Hamid, Amirul Al Hafiz; Khairi, Muhammad Izhar; Arnan, Muhammad Zaidy; Mohammed Yunus, Mohammed Faisal; Kulaveerasingam, Harikrishna; Dunning, Christopher J. R.; Nagalingam, Karthini; Chew, Chien Lye
• Is Part Of: IOP conference series. Volume 1195:Issue 1(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-10
• Subjects: Materials science -- Periodicals; 620.1105
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/1195/1/012061
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1757-8981

Abstract

Abstract: The edible oil industry involving extraction and processing of oils and fats from vegetable sources has witnessed a tremendous growth over the decade accounting for rapid expansion of urbanization and industrialization. Consequently, concerted efforts have been undertaken to increase the palm oil extraction rate (OER) at processing mills. This paper explores the commercial application of enzymatic treatment of sterilised palm fruitlets and diluted crude oil (DCO) stream in a 60 t/hr oil palm mill. Incubation of sterilised palm fruitlets mixed with enzymes in a pre-digester vessel at 70 °C and retention time of 30 minutes resulted in an increment of 1.15 % OER. Parallelly, dosing of enzyme into DCO with simpler system yielded in OER increment up to 1.19 %. This study offers insight into the potential oil left in pressed fibre using different methods, such as prolonged Soxhlet extraction, ultrasonic treatment, and supercritical fluid extraction. Additionally, confocal microscopy images of treated samples showed disintegration and thinning of cell walls resulting in higher free oil droplets.