Starting Commercial Palm Oil Processing Plant

Palm oil is pressed from the fresh fruit of this tree. Today, palm oil remains an important ingredient in African and Brazilian cuisines. Many processed foods also contain palm oil, such as cookies, margarine and chocolate.

In addition, palm oil is moderately unsaturated, free of linolenic acid, and rich in natural vitamin E, a natural antioxidant, which makes palm oil more suitable for frying and grilling foods than other oils. Due to this, it is considered a popular cooking oil and it ranks on top of other edible oils.

QIE Machinery provides a range of palm oil making machines to extract oil from fresh fruit bunches of oil palm. The following is the typical palm oil manufacturing process which might be useful for new investors of palm oil production business.

Main Machinery for Making Palm Oil: Steriliser, digester, stripper machine, screw press, nut/fiber separator and so on.

Typical palm oil extraction process: fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) reception, sterilizing, fruit bunches threshing, fruit digesting and oil extraction. The crush palm oil is generally further processed in palm oil refinery plant to manufacture edible oil.  (Related Post: Ultimate Guide to Palm Oil Manufacturing Plant)

Plam Fruit Harvesting Process

The initial process in palm oil mill is reaping the palm fruit bunches.

Sterilizing Station

Through fruit reception system (left of the above photos), the palm fruit bunches will be transported to the next process – Sterilizing Station.

The disinfection process utilizes steam or water to sterilize the fresh palm fruits. This process likewise stops enzymatic responses that prompt oxidation and upsets the cells which are found in the mesocarp, so that to improve the oil extraction efficiency and final oil product quality. Dry sterilizing means roasting or smoking the fruits, while wet process means boiling or steaming the fruits. If choose dry process, the palm fruits are separated first, and then sterilized. If use wet process, the fruits are sterilized before threshing.

Threshing Station

In the threshing process of palm oil mill. The fruitlets are separated from the whole bunches by use of stripper machine. Threshing is generally mechanical in large palm oil mill by use of thresher, which rotates or vibrates to remove the fruits from the bunch.

Digesting Station

Before extracting oil, the palm fruits need to be crushed in digester machines. To augment oil yield, the fruit pulp is also warmed in this process. The mesocarp and nuts can be squeezed together in palm oil making/pressing machine. But if you plan to make Grade A Palm Oil, the palm nut/kernel should be removed before oil pressing section.

Oil Pressing Station

The pulp is then pressed, which bursts the oil-containing cells, releasing the palm oil. There are several types of oil making machines that may be used to press the fruit pulp, including manual presses, hydraulic presses, and screw presses. The screw press is the most commonly used palm oil making machine in both small and large scale palm oil manufacturing plant due to its high oil extraction rate.

Palm Oil Clarification Station

The purpose of clarification in palm oil manufacturing process is to remove impurities. The final crude palm oil will be storage in bulk in a tank.

Setting Up Cost of Complete Palm Oil Mill: When it comes to to the complete palm oil processing plant cost, the total equipment price is greatly affected by production output and process design. The equipment price is around $20,000~$30,000 for establishing a 5~10 ton/d small palm fruit oil milling factory. About $60,000 is needed as equipment investment to run a complete palm oil milling plant with capacity of 50 ton/day. If you want to build a complete oil mill plant including both palm fruit and palm kernel oil extraction, with capacity of 10 ton/day, the cost is around $60,000. (Related article: Starting Commercial Palm Oil Processing Plant>>)

When You Choosing Palm Oil Milling Machinery

The four most important factors when considering whether to purchase a palm oil extraction machine or establish an oil mill plant are its capacity, wastage ratio, cost and quality. While it may be true that the cost is the ultimate decision point, the capacity and wastage ratio also have to be taken into consideration. Neglecting these two factors will result in unpredictable costs per unit of palm oil produced, which will lead to a non-competitive selling price of the final product.
Besides, as for palm oil processing machines — just like all types of machinery — also needs some downtime for maintenance and repairs. This is why equipment quality is important. If you buy a cheap machine with low quality, you will pay more for maintenance and repairs during your palm oil production.
lt’s best to check the above factors and although no palm oil processing plant scores perfectly on these four criteria, the one that scores closest should be the top choice. You will be well on your way to a profitable palm oil business venture.