Dry Fractionation Process Description
Apart from all the regular refining processes, there is one additional process that needs to be carried out for refining palm oil – FRACTIONATION PROCESS.
For Palm Oil Refinery Plant, Fractionation Process is required in which palm olein and palm stearin are separated by scientifically cooling the refined palm oil by chilling plant and then filtering the oil.
For this purpose crystallizing vessel is used in which chilling pipe coils cool the oil for fractionation. Palm stearin crystals are formed due to chilling which are separated in the filter press and pure liquid of palm olein is obtained and palm stearin cake is collected from the filter press.
At Tinytech we can offer complete Dry Fractionation Systems for Palm Oil Refining as well as Palm Kernel Oil Refining. The amount of fractionation power required to be consumed on PKO is less than CPO owing to lesser triglycerides in the oil.
Layout for Oil Palm Dry Fractionation Method
Crystallization Technique
The RBDPO Feed Oil is pumped to the Crystallizer. The fractionation system is batch type made up of vertical cylindrical vessel full of thermo-regulated water which is fitted with a mechanical agitator which rotates at the slow speed.
The crystallization process is carried out to remove the higher melting glycerides which cause liquid oils to become cloudy and more viscous at low temperature. There are 3 factors (temperature, time and agitation), have a fundamental importance on the formation and character of the crystal:
1) The lowering of temperature at around 15 to 20 degree Celsius causes, because of supersaturating the higher melting component to separate from a solution.
2) Agitation facilitates the formation of Stearin Crystals.
3) Time with a gradual decrease in temperature and stillness, promotes the formation of longer crystals.
When the solution is pumped into the crystallizer, the crystal formation and growth occurs as the oil is agitated and cooled by chilled water in the cooling coils. Cooling can be governed by controlling the water temperature.
Filtration in Fractionation
The slurry passes through screw pump and fed into the Filter for the physical separation between RBD palm stearin and RBD palm olein. For this purpose, virgin PP Plate & Frame type filter press is used. The screw pump is highly effective for feeding and pumping this mixture.
The solid crystals or the palm stearin as we call it is retained in between the filter plates. The solid material is collected in the plates and only the liquid portion flows down. The solid palm stearin drops down through the filter plates when the plates are shifted and cleaned. The pressure screw is released for this purpose and the plates are made loose.
The liquid palm olein is collected from the taps when they are opened. The oil flows through the oil collection channel and it is stored into the Refined Oil Tank for its further usage. The client can utilize this final Palm Olein for packing and selling.
|
FILTRATION TEMP (º C) |
IV (WIJS) |
SLIP/M.PT (º C) |
IV (WIJS) |
SLIP/M.PT (º C) |
IV (WIJS) |
SLIP/M.PT (º C) |
CLOUD POIN(º C) |
YEILD (%) |
| RBD PO |
23-24 |
51.8 |
36.2 |
34.2 |
52.8 |
56.5 |
21 |
8.8 |
78± 3% |
| RBD PO (PROLONGED HOLDING) |
17-18 |
51.8 |
36.2 |
38.2 |
50.7 |
60.5 |
17 |
502 |
60± 5% |
| RBD POL (24/14º C) |
14-15 |
56.5 |
21 |
47.4 |
27.4 |
62.8 |
14.3 |
4.5 |
55± 5% |
| RBD POL (24/14º C) (PROLONGED HOLDING) |
14 |
56.5 |
21 |
49.1 |
26.5 |
65.4 |
11.6 |
3.2 |
48± 5% |
| RBD POL (24/14º C) (PROLONGED HOLDING) |
14 |
56.5 |
21 |
49.1 |
26.5 |
65.4 |
11.6 |
3.2 |
48± 5% |
| RBD PO/POL (20:80) (PROLONGED HOLDING) |
14 |
55.2 |
|
45 |
33 |
65.5 |
|
3.2 |
50± 5% |
Typical Results of Palm Oil Fractionation
Dry fractionation, also known as crystallization from the melt, is fractional crystallization in its most simple form, and the economy of the technology allows it to be used for production of commodity fats. Handling and value of secondary fractions play a significant role in the economics of the operation. The secondary product requires marketing and sales to use them off.
