The core of palm oil production lies in three key aspects: minimizing losses, stabilizing quality, and controlling costs. To achieve these three goals, the key lies in the entire processing flow from Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) to Crude Palm Oil (CPO). Henan Glory specializes in researching this field. Through optimized processing flows and reliable equipment, we can help you effectively address these challenges, enabling you to produce more oil and higher-quality oil.

Overview of the Processing Flow:

FFB → Sterilization → Threshing → Digestion → Pressing → Clarification → Storage → CPO

Crude palm oil processing flow

1. Reception and Weighing of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB)

Purpose: Ensure timely processing to prevent deterioration of oil quality.

Process: FFBs are harvested from palm trees and transported to the processing mill.

Upon arrival at the plant, they are weighed to monitor the input quantity and track production efficiency.

Requirement: Processing must start within 48 hours after harvesting to avoid a rapid increase in free fatty acid (FFA) content, which would otherwise affect oil quality.

2. Sterilization

Purpose: Inactivate fruit enzymes, soften the fruits, and prepare for subsequent palm oil processing.

Process: Load FFB into a sterilization tank and subject them to high-pressure steam cooking for 60-90 minutes.

Functions: Effectively prevent FFA formation, facilitate the separation of fruits from the bunches, and reduce microbial content.

3. Threshing

After sterilization, FFB is sent to the threshing stage, where palm oil processing equipment—thresher—is used.

Purpose: Separate the fruits from the bunch stalks.

Process: Feed the sterilized FFB into a rotary thresher or drum thresher; mechanical actions (rotation or tapping) separate the fruits from the empty fruit bunches. Palm fruits are collected for further processing.

Palm fruit bunch thresher

4. Digestion

This step aims to break down the cell structure of the fruit pulp to release oil.

Process: The fruits are fed into a vertical digesting tank equipped with stirring arms to obtain homogeneous pulp (mashed pulp containing oil, water, and solids).

5. Pressing

This is the core extraction stage in the palm oil processing flow, and the key palm oil processing equipment is a double-screw press machine.

Purpose: Separate oil from the fruit pulp.

Process: The pulp is fed into the press; the screw shaft exerts high pressure to squeeze out the oil. The oil flows out through the sieve holes, while the press cake (fiber and palm kernels) is discharged from the tail end of the press.

Product: Crude oil containing moisture and solid impurities.

Double screw palm oil press machine

6. Clarification

This is the final palm oil processing step to obtain pure Crude Palm Oil (CPO), involving multiple filtration devices.

Purpose: Remove all impurities and moisture from the crude oil.

Process:

Oil Clarification Tank: Removes heavy impurities such as mud and sand.

Vibrating Screen: Removes fiber impurities through a double-layer screen mesh.

Plate Filter: Removes fine fiber impurities and part of the moisture.

Vacuum Dryer: Heat the oil to 85–90°C and dry it under vacuum to reduce the moisture content to below 0.2%, resulting in the final CPO.

Palm oil clarification equipment

7. Utilization of By-Products

Modern palm oil processing mills focus on sustainable economy.

Empty Bunch Fibers (EBF): Used as boiler fuel or organic fertilizer.

Press Cake: Can be further processed to extract palm kernel oil, and the residue is used as animal feed.

If you plan to invest in a palm oil processing mill or upgrade an existing production line, please contact Henan Glory. Our professional team is committed to providing you with dedicated assistance.