Journals Proceedings

Abstract

In this study an eco-mill system with new technology was developed to overcome the current palm oil mill issues such as vast Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) ponds, large mill area, reliance on water supply, oil quality, oil loss, and energy etc. In eco-mill process two distinct technologies such as megasonic clarification system and ultrasonic horn press system was developed to replace the conventional clarification system and sterilization system. Megasonic clarification process can separate the Crude Palm Oil (CPO) more effectively without any dilution (no additional water required) and within short period of time with lowest temperature (~ 80 °C). This results in high quality oil with minimum oil loss. Ultrasonic horn press system can rupture the oil cells within the palm fruits and also press the oil emulsion out from the fruits within 20 sec with controlled temperature (~ 70 °C). These changes can influence POME treatment process and at the same time reduce the treatment cost significantly. The issues of environmental pollution due to POME can be greatly reduced. The frequency ranges studied for CPO clarification process was 40 kHz – 1 MHz and the temperature range studied was 60 °C to 90 °C. The effect of various watt densities on oil separation was also studied. Result shows that 360 kHz would be the more appropriate frequency to separate the oil from its entrained impurities within short period of time. The result also shows that higher watt density gives faster separation of CPO. Megasonic clarification with 80 °C gives better oil quality and faster separation as compared to other temperatures tested. Result also indicates that the DOBI value decreases with increase of temperature over 85 °C. The ultrasonic horn press takes only 20 sec to rupture/burst the oil bearing cells in the fruitlets. This indeed reduces the cycle time drastically as compared to conventional sterilization system.