Challenge: To achieve maximum and quality yield in a sustainable process

For decades Alfa Laval has provided palm oil mills with efficient equipment to convert sterilized and pressed palm fruit into crude oil, playing a key part in shaping the design of today’s oil room.

Maximize oil recovery with D3 PRO System

• Your all-in-one clarification/purification and oil recovery solution for crude palm oil processing.
• A profitable alternative to traditional settling tank technology. Can be configured as an automated system capable of operating 24 hours a day, with minimum maintenance or supervision.

D3 PRO benefits:

• Up to 30% reduction in water consumption and effluent
• Maximum oil recovery, higher yield and profit
• Consistent separation and oil quality – no unnecessarily long holding time and exposure to oxidation.

Conventional processing:  

• Decanter: The decanter centrifuge separates solids from one of two liquid phases in one single continuous process, using centrifugal forces that can be well beyond 3000 times greater than gravity.
• Nozzle separator: Intended for the separation of sludge water from the underflow of the settling tank. Can also be used for further oil recovery after a decanter centrifuge or from sterilizer condensate.
• Purifier: A solids ejecting disc stack centrifuge designed for intermittent discharge of solids, while separating a mixture of two liquids. Removes impurities and insoluble water from crude palm oil. 
• Desanding cyclone: A highly efficient desander used for the removal of fine sand and particle from sludge water or crude oil. Normally installed before a separator, decanter or other process equipment to provide pre-treatment and protect the equipment against excessive wear.
• Vacuum dryers: A cylindrical stainless steel vessel to remove moisture from washed oil.   
• Pumps: Centrifugal pumps to transfer washed oil to storage tanks or further processing.

Recovering oil from empty fruit bunch (EFB) liquor:

• Oil present in the EFB liquor can contain up to 0.5% of the total oil contained in the fresh fruit bunches (FFB).
• High performance Alfa Laval PANX three-phase decanters are purpose designed for processing crude palm oil by recovering oil from EFB, as well as separating the water and solids from the liquor.

Alfa Laval PANX decanter benefits:

• Improved palm oil separation in a cost-efficient way
• High performance with low energy consumption thanks to an innovative liquid outlet design (up to 30% lower than conventional outlet design)
• Improved solid dryness means lower costs for drying or disposal
• Increased capacity with same or less space requirement, for a smaller investment
• Simple installation, easy maintenance

CPO washing for removal of chloride, precursor of 3-MCPDE formation:

• CPO washing can be done both in the mill and refinery. Refer “refinery” section for more info.

Challenge: to meet compliance as well as effectively reducing effluent discharge from mills.

It is estimated that 0.65 tonnes of raw POME is produced for every ton of fresh fruit bunches (FFB). To remain competitive, millers have rolled back costs but also need to comply with increasingly stringent environmental protection regulations. Continuously adding effluent ponds is not a sustainable solution. Big challenges need new answers.  

Palm Oil Mill Effluent evaporation (POMEvap) technology:

• POMEvap is most attractive to those who are looking for methane avoidance as a compliance and POME management method. Combining the big benefits of Alfa Laval’s evaporation and separation, raw POME is distilled into solid concentrate which can be further pressed for oil, and colourless liquid distillate with BOD of approximately 20ppm.    

• In short, Alfa Laval POMEvap:
• Helps you achieve methane avoidance
• Produce liquid effluent meeting discharge BOD and colour ADMI requirement
• Presents you with option for recycling
• Produce valuable byproducts (oil and concentrate)
• Has a small footprint
• Is simple and cost effective

Waste decanter module for POME:

• Alfa Laval designs and supplies solutions based on decanters for dewatering palm oil mill effluent (POME) and de-sludging of anaerobic ponds.
• At the heart of the complete de-sludging system is the ALDEC decanter which uses centrifugal force to separate the solids from sludge. It can be adjusted to suit specific requirements by varying:
• The bowl speed to ensure the exact G force required for the most efficient separation
• The conveying speed and pond depth in the bowl for the best possible balance between liquid clarity and solids dryness.

Challenge: reduce use of bleaching earth, oil loss, waste and 3-MCPDE 

Crude fats and oils always contain impurities that have to be removed – and there is a growing focus on the food safety and environmental parameters on how you do it.

Much more than an equipment supplier, we handle engineering, design and turnkey deliveries. Whether it’s a new plant, upgrading or optimizing processes in an existing one, we offer customized solutions that benefit both your bottom line and the environment. If it’s a complete plant, we take responsibility for the overall solution. 

CPO washing for removal of chloride, precursor of 3-MCPDE formation:

• Alfa Laval CPO washing process has a proven track record that shows that it can achieve more than 90% chloride removal from CPO. Check out what our customer Sime Darby has to say about the Alfa Laval CPO washing plant here.
• CPO washing can be done both in the mill and refinery but doing it in the producing countries helps ensure that the total chloride can be reduced more effectively and oil quality preserved as much as possible.
• The washing process does not react with oil, but only removes chloride in the moisture content and remove chloride salts that are less soluble. However, mills normally employ a smaller separator namely the VO range, while in refineries a larger separator machine is used i.e the PX range.

Degumming and neutralization:

• The one single technology that plays the most important role in removing impurities such as solid particles, gums, free fatty acids, pigments, substances that affect smell and taste from both animal and vegetable fats and oils is separation. The good thing here is that Alfa Laval is one of the world’s leading suppliers of separation equipment of virtually any kinds.
• The modular design of Alfa Laval fats and oils processing equipment makes it ideal regardless of whether you are retrofitting, expanding or setting up new processing operations.
• In addition, Alfa Laval also provides gum drying and soap stock splitting solutions. 

Bleaching:

• Efficient bleaching makes it possible to
• Remove certain pigments such as carotinoids and chlorophyll
• Decompose and partially remove oxidation products
• Remove contaminants such as soaps and trace metals
• Remove polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other pollutants

Deodorization:

• Alfa Laval offers a variety of solutions for combined deacidification/deodorization in both continuous and semi-continuous mode with minimum stripping steam and the highest degree of heat recovery. 

SoftFlex:

• The ideal path to greater flexibility, improved reliability and lower costs. With the patented Alfa Laval SoftFlex semi-continuous deacidification and deodorization, you benefit from multiple stock changeovers with no loss of production time, minimized cross-contamination and minimum of carry over between batches, as well as the highest heat recovery currently available. Enjoy lower steam consumption by 30 – 40%.

PalmFlex:

• Alfa Laval was the first to introduce structured packaging technology as a standard part of the physical refining concept. This continuous deacidification/ deodorization solution offers high product quality while consuming a minimum of utilities. With the new PalmFlex technology, Alfa Laval is able to help producers further improved the oil quality to meet the stringent food safety standards particularly through the significant reduction of 3-MCPDE and GE.

Many palm oil producers have extensive untapped resources in the form of under-exploited feed stock. Adding efficient fats modification processes can open new doors for producers to offer more products, harvest greater revenue and strengthens your company’s capability to deal with the effects of seasonal demand and market fluctuations. Alfa Laval provides several complete flexible solutions for fats modification.

Fractionation:

• Consists of gently cooling oil or fats in an accurately controlled process, making it possible to crystallize the hard fat content. This can be achieved with absolutely no chemical modification, making this the “natural” way to product hard fats. 

Hydrogenation:

Hydrogenation raises the melting point of oils and fats, and improves a range of other properties, including taste and keeping qualities. This is done by altering the molecular structure of the oils and fats and turning them into hard fats.   

Interesterification:

A specially designed catalyst handling system is involved in the Alfa Laval interesterification equipment used in fats modification processes. And due to the design of the components and the rigorous specifications used, it helps keeps the consumption of energy and other utilities to a minimum, resulting in lower operating costs. Alfa Laval provides both chemical and enzymatic options for this application. 

As one of the world’s largest suppliers of process equipment for edible fats, Alfa Laval has a unique know-how and full, practical insight into process technology concerning this delicate and complicated process.

Apart from quality, two of the most critical points in margarine and shortening production are improved hygiene and full traceability within the processing lines. A supplier such as Alfa Laval who can ensure that each component is fully traceable can save considerable time and money when it comes to validating process lines.

• Margarine and edible fat products are generally grouped into two: for industrial use and consumer markets. Regardless of which category, a standard margarine contains a minimum of 80% fat.
• Producing margarine and shortening products is about achieving a delicate balance of properties, allowing for subtle shifts in local market preferences and consumer requirements, while meeting stringent international standards. Alfa Laval can help you make that possible.

• Downtime is a costly business. With a total of 13 service centres peppered across South East Asia, you can be sure of getting local support that is close to you, in the shortest time possible. From start-up and commissioning to basic maintenance, upgrades, online monitoring and process optimization, partnering with Alfa Laval ensures top level efficiency and full control over your service budget.
• On top of that, our Asia Pacific Distribution Centre for spare parts located in Singapore means a reliable supply of essential spare parts for times in need. 
• With tailored preventive maintenance agreement, you can also be guaranteed of a peace of mind where all services are planned in advance. We handle the practicalities; you focus on your core business. 
• Check out what our happy customer Kilang Sawit Bukit Bandi has to say.

Alfa Laval will be participating in following events:

• POC 2019, 4 - 6 March 2019
• PIPOC 2019, 19 - 21 November 2019

Stay tuned for more updates!