EXPLAIN THE CHEMICAL REFINING

PROCESS. DESCRIBE EXACTLY WHAT

IS/ARE REMOVED IN EACH STEP OF
THE REFINING PROCESS
Reference :

PROCESS DESIGN IN DEGUMMING AND BLEACHING OF

PALM OIL by PROF.MADYA DR. NOOR AZIAN MORAD,
PROF.MADYA MUSTAFA KAMAL ABD AZIZ &
ROHANI BINTI MOHD ZIN of CLEAR, UTM

CLEAR : CENTRE OF LIPIDS ENGINEERING AND APPLIED RESEARCH

CHEMICAL REFINING OF
CRUDE PALM OIL
• Also known as Alkali Refining
• A conventional method used to refine
crude palm oil
• This method involves THREE stages of
refining process
o Gum conditioning & Neutralization
o Bleaching & Filtration
o Deodorization
 Degumming
Crude Palm Oil • Gums
Chemical Refining
(CPO)

Alkali Neutralization
• Soap Stock
Deodorization Bleaching • Soap Stock will then splits
to FFA

NBDPO
Stage 1: Gum Conditioning and
Neutralization
 Phosphatide portion of oil is removed
 Addition of some additives/agents under specific
condition eg: phosphoric acid and citric acid.
 The oil mass is then neutralised with alkali
 R-COOH + NaOH RCOONa + H2O
Stage 2 : Bleaching and Filtration
 In this operation, the oil is taken into cylindrical vessel
with agitator called `Bleacher' and kept under vacuum
and heated up to 90°C with steam.
 Bleaching agents will adsorb most of the residual
colour of the remaining oil after neutralisation
 Filtration through a standard plate and frame press
for separation
 Clear oil obtained is bleached oil
 In this operation, the coloured pigments in oil are
adsorbed by certain bleaching agents under specific
conditions
Stage 3 : Deodorization
• This bleached oil are then sent to a
cylindrical vessel called `Deodorizer’.
• This oil is then cooled and clarified
through a Filter Press to get sparkling oil.
• The purpose of deodorization is to
make oil blend and tasteless. In this
process, the
peroxide value of oil is brought down as
minimum as possible.