Palm Oil Processing Line

Short answer: A palm oil processing line turns fresh fruit bunches into clarified crude palm oil by sterilising, threshing, digesting, pressing and settling. HNFODA supplies these lines; the fruit quantity per hour and the time from harvest to mill decide the scale and the steps.

How it works

1. Sterilising the bunches with steam stops enzyme action that raises free fatty acids and softens the fruit.
2. Threshing strips the fruit from the bunch stalk.
3. Digesting crushes the fruit and breaks down the oil cells.
4. Pressing with a screw press squeezes out a mix of oil, water and solids.
5. Clarifying by settling and filtering separates crude oil from water and fine solids.
6. Kernel recovery (optional) separates fibre from nuts, cracks the nuts and collects kernels.

Fibre and shell left after pressing are often burned in the boiler that makes the sterilising steam.

Which configuration fits

Form	Suits	Watch out for
Small village press	Cooperatives, low daily volume	Limited steam and clarification; oil quality depends on operators
Continuous mid-size line	Estates and mills with steady fruit supply	Needs steady supply, steam and effluent handling
With clarification and kernel recovery	Mills selling crude oil and kernels	More equipment and utilities

What we need from you to quote

• Fresh fruit bunches per hour and per day, and the season
• Time between harvest and arrival
• Target oil extraction and crude oil quality
• Fuel and water available for steam
• How you plan to handle effluent and empty bunches
• Whether you want kernel recovery
• Site power and layout

Capacity is counted on fresh fruit bunches, not on oil output, so please give us the bunch figure.

Where it sits in a line

The pressing step uses a screw oil press. Crude oil can be polished with an edible oil filter, and mills that want refined oil can continue to an edible oil refining line. Kernels recovered from the nuts can be pressed or sold as they are.