energy – Journal of Oil Palm Research https://jopr.mpob.gov.my Sun, 17 Sep 2023 23:57:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 INTEGRATED MICROWAVE-STEAM STERILISATION OF LOOSE OIL PALM FRUITS: ENHANCED HEATING UNIFORMITY, CRUDE PALM OIL QUALITY AND ENERGY SAVINGS https://jopr.mpob.gov.my/integrated-microwave-steam-sterilisation-of-loose-oil-palm-fruits-enhanced-heating-uniformity-crude-palm-oil-quality-and-energy-savings/ Thu, 22 Sep 2022 07:47:28 +0000 https://jopr.mpob.gov.my/?p=12569 Loose oil palm fruits are often left uncollected in large quantities while harvesting fresh fruit bunches, which incurs considerable losses in crude palm oil yield. Although the free fatty acid content in loose fruits is undesirably high, microwave sterilisation is known to reduce it significantly. The present study enhanced microwave sterilisation using a new integrated microwave-steam method in which steam exiting the fruits during vaporisation is entrapped and used to complement the heat treatment process. The effect of this new method on the heating uniformity, drying rate, oil extraction rate, crude palm oil quality and energy consumption/cost was investigated. Results showed that up to 25.7% and 13.6% reduction in temperature non-uniformity and energy consumption/cost was achieved with MW-steam heating. Moreover, sterilisation duration was reduced by up to 11.6%. The stacked arrangement of fruits improved microwave absorption efficiency, reducing temperature non-uniformity by up to 45.0% and energy consumption by up to 19.2%. MW-steam sterilisation achieved up to a 10.5% increase in oil extraction rate. Crude palm oil with excellent hydrolytic and oxidative stability was acquired, thus, boosting oil value that can facilitate post-processing in palm oil mills.

]]> RENEWABLE ENERGY FROM THE PALM OIL INDUSTRY https://jopr.mpob.gov.my/renewable-energy-from-the-palm-oil-industry/ Fri, 26 Mar 2021 11:59:51 +0000 https://jopr.mpob.gov.my/V2/?p=2415 Palm oil mills produce crude palm oil and palm kernel or crude palm kernel oil as their main products. Considerable amounts of co-products, such as fibre (from the mesocarp), shell (from around the kernel), empty fruit bunehes and palm oil mill effluent are also generated by the milling process.

Fibre and shell are the main energy sources for the palm oil mills. In 1992, fibre and shell generated about 650 million kWh to meet the energy demand of 265 palm oil mills in the country. This amounted to 2%-3% of the national energy consumption.

Other co-products like empty ftuit bunches and biogas are very much under-utilized as energy resources. They have the potential of generating 1131 million kWh of electricity which is about 5% of the national energy demand.

Palm oil methyl esters and crude palm oil are being evaluated as diesel substitutes. The palm oil methyl ester mixture (palm diesel) is being run in unmodified diesel engines. So far it has passed all the tests as a diesel substitute in exhaustive field trials. Very positive results have been obtained in terms of engine wear and tear, and reduction in dark smoke, CO, CO2 and SO2 in the exhaust emission. Crude palm oil is run in modified diesel (Elsbett) engines. Its performance is being evaluated.

This paper discusses the potential energy available from the above-mentioned products and co-products from palm oil mills.

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