Enhancement Of The Yield And Quality Of Palm Kernel Oil

ABSTRACT

By the end of the century palm kernel (PK) oil is forecast to rank fifth in volume of world trade in oils, only slightly behind coconut oil. PK oil received by Malaysian refiners is of good quality, typically below 2% in free fatty acids, and is easily refined. PK oil is fractionated to give a higher melting fraction (stearin) and a lower melting fraction (olein). The various processes used are described. PK oil, olein or stearin are also hydrogenated to give a range of products ranging in melting point from about 24 to 44°C. PK oil and olein are interesterified alone or in blends with a non‐lauric oil to give products with improved melting properties and utility.

An assessment of palm kernel processing and storage in South-Eastern Nigeria was carried out by investigative survey approach. The survey basically ascertained the extent of mechanization applicable in the area to enable the palm kernel processors and agricultural policy makers, device the modalities for improving palm kernel processing in the area. According to the results obtained from the study, in Abia state, 85% of the respondents use mechanical method while 15% use manual method in cracking their kernels. In Imo state, 83% of the processors use mechanical method while 17% use manual method. In Enugu and Ebonyi state, 70% and 50% of the processors respectively use mechanical method. It is only in Anambra state that greater number of the processors (50%) use manual method while 45% use mechanical means. It is observable from the results that palm kernel oil extraction has not received much attention in mechanization. The ANOVA of the palm kernel oil extraction technique in South- East Nigeria showed significant difference in both the study area and oil extraction techniques at 5% level of probability. Results further revealed that in Abia State, 70% of the processors use complete fractional process in refining the palm kernel oil; 25% and 5% respectively use incomplete fractional process and zero refining process. In Anambra, 60% of the processors use complete fractional process and 40% use incomplete fractional process. Zero refining method is not applicable in Anambra State. In Enugu State, 53% use complete fractional process while 25% and 22% respectively use zero refining and incomplete fractional process in refining the palm kernel oil. Imo State, mostly use complete fractional process (85%) in refining palm kernel oil. About 10% use zero refining method while 5% of the processors use incomplete fractional process. Plastic containers and metal drums are dominantly used in most areas in south-east Nigeria for the storage of palm kernel oil.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ONE

1.0      INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.2      OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1.3      USES OF PALM KERNEL OIL

1.4      APPLICATION OF THE STUDY

1.5      PRODUCTS OF PALM KERNEL NUT

CHAPTER TWO

2.0     LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1      OVERVIEW OF PALM KERNEL OIL

2.2         ORIGIN OF OIL PALM

2.3          HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

2.4      PALM KERNEL OIL EXTRACTION

CHAPTER THREE

3.0     MATERIALS AND METHOD

3.1      STUDY AREA/POPULATION

3.2      QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTRATION

3.3      DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

3.3      QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTRATION

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULT ANALYSIS

4.1      RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1      CONCLUSION

5.2      RECOMMENDATION

5.3      REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

• INTRODUCTION

Palm kernel oil is an edible plant oil derived from the kernel of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis.^[1] It should not be confused with the other two edible oils derived from palm fruits: palm oil, extracted from the pulp of the oil palm fruit, and coconut oil, extracted from the kernel of the coconut.^[2]

Palm kernel oil, palm oil, and coconut oil are three of the few highly saturated vegetable fats; these oils give the name to the 16-carbon saturated fatty acid palmitic acid that they contain.

Palm kernel oil, which is semi-solid at room temperature, is more saturated than palm oil and comparable to coconut oil.

Palm kernel oil which is semi-solid in non- temperature, is more saturated than palm oil and comparable to coconut oil. It is very stable at high cooking temperatures thereby being the best for commercial cooking. It can be stored longer than any other vegetable oil. It is high in lauric acid (Poku, 2002). Palm kernel oil does not contain cholesterol or trans fatty acids. Resembling coconut oil, palm kernel oil is packed  with  lauric  fatty  acids  (C12H24O2)  and therefore suitable for the manufacture of soaps, washing powders and other personal care products. Lauric acid helps in quick lathering. A good soap must contain 15% laurate for good lathering while soap made for sea water usage virtually must be based at 100% laurate (Bachmann, 2005).

The palm kernel oil is highly different from palm oil. The two oil from same fruit are entirely different in fatty acid composition and properties. Palm kernel is an important bio product from oil palm mill/processing. Plant palm kernel constitutes about 45% – 48% by weight of oil in which properties and characteristics are quite different from palm oil rather resembles coconut oil (Gbasonuzo et al. 2012).     The  major  fatty   acid  (lauric  (C12) accounts for about 48% of the fatty acid composition. Other constituents of palm kernel oil  includes  16%  nuriatic  acid  (C14) and 15% oleic acid. (C18).

Palm kernel oil is used in manufacturing both edible and non-edible products has a great use both in food industry and non-food industry (Oyinlala et al. 2004). Food usage of palm kernel oil is more saturated and so can be in regenerated to wide range of products for the food industries. It can be used alone or in blend with other oil for manufacture of cocobutter substances, confectionary fats, biscuit dough’s, filling cream, cake icing, and table margarine (Bredeson, 1983). Palm kernel oil is known to confer special attractive physical features and aroma to bakers of bread and other bakery products. It is also used in making chocolate and some other related food products. It is used at home cook industry for cooking different types of food.

Palm kernel oil  can be directly combined with petrol diesel or use in making biodiesel for diesel engines. Locally, Africans use the oil to fuel native lamps for lighting in rural communities that are not connected with electricity (Shaver, 2005). It is used in making different non-edible products such as soap/detergent, candle, cosmetics/cream, glue, grease/lubricants for machines, use in product plastics,  use  in  drilling   mud  for  petroleum I ndus t r y, pr I nt I ng  I nks ,         r ubbe r s , pharmaceuticals products e.t.c. (Butcher, 2005)

The process involved in production of palm kernel oil are selection of good palm- kernel-nuts, crushing the nuts with the nut- crusher, heating the seeds with the mechanical seed fryer so as to excite the oil molecules the transferring the heated – crushed nuts to the oil press. The oil pressing machine presses the heated seeds and expels the oil content of the seeds through the oil exit chamber and at same time expels the cake through the cake exit chamber (Oyinlala et al. 2004). The crude oil is collected in drum of high capacity or over head tanks and left to settle. Since the sludge (sediments) or residue is denser than the oil, it settles below the oil. Then the oil can then be collected over the residues and under goes further purification to remove impurities and get brighter colour.

Lack of skilled man power, inadequate provision of machines and poor technology have affected a lot of food and raw material processing in Nigeria; especially in the south- eastern Nigeria. Palm kernel oil is one of the widely used raw materials for a good number of industries in Nigeria. It is widely used in the country and required attention by policy makers in order to enhance, equip and encourage the raw material (palm kernel oil) producers and processors.

Palm kernel oil (PKO) is more unsaturated and hence can be hydrogenated to a wider range of products which could be used either alone or in blends with other oil for biscuit dough, filling creams, cake icing, ice cream, imitation whipping cream, substitute chocolate and other coatings, sharp melting and melting margarines etc. Lauric oil (CNO, PKO) is very important in soap making and a good soap must contain at least 15% lauric acids for quick lathering while soap made for use in sea water is based on virtually100% lauric oils. Mostly palm kernel oil are now used for the manufacture of short chain fatty acids, fatty alcohols, methyl esters, fatty amines, for use in detergents, cosmetics and many other cosmetic products but less consideration is given it for other purpose [11].

The palm kernel oil is highly different from palm oil. The two oil from same fruit are entirely different in fatty acid composition and properties. Palm kernel is an important bio product from oil palm mill/processing. Plant palm kernel constitutes about 45% – 48% by weight of oil in which properties and characteristics are quite different from palm oil rather resembles coconut oil (Gbasonuzo et al. 2012).     The  major  fatty   acid  (lauric  (C12) accounts for about 48% of the fatty acid composition. Other constituents of palm kernel oil  includes  16%  nuriatic  acid  (C14) and 15% oleic acid. (C18).

Palm kernel oil is used in manufacturing both edible and non-edible products has a great use both in food industry and non-food industry (Oyinlala et al. 2004). Food usage of palm kernel oil is more saturated and so can be in regenerated to wide range of products for the food industries. It can be used alone or in blend.

1.2                            BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Modern processing of oil palm fruit bunches into edible oil is practiced using various methods, which may be grouped into four categories according to their throughput and degree of complexity. These are the traditional methods, small-scale mechanical units, medium-scale mills and large industrial mills.

Generally, processing units handling up to 2 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) per hour are considered to be small-scale. Installations that process between 3 and 8 tonnes FFB per hour are termed medium-scale, while large-scale refers to mills that process more than 10 tonnes per hour.

Much has been written about traditional technologies and medium- and large-scale mills, but information on small-scale processing units is scarce. The historical reason for the ready availability of information on medium- to large-scale operations and machinery is that most development work was undertaken in Europe, based on the observation of the traditional methods practiced in Nigeria.

Machinery manufacturing is a recent development in the West African sub-region, and until recently it has not been possible to develop the sophisticated machines required to improve on traditional methods. Machinery manufacture in Africa must be carefully considered if progress is to be made in joining the rest of the eneralizeded world. Even now it is difficult to manufacture and sell bolts and coiled springs in the Central and West African sub-region. However, the manufacture of machines and combining them in processing assemblies for small-scale rural industries is not within the scope of this publication. The main objective of this publication is to provide a detailed description of the various processes involved in small- scale palm oil processing, the type of machinery and equipment required, and their performance, energy and water consumption.

At the outset it must be stated that small-scale palm oil processing in the sub-region has systematically acquired sophistication, efficiency and reliability. It is agreed that traditional methods of extracting palm oil were inefficient and tedious for making oil for sale.

Generally women in the villages are responsible for the processing and sale of farm produce. Small-scale agro-processing seems to hold the key to rural poverty reduction and the prolific oil palm tree provides the best raw material for starting rural industries.

Today small-scale processors who appreciate the value of using machines, are asking for them to be more sophisticated. Thus current demand for small-scale palm oil mills is shifting from simple stand-alone unit operational machines to a more integrated system which is easy to operate and maintain. Machinery manufacturers have responded with machines that combine several operations into one machine unit. The complete range of operational machines – covering bunch stripping, fruit sterilization, digestion, pressing, clarification, oil drying and storage have been developed for small-scale processing applications. The processors can change and/or combine equipment to suit their purchasing power.

Palm kernel oil processing involve many different procedures. Therefore, the ability to make machinery that can handle the many unit operations involved is indicative of a eneralized ability to produce processing machines for other crops. Many machines developed for the palm industry can undertake the same functions for other crop applications with minor modifications. For instance, sterilizers are capable of cooking vegetables, cereals and grains as well as roots and tubers. The vertical digester may be modified to function as a mixer while the screw-presses and expellers can be used for extrusion and de-watering applications. Therefore, readers are urged to contact the manufacturers as to the application of their machinery in other industrial applications.

1.3                               OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main aim of this study is to obtain data on the enhancement of the palm kernel oil extracting techniques and technology involved both in processing and storage which will guide the investors, government policy makers and researchers in devising measures for mechanizing the production and processing in the area.

1.4                               USES OF PALM KERNEL OIL

Palm kernel oil {PKO} is derived from the milling of cracked palm kernel nuts while palm kernel cake is a bye-product gotten from the processing of palm kernel oil. It forms a very important part of the feeds of animal.

Palm kernel oil {PKO} is an important and cheap source of oil for soap manufacturers ,bio-fuel, cooking oil, vegetable ghee, Shortenings, Margarine, CBS,CBE, ice cream, dough, creaming, coating, and other specialty fats while palm kernel cakes are used in animal feed production.

1.5                             APPLICATION OF THE STUDY

Palm kernel oil, which is extracted from the nut, or kernel, of a species of African palm tree, is commonly referred to as tropical oil. Production of high quality and quantity of palm kernel oil leads to high consumption. Palm kernel oil is primarily composed of fatty triglycerides, with approximately 80 percent saturated fats and 20 percent unsaturated fats. Palm kernel oil can be found in a number of products, including margarine, vegetable oil and shortening, creamers, chocolate and ice cream. Depending on the amount per serving, palm kernel oil may offer some health benefits.

1.5                                        PRODUCT OF PALM KERNEL NUT

Four {4} products namely palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake, palm kernel sludge and palm kernel shell {crushed} which is used as a bio-fuel can be gotten from palm kernel nuts.

The major raw material required for the production of palm kernel oil is palm kernel nuts. It must be free from microbial or insect damage, shell and breakage must not be more 1% in order to reduce the free fatty acid {FFA} content.