Fractionation of Palm Oil and
Other Tropical Oils
ENG. LEON PABLO ESPINOSA
DESMET BALLESTRA GROUP
8th Advanced Palm Oilseed and Oil Processing - Costa Rica January 30 & 31 2012
Oil Processing
Cleaning
Cleaning // Drying
Drying Mechanical
Mechanical Extraction
Extraction
Meal
Meal
Cracking
Cracking Flaking
Flaking Solvent
Solvent Extraction
Extraction
Seed
Seed
Dehulling
Dehulling Crude
Crude
Preparation Extraction Oil
Oil
Speciality
Speciality Fats
Fats Hydrogenation
Hydrogenation
Degumming
Degumming
Frying
Frying oil
oil Interesterification
Interesterification
Neutralising
Neutralising
Margarine
Margarine Fractionation
Fractionation
Refined
Refined Bleaching
Bleaching
Modification Oil
Oil
Soap
Soap Winterising
Winterising
Lubricants Deodorising
Deodorising
Lubricants
Oleochemical
Biodiesel Processes Refining
Biodiesel
De Smet Presentation 2
Fat Modifications
INTERESTERIFICATION HYDROGENATION
Enzymatic or chemical chemical
No change of fatty acid profile saturation of FA
Redistribution of FA in glycerides trans fats
FRACTIONATION
physical (environmental friendly)
Redistribution of glycerides by
crystallization
De Smet Presentation 3
Definition
Separation process in which a certain quantity
of mixture (solid, liquid, solute or suspension)
is divided in a number of small quantities
(fractions) in which composition is modified.
Fractional distillation: FA and FAME ( Volatility)
Supercritical Extraction; Lecithin deoling,
vitamin extraction (Solubility)
Fractional crystallization: Edible and not edible
applications
De Smet Presentation 4
SOLVENT FRACTIONATION
Fat dissolved in a solvent ( acetone, hexane, isopropyl
alcohol)
Dilute conditions:
No liquid oil occlusion at the surface of the crystals.
Good selectivity, low tendency to form co-crystals.
High cost ( Solvent, explosion proof)
High energy consumption (Cooling at low temperatures,
evaporation of solvent) and environmental issues.
Continuous process ( Technology still applied for
specialty fats).
De Smet Presentation 5
DETERGENT FRACTIONATION
Aqueous crystallization (surfactant (SDS) electrolyte).
Crystals easily suspended in aqueous phase.
Light liquid oil separated from heavy water phase
Containing crystals (centrifugation)
High costs, effluent problems, contamination of finished
Products (chemicals)
Continuous process
Technology still applied in oleo- chemestry for fatty
Acids Fractionation ( but moving to dry)
DRY FRACTIONATION
Environmental friendly and cost effective process
(No chemicals, no solvent, no effluent, no losses)
Controlled crystallization from the melt by slowing cooling
Crystallization in the bulk, low degree of crystallization,
multi step operations, large range of fractions.
High improvement in the last years:
knowledge in crystallization
Design of new crystallizers
Highly efficient separation of the fractions
Batch (or Continuous) process
<< Dynamic>> or <<Static>> crystallization
Dry Fractionation: Principle
crystallisers
Palm oil filter press
feed tank melting tank
Wash
Stearin Olein olein
80
rpm PALM OIL FRACTIONATION
COOLING CURVE
70
Viscosity
60
Temperature (C)
50 Oil temp
40
30 Water
20
Solid Fat Content
buffertank
10
0 1 2 3
Time (hrs)
4 5 6
crystallisation filtration
De Smet Presentation 10
Key = controlled crystallisation
80
PALM OIL FRACTIONATION
COOLING CURVE
70 Crystallisation
= exothermic
60
Temperature (C)
50
40
H cooling =
30
0.5 kCal / C.kg
cooling
20 nucleation
10 crystallisation
H crystallisation =
agglomeration
50 kCal / kg
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (hrs)
Oil temp rpm
Viscosity Water temp Solid Fat Content
De Smet Presentation 11
Crystallisation Technology
- two approaches: slow crystallisation / long cooling cycle TIRTIAUX
fast crystallisation / short cycle DE SMET
- continuous vs semicontinuous (batch)
winterising fractionation
<1% solids > 1%solids
- dynamic (agitation) vs static (block crystallisation)
eg. PO eg. PKO
De Smet Presentation 12
Tirtiaux type crystalliser types
used in PO fractionation
Lipico-Oiltek Tirtiaux second Tirtiaux third
type with generation type generation type with
horizontal with vertical vertical cooling fins
cooling coils cooling pipes
(basically first
generation
Tirtiaux)
Internal views
De Smet Presentation 13
Improved Cooling Fins
Design (DBG)
25 Ton Crystalliser
De Smet Presentation 14
Main engineering
Dimensions
Capacity (T)
25 42 52 62
Diam (mm) 2800 3100 3500 3500
Approx Heigth Cooling elements 4450 (pipes) 6000 5700 7000
Cylinder Height (mm) 5000 6500 6200 7500
Motor Power 4 7.5 7.5 7.5
Heat exchange surface (m/t) 5.1 5.3 5.3 5.1
Overall Weight (Kg)
5400 9300 9600 11900
De Smet Presentation 15
Oil Crystallisation
- Determined by cooling profile
- Complex: polymorphism (, , )
intersolubility (phase behaviour liquid vs solid state)
- Stages: Supercooling nucleation
Crystal growth
Maturation / Agglomeration
- two approaches: slow crystallisation / long cooling cycle
fast crystallisation / short cycle
De Smet Presentation 16
Oil controlled crystallisation
curve (Tirtiaux)
Dynamic
crystallizer with
vertical cooling
plates /coils
(Fractionnement
Tirtiaux)
oil temperature
controlled
De Smet Presentation 17
Crystalliser types (short cycle) used in
dry fractionation: Concentric type
12 tons
(2 concentric rings)
25 tons
(3 concentric rings)
35 tons
(4 concentric rings)
De Smet Presentation 18
New Fractionation Technology
Desmet patented Mobuliser
We wanted to design
a crystalliser with less steel
easier to build / install
more versatile in its use (batch/cont)
meanwhile
keep general Desmet advantages
improve the performance
allow more gentle treatment of the crystals
De Smet Presentation 19
New Fractionation Technology
Why is performance better?
less shear forces due to agitation
a higher specific heat transfer
improved filtration and fraction purity
It can perform where others fail
Status of MoBulizer technology?
4 years of pilot trials on all kinds of oil
Several industrial MoBulizers running smoothly
We sold 34 more , and counting
De Smet Presentation 20
New crystalliser introduced in
dry fractionation: MOBULISER
De Smet Presentation 21
New crystalliser introduced in
dry fractionation: MOBULISER
Capacity
(BxL) (m)
B
17 tons
(2x3 m)
25 tons
(3x3 m)
35 tons
(3x4 m)
45 tons
(3x5m)
L
De Smet Presentation 22
New crystalliser introduced in
dry fractionation: MOBULISER
Picture 109.mpg
De Smet Presentation 23
Mobulizer dimensions
4 Standard sizes
Size (ton)
17 25 35 45
Length (mm) 3050 2900 4000 5100
Width (mm) 2000 3150 3150 3150
Height (mm) 3920 3920 3920 3920
Amount of Pipe racks 5 5 7 9
Heat exchange surface (m/t) 5.6 5.5 6.1 6.1
Approx. Weight (ton) 8 10 13 15
De Smet Presentation 24
Cooling tower
Steam
Chiller
water
Palm oil fractionation: (eg. 7x35 tons)
Olein Q cycle time(hrs) cap(tpd).
56-57 6 1000
60-61 12 (11+1) 500
feedstock Palm olein refractionation:
Semi- Olein Q cycle time(hrs) cap(tpd)
automatic 64-65 20(19+1) 300
Stearin Olein
De Smet Presentation 25
Separation of stearin from Olein
- centrifugation difference in density liquid vs solid
density appox.0.05 kg/l
- filtration difference in permeability
macromolecular crystals vs molecular liquid
- vacuum (belt / drum)
- membrane press
De Smet Presentation 26
Separation systems used in
dry fractionation
Filtration Press filtration Centrifugal Vacuum filtration
data (16 bar)
(standard 6 bar) separation (drum / belt)
IV palm oil 52 52 52
IV olein 57 57 57
IV stearin 34
32 38 40
SFC slurry 12% 12% 12%
SFC cake 55%
65% / 41%
Yield olein 78%
82% 74-75% 65%
De Smet Presentation 27
Florentine filter
Scraping of the
stearin cake
De Smet Presentation 28
Membrane filter presses used in
dry fractionation
Top bar
Cake
discharge
std 10 50%
extension
Cake
discharge
Side bar
De Smet Presentation 29
Filtration sequence
http://www.lenser.de/cms/upload/Produkte/Membran-
Filterelemente/animation2safe_mit_ow.swf
Filling Squeezing
Slurry
filling O
L
cake squeezing
E
I
N
Mixed pack design cake blowing
for 6-30 bar
cake discharge
STEARIN
De Smet Presentation 30
Effect pressure on separation efficiency and oil
quality from crude palm oil (IV 53) dry
fractionation
Commodity
Squeezing SFC(1) Yield IV
fractions
pressure cake stearin olein stearin olein
50 mm % % % %
6 bar 55 23.6 76.4 39.7 57.1
15 bar 61 20.0 80.0 36.6 57.1
30 bar 65 18.3 81.7 34.7 57.1
25 mm % % % %
6 bar 60 20.6 79.4 36.8 57.2
15 bar 66 18.8 81.2 34.9 57.2
30 bar 70 16.2 83.8 32.1 57.2
(1): SFC measured by NMR directly after cake discharge
Specialty
fractions
De Smet Presentation 31
Dry Fractionation Of Palm Oil
Multi-step Process
Heterogeneous TAG distribution separation of compositionally distinct fractions
100% Palm Oil
IV 52
Commodity
15% Palm Stearin 85% Palm Olein Frying Oil
IV 36 IV 56
Margarine
Specialty Fats
45% Soft PMF 40% Super Olein
Margarine Salad Oil
IV 46 IV >64
15% Hard PMF 30% Mid Olein 20% Mid Olein 20% Top Olein
IV 35 IV 53 IV 60 IV >67
Fats
to CBE Very cold stable salad oil
De Smet Presentation 32
PKO Fractionation
Palm Static or Dynamic
kernel oil
Block Slurry
crystallisation crystallisation
crude - refined crude - refined
De Smet Presentation 33
History of PKO fractionation
-Traditional panning & pressing
* Proven process with stearin yield (IV 7-7.5) 35-40%
* Labour intensive, not consistent
- Multi-stage dry dynamic fractionation
* Two-three stage process with stearin yield (IV 7-7.5) 30-38%
* Long total cycle time : 2 to 3 x 6 hr Lot of manipulation
- Controlled static crystallisation using Statoliser technology
* Consistent two stage process
* High stearin yield (IV 7) : up to 38-44%
De Smet Presentation 34
PALM KERNEL OIL FRACTIONATION
With STATOLISER technology
Palm kernel oil (RB)
IV 17-18 Palm oil
Palm
kernel oil 100 tpd
3/6 hrs
PKStearin PK Olein
IV 6-8 IV 23-25
35-40 tpd 60-65 tpd
(+hydrogenation)
CBS
De Smet Presentation 35
PALM KERNEL OIL FRACTIONATION
Combined controlled dynamic-static crystallisation
dynamic static
1002D1 1002D2
static
1001 1002S2
1002S1
F1057/82C
K
dynamic PF1002D
PF1002S
1016
De Smet dry
fractionation
F1082B
using Statoliser
technology F1082S
T
PF1082D
PF1082ST
De Smet Presentation 36
PKO fractionation (dynamic-static)
PKO
feed
Static postcrystallisation
Dynamic
precrystallisation
Filtration Fluidisation
De Smet Presentation 37
Developments in
Crystallization- Statolizer
Static crystalliser for controlled
block crystallization
Filter press
Single Stage PKO dry fractionation
Palm Kernel oil
IV 18
Single stage
SFC-content
Statoliser C %
CBS
18C 20 95
IV 1
25 90
30 50
35 5
PK Olein PK Stearin
IV 25 IV 7
60-64 % 36-40 % Full Hydrogenation
De Smet Presentation 39
Two Stage PKO dry fractionation
Palm kernel oil
IV 18
Potential advantages
Two stage
- Higher stearin yield
Statoliser 1 - Less hydro capacity
PK Stearin I PK Olein
30% CBS 70%
IV 5 IV 23.5
Full Hydrogenation Statoliser 2
Direct use
as CBS PK Stearin II PK Olein
IV 7.5 IV 27
20% 80%
De Smet Presentation 40
What is the next step??
BATCH PROCESS
TO CONTINUOUS PROCESS???
De Smet Presentation 41
Leon Pablo Espinosa
Regional Sales Manager
Desmet Ballestra North America
De Smet Presentation 42
