REPORT

ON

STUDENT INDUSTRIAL WORK EXPERIENCE SCHEME (SIWES)

CARRIED OUT

ON

PALM NUT/FIBRE SEPARATOR

BY

AMADI DIVINE
91E/0046/AE

SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL AND BIO-ENVRIONMENTAL

ENGINEERING, SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY, FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC
NEKEDE, OWERRI

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF NATIONAL

DIPLOMA (ND) IN AGRICULTURAL AND BIO-ENVRIONMENTAL ENGINEERING

SEPTEMBER, 2021

1
 DEDICATION

This report is dedicated to Almighty God for His infinite mercy towards the
successfully completion of my four (4) months industrial training and to my
parents and relations for their encouragement and support during this period of
attachment.

2
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I must thank Almighty God for His love and kindness particularly for protection,
guidance and good health He granted me from beginning of this I.T to the end,
may His name be praised forever more.

I have to express my sincere and profound gratitude to my I.T coordinator, Engr.

Ndubuisi C.O who made this work a successful one, who saw me through the
various stages this report, may the Almighty God bless and protect you.

Also, my special thanks goes to my lovely family for their prayers and supports
throughout my stay in school and to my lovely friend who supported and believed
in me for success. My prayer is that Almighty God will continue to protect and
keep you all, Amen.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

CHAPTER TWO

Literature review

Development of palm fruits processing technologies

Traditional oil palm fruit processing techniques

Soft oil production

Hard oil production

Mechanization of oil palm fruits processing

Source of palm nut breakage during pressing

Optimization by response surface methodology

CHAPTER THREE

Materials and methods

Machine description and evaluation parameters

Comparative evaluation procedure

CHAPTER FOUR

Conclusions

References

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 CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) yields the highest oil per unit area compared to other

oil bearing crops (Oil World Annual, 2000). This palm bears its fruits in bunches

which contain many individual fruits similar in size to a small plum. An individual

palm fruit (Figure 1.1) is made up of the pericarp (fibrous oil matrix pulp) and a

central nut. The pulp (mesocarp and exocarp) contains the palm oil while the nut

consists of a shell (endocarp) and kernel which contains palm kernel oil (FAO,

2005). The palm kernel oil which resembles coconut oil is quite different from

palm oil (Wia-Lin et al, 1995). The two main methods of extracting palm oil and

kernel from oil palm fresh fruit brunches (FFB) are traditional and mechanical

methods.

Structure of an Oil Palm fruit

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The traditional palm fruit processing method involve stripping process of cutting

FFB into sections and picking off of loosed fruits from the sections by hand after 2

to 4 days; sterilization stage where the fruits are softened up usually by boiling;

pounding of the cooked/soaked fruits in a mortar with pestle or foot trampling of

the fruits in a trough to lose the pulp from the nuts (de-pulping) and maceration of

the pulp. The traditional palm oil extraction process consists of steeping the

pounded fruit mash in water to facilitate flotation of the less dense macerated pulp

while the dense nuts sink to the bottom of the container (nut –pulp separation).

This is followed by hand squeezing of the separated pulp (pressing) to release

crude palm oil and skimming of the oil from the water surface. After this step, the

residual pressed fibre is then filtered out from the sludge before bailing of the nuts

from the bottom of the container and disposal of the sludge. Thereafter, the crude

oil obtained is boiled in a pot so that its non-oil solids contents sink to the bottom

while the boiled oil rises to the surface of the cooking container where it is

recovered by either skimming or decantation. Sometimes the recovered oil is

reheated again to get rid of the last traces of water (Hartley, 1988; FAO, 2005).

Traditional palm kernels extraction process involves sun drying of nuts for days

and cracking of the nuts using stones or any other hard objects. This is followed by

separation of the kernels from their shells by hand picking and drying of the

extracted kernels under the sun for about two to four days before storage or sale

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(Oke, 2007). As a result of inefficient, tedious and drudgery nature of the

traditional palm fruit processing technique, palm fruits processing in this modern

time is usually done using mechanized equipments (FAO, 2005).

Flow diagram of palm oil and kernel the extraction by mechanical method

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Development of Palm Fruits Processing Technologies

The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is native to Africa. Many archaeological records

indicate that oil palm originated in the tropical rain forest region of Africa (Hartley

1988; FAO, 2005). The oil palm grows well in tropical climates (within 100 of the

equator) characterized with medium to high rainfall (Oil World Annual, 2000). The

modern high yielding variety of this palm (tenera) under normal climatic

conditions and good management are capable of producing in excess of 20 tonnes

of bunches/ha/yr, with palm oil in bunch content of 25 percent. This is equivalent

to a yield of 5 tonnes of oil/ha/yr (excluding its palm kernel oil) which far out

strips any other source of edible oil (Akor, 1977; Pantzaris and Mohd, 2001;

RMRDC, 2004; FAO, 2005). These two distinct non-toxic edible oils from oil

palm fruits (palm oil and palm kernel oil) are very important in the world trade

(Hartley, 1988; Pantzaris, 2000; Bassey, 2006).

The three main varieties of oil palm are dura, pisifera and tenera but the favourable

processing of the palm fruits into edible palm oil and kernel is only possible with

dura and tenera fruits. The tenera fruit contains about 60 to 96% mesocarp but this

may occasionally be as low as 55%. When cut transversely, a prominent ring of

8
fibre is seen close to the shell and this provides a way of identifying tenera fruits.

Its shell thickness varies from 0.5 to 4mm with kernel comprising about 3 to 15%

of the fruit weight (Muthurajah, 2002).

Traditional Oil Palm Fruit Processing Techniques

Traditional palm fruit processing method is the oldest and the only available

process of extracting palm oil and kernel from palm fruit before the recorded

history until the early years of the twentieth century (Kenneth and Kriemhild,

2000). According to FAO (2005), the non-mechanization of the palm fruit

processing before the recorded time is because machinery manufacturing is new in

the West Africa where the palm and its processing technologies originated.

Processing of FFB using traditional method falls within two major variants

processes, namely, soft oil and hard oil production.

Soft oil production

Soft oil remains liquid at tropical temperatures and contains average FFA of about

7 to12% (RMRDC, 2004). In the soft oil production procss, the harvested fruit

bunches are chopped into sections, heaped together, moistened and covered with

leaves for not less than two days and allowed to ferment. This facilitates loosening

of individual fruits from the bunch stalk so that they can be picked off the chopped

bunch by hand. The fruits are boiled in water for about four hours to soften their

9
fibrous flesh. The cooked fruits are emptied into a large container which may be a

pit lined with clay/cement, an iron drum or a large wooden mortar where they are

pounded with pestles or by treading under foot before drenching the resulting mash

in water. This facilitates the separation of the digested pulp and the palm nuts as

the less dense fibrous pulp floats while the dense nuts sink to the bottom of the

container. The crude palm oil is then expelled out from the fibrous pulp by hand

squeezing.

Hard oil production

Hard oil solidifies rapidly at tropical temperature and contains average FFA of

about 30 to 50 due to prolonged fermentation involved in its production (RMRDC,

2004). Kenneth and Kriemhild (2000), said that the high FFA, solid consistency,

and characteristic flavours hard oil present severe limitations in its industrial

application. For hard oil production, the separated fruits are allowed to ferment for

another three or more days longer than in the soft-oil process until their flesh are

softened enough by the heat generated from the microbial and enzymes actions

during the fermentation process. After which the fruit is pounded in a mortar or

trodden underfoot in an old canoe. Oil is allowed to drain out from the resulting

mash for up to three days before water is added to it.

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Mechanization of Oil Palm Fruits Processing

Modern processing of oil palm fruits by mechanical methods is grouped into three

as small-scale, medium-scale, and large-scale processing according to their

throughput and degree of complexity of unit operations involved (FAO, 2005).

Small-scale processing is a semi-mechanized process which makes use of simple

stand-alone unit operational machines/equipment and semi-continuous/integrated

systems. It retains some manual nature of traditional techniques and is generally

suitable for processing FFB from wild oil palm groves or from small plantation

holdings. The efficiency and oil extraction rate of this system is in the

neighbourhood of 55 to 65% and 9 to 11% respectively. Medium- and large-scale

operations involve the use of automated palm oil production mills (sophisticated

industrial factory mills) for the extraction of palm oil and kernel from FFB. The

factory is fully mechanized (non-labour and capital intensive) continuous process

with over 90% rated efficiency and 23 to 24% oil extraction rate.

Mechanized palm oil extraction process Centrifuging and pressing are the most

common mechanical means of extracting crude palm oil from digested palm fruit.

Even though both are dry processes, centrifuges are usually avoided in modern

factories because of the high pulp (mesocarp) contents of tenera fruits

(Muthurajah, 2002). Unless precautions are taken during centrifuging, the pulp will

cause blocking‖ in the centrifuged cake, thereby preventing easy expulsion of oil
11
from the cake. Due to this impermeability, a visible layer of oil (sometimes

referred to wall of oil‖) builds up inside the cake resulting to huge loss of oil to

fiber.

Source of palm nut breakage during pressing

The extent of nut breakage during pressing depends on temperature of pressing,

pressing pressure and time, and the type of fruit being processed (FAO, 2005). The

main feature of the fruits species that causes nut breakage is the extent of the free

space created in between the nuts during pressing and this free space depends on

the ratio of nut to pulp in the digested fruit cake. According to Muthurajah (2002),

By measurement it is known that the bulk densities of dura and tenera nuts are

respectively 781g/dm3 and 656g/dm3 , the free space between nuts when the nuts

are touching each other is 0.563 dm3 per kg of dura nuts and 0.823 dm3 per kg of

tenera nuts and the density of digested pulp is 925g/dm3 . It follows that weight of

digested pulp required to fill the free space between 1kg of dura nuts which are

touching each other is 521g while that for tenera nuts is 770g. Muthurajah (2002),

also determined experimentally that the ratio of pulp to nuts needed, if the nuts in

the digested palm fruit cake are to be all just touching one another without

breakage/crushing is 0.5 for dura fruits and 0.8 for tenera.

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Optimization by Response Surface Methodology

RSM is a set of statistical and mathematical technique which uses quantitative data

from appropriate experimental designs to determine and simultaneously

solve/analyze multi-variant models with the objective of finding the optimal

settings of input factors or design variables that maximize, minimize or target some

performance measures/quality characteristics or responses (Myer and

Montgomery, 2002; Buyske and Trout, 2009). Oehlert (2000) referred to RSM as

designs and models for working with continuous treatments when finding the

optima or describing the response is the goal.

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 CHAPTER THREE

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Machine Description and Evaluation Parameters

The basic units of the palm nut-pulp separating machine evaluated as shown in

Figure 3.1 are feeding hopper, cake breaking unit, separating unit, prime mover

(electric motor) palm nut and pulp discharging chutes. The cake breaking and

separating units are housed in the upper chamber and lower chamber of the

separator respectively.

Isometric view of the palm nut-pulp separator

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The feed hopper through which the digested palm fruit mash is fed into the

machine is a rectangular frustum made from mild steel sheet of 3mm thickness

with a top opening of 1000mm x 500mm and a height of 500mm. The hopper

slants with an inclination of 600 from the left end of the separator into the upper

chamber through a 300mm square aperture at right hand side of the top cover for

easy flow of the digested mash into the upper chamber of the machine. The cake

breaking unit consists of a 30mm diameter mild steel shaft of length 1150mm, cake

breaker membrane of 920mm in length made of 100mm diameter mild steel pipe

and forty pieces of 20mm diameter mild steel rods of length 70mm each (beaters)

which were welded vertically to the membrane in four rows at spacing of 115mm

from one another. The spacing between the rows is 75.4mm. The rotary motion of

beaters slacks the fairly compacted digested palm fruit mash as the cake falls from

the hopper through it into the right end of the lower chamber, thereby detaching the

entangled palm nuts from the pulp for effective separation. The internal walls of

the machine was lined with score pad to prevent nut breakage at high speed of the

cake breaker since the efficiency and throughput of the machine are proportional to

the speeds of the auger and cake breaker.

Comparative Evaluation Procedure

Completely randomized design (CRD) involving thirty batches of tests was used in

this investigation. Dura fruits were used in the first fifteen trials while tenera fruits
15
were used for the second fifteen runs. The dura palm fruits were procured from

Onyeije Oil Palm Plantation, Amawom in Ikwuano, while the tenera fruits were

obtained from Abia State Small Holders Oil Palm Management Unit at

AkoliImenyi, all in Abia State of Nigeria. In each of the test, some harvested palm

fruits bunched were quartered into sections and boiled for 30minutes at

temperature of 1200 before hand picking of individual fruit from the bunch

sections.

Determination of palm oil loss to nuts, fibre and water/slugde The solvent

extraction gravimetric method as described by Min and Boff (2003), was used in

this study. Five hundred grammes (500g) of nuts and one hundred grammes (100g)

of fibre samples from each test were wrapped separately in whatman No. 1 filter

paper. Each wrapped sample was then placed in a soxhlet reflux flask before

mounting of the flask on a weighed oil extraction flask containing 250ml of n-

hexane solvent (Figure below). Thereafter, the extraction flask was heated after

connecting the upper end of the reflux flask to a condenser, thus the solvent

vaporized and condensed into the reflux flask to soak the wrapped sample until the

flask was filled up and siphoned over, thereby carrying the extracted (refluxed) oil

down into a boiling flask.

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 Soxhlet

Extractor

17
 CHAPTER FOUR

Conclusions

The palm nut-pulp separating machine performs optimally with an efficiency of

95%, throughput of 900kg/h and specific energy consumption of 0.00819kWh/kg

at an optimal driving power, cake breaker and auger speeds and helix angle of

8.5Hp, 748.72rpm and 450 respectively in accordance with models analysis

(prediction and optimization). The main effects of its four vital operational

parameters power, P cake breaker speed, Nc auger speed, Na and helix angle, 

influence the three responses variables significantly. In addition, other factors

provided secondary contributions to the performance indicators.

The machine separates digested palm fruit cake into clean nuts and pulp without

any nut breakage at these optimal parameters. Separation of digested palm fruit

mash into palm nut and pulp before pressing of the pulp in the mechanized palm

fruits processing improved palm oil and kernel extraction and revenue generation

in this sector. It also reduced drudgery and eliminated nut breakage, excessive loss

of palm oil to pressed fibre, nut-fibre separation and second pressing operations

thereby reduced processing time and cost.

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References

Agunwamba, J.C. (2007). Engineering Mathematical Analysis. De-Adroit

Innovation, Enugu. pp. 503-507. Akor, A.J. (1977). Mechanization of the

Oil Palm in Nigeria. Paper presented at the Conference of Nigeria Society of

Agricultural Engineers on "Agricultural Mechanisation and Operation Feed

the Nation". University of Ibadan, April 4-7, 1977. pp.18.

AOAC (1990). Official Methods of Analysis. 15th edition. Association of Official

Analytical Chemist, Washington D C, USA. pp. 95-224. Aris, R.(1994).

Mathematical Modelling Technique. Dover, New York.

Badmus, G.A. (1991). NIFOR Automated Small-scale Oil Palm Fruit Processing

Equipment:- Its need, development and cost effectiveness. Palm Oil

Research Institute Malaysia, Int. Palm oil Conference. pp. 20-31.

Bassey, A.N. (2006). The Oil Palm (Economic Palm Series). Concept Publications

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Building and Response Surfaces. John Wiley and Sons, New York. pp. 477.

Box, G.E.P and Wilson, K.B. (1951). On the Experimental Attainment of

Optimum Conditions. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, series B. pp.

1-45.

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Buyske, S. and Trout, R. (2009). Response Surface Methodology II.

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Connor, W.S and Zelen, M. (1959). Fractional Factorial Experimental Designs for

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to Apply Response Surface Methodology, Revised edition. Macmillan

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FAO. (2005) Small-scale Palm Oil Processing in Africa. Food and Agricultural

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Oehlert, G.W. (2000). Design and Analysis of Experiments, Response Surface

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