EXTRACTION OF CRUDE PALM OIL AND PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS FROM OIL PALM FRUITLETS

摘要

The present invention relates to a process of sterilizing the oil palm fruitlets and extraction of crude palm oil as well as phenolic compounds from the said fruitlets. The process includes dry heating, i.e. microwave heating, of individual oil palm fruitlets and followed by extraction of crude palm oil from the dry heated oil palm fruitlets by way of solvent extraction. After the crude palm oil extraction, the oil palm fruitlets are subjected to a solvent for extraction of phenolic compounds. In this process, detachment of oil palm fruits from the bunch is not needed, thus power requirement will be much lowered and the extraction of crude palm oil will be more efficient. The extracted oil is rich in tocols with low free fatty acid (FFA) contents. The deoiled oil palm fruitlets are then subjected to an extraction process using suitable solvent to recover phenolic compounds which are normally found in palm oil mill effluent.