PROCESS FOR EXTRACTING PALM OIL USING EVAPORATION

摘要

A process for extracting palm oil from oil palm fresh fruit bunches, where the process involves extracting palm oil from a feed liquor (53b) consisting of a mixture of oil, water and solids from prior processing steps in the palm oil extraction process. In the initial step of the process, a significant portion of the suspended solids in the feed liquor (53b) is removed using separation means (54) to generate an oil/ sludge discharge phase (54b) that consists of a mixture of oil and a sludge that contains dissolved solids and fine suspended solids. In the second step of the process, the moisture content of the oil/ sludge discharge phase (54b) is reduced by evaporation to form a concentrated liquor (55b) that consists of a mixture of oil and a concentrated sludge that contains dissolved solids and fine suspended solids. In the subsequent step of the process, the concentrated liquor (55b) is clarified using oil/ sludge separation means (56) to produce a concentrated sludge phase (56a) and an oil phase (56b) for further processing to extract the palm oil therein.