PRESSING OIL PALM LOOSE FRUITLETS

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to an integrated oil extractor apparatus for sterilizing, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets. More particularly to an integrated oil extractor apparatus and an integrated palm oil milling process using the said apparatus to produce crude palm fruit oil or cold pressed palm fruit oil.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

The oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis jacq.) is an important oil -food crop which originates from West Africa and was introduced to Malaysia by the British in early 1870’s as an ornamental plant. Oil palm has a yield per hectare which is between 7 to 10 times higher than that of soybean and rapeseed oil. Palm oil has become the most important vegetable oil in the world and palm oil production has risen by more than 4 times in the past 20 years. It is projected that in 2020, at least 78 million tonnes of palm oil will be required to meet global demand (Mielke, 2013).

Oil palm is important because of its high yield, being the highest yielding oil -food crop with a recent average yield of 3.67 tonnes per hectare per year and with best progenies known to produce about 10 tonnes per hectare per year. Oil palm is also the most efficient plant known for harnessing the energy of sunlight for producing oil. Oil palm is cultivated for both palm oil (which is produced in the mesocarp) and palm kernel oil (which is produced in the kernel). The current combined output of palm oil and palm kernel oil is about 50 million tonnes per year, and demand is expected to increase substantially in the future with increasing global population and per capita consumption of oils and fats. Palm oil accounts for about 33% of global consumption of major oils and fats.

Palm trees bear fruit in the third year after planting and continue producing for about 25 years. Fruit bunches of 4 to 20 kg contain 200 to 2000 individual fruits and are harvested throughout the year. The fruit bunches are transported to palm oil mills where crude palm oil is produced by mechanical and physical extraction processes along with palm kernels from which a further palm kernel oil can be produced. In a typical palm oil milling process, several operations are involved in extracting palm oil from fresh -fruit bunches (FFB) , which are sterilization, stripping, digestion and pressing, clarification, purification, drying and storage.

Freshly cut fruit bunches and detached loose fruits are transported to the palm oil mill where they are sterilised to inactivate the lipolytic enzymes (as quality of the oil will deteriorate due to free fatty acids which increases through bruising and damaging of the fruitlets on FFB through harvesting and transportation to the palm oil mills), loosen the fruits on the bunch, soften the fruits, condition the kernels and cause protein to coagulate. The sterilization process uses live steam at about 3 bar for a certain period of time. In the conventional milling process, bunches and loose fruits are loaded into cages and pushed into sterilizers whereby the bunches are cooked in batches. The cooking of the fruits happens using steam which is let in by the opening of inlet valves which could be easily controlled by an automated programme. Once the fruits have been cooked in the cages, the steam is exhausted from the steriliser and the fruit cages are pulled out of the steriliser. The steriliser is usually a pressure vessel with the bottom part lined with liners of mild steel or stainless steel for easy replacement for wear and tear purposes. The body of the steriliser is insulated so that the heat loss is minimised.

Stripping the fruit from the sterilised bunches (threshing) is carried out in a rotating cage with bars that allows the fruits to pass through, but retains the empty bunches. The loosened fruits are collected by a conveyor below the cage and the empty bunches emerge at the end of the cage. The separated fruit is then fed to a digester, which is a cylindrical , steam- jacketed vessel kept at 90 ^" C to 100 ^' C by the injection of live steam. It is fitted with beater arms that break up the fruit and liberate the oil . The digester contents are then fed continuously to a screw press that produces a liquid stream consisting of oil , fines and aqueous phase, and a press cake containing the fruit fibre residue and the palm kernels. The liquid stream is passed to a settling tank via a vibrating screen that returns what it retains to the digester. The oil recuperated from the settling tank is first of all passed through a purifier to further remove the impurities from the oil and then dried using a vacuum dryer. The sludge collecting in the settling tank is passed to a decanter that separates this sludge into a heavy effluent phase and a light, oily phase that is returned to the store tank. This conventional process is summarised as per Fi gure 1 .

In the conventional palm oil mill processing, FFB and oil palm loose fruits are not separated and therefore, sterilized together either in the same cage or in a separated cages (i.e. dedicated cage designed for oil palm loose fruits). As FFB and oil palm loose fruits are sterilised together, the same sterilisation time will be used, therefore, resulting in the oil palm loose fruits to be overcooked. As a result of this, high amount of oil seepage from the oil palm loose fruits takes place which causes higher absorption and oil loss in the oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) , and studies shows that recovering oil from EFB deteriorates quality of the oil. Even if a dedicated cage is used for oil palm loose fruits (but sterilisation takes place together with the FFB), this will still contribute to high oil loss in the condensate and EFB. This is mainly due to the compaction effect of the oil palm loose fruits in the dedicated cages which causes difficulty for heat penetration into the middle and bottom part of the steriliser cages. In terms of oil quality, this will cause high oxidation (due to over-sterilisation) which deteriorates the oil quality that results in poor oxidative stability in the production of oil.

Certain degree of oil is also released from the oil palm loose fruitlets during the sterilization stage via the conventional means due to the weight of the FFB which presses the oil palm loose fruitlets at the bottom part of the cage. Oil palm fruitlets here means ripe fruitlets and are usually at the outer layer of the FFB. It is known that at least 44% of oil is contributed from the outer layer of the FFB and the remaining is from the middle and inner layer of the fruits in the FFB. Some parts of the released oil is then absorbed back by the EFB due to the natural texture of the EFB. Therefore, oil loss via absorption of oil into the EFB can be reduced if oil palm loose fruitlets and FFB are processed separately.

Conventional means of sterilization as carried out in batch wise process results in various disadvantages such as described in the earlier paragraphs. As the bunches are stacked in cages during the sterilisation process, steam will not penetrate uniformly throughout the cages and the FFBs also comes in difference sizes which means that different time is required for each bunch to reach certain temperature resulting in that the bunches in the middle of the cages receiving less steam contact. Apart from this, air in the cages needs to be expelled before further steam can penetrate the cages via the batch process which results in steam wastage. There exists also oil loss through the conventional milling process as oil is carried away in the steam condensate and exhaust.

Apart from oil loss, another problem attached with the current conventional process is that high free fatty acids (FFA) levels are found in the oil extracted from oil palm loose fruitlets due to the delay in the processing of the oil palm loose fruitlets. Based on the current mill practice, oil palm loose fruits are segregated and processed at the end of the mill operating hours, whereby, this delay is due to the waiting period to accumulate oil palm loose fruitlets until sufficient amount is obtained before being processed.

Crude palm oil undergoes several refining steps to produce refined palm oil. Depending on whether the refined palm oil is produced by chemical (alkaline) refining or by physical refining, these refining steps include degumming, neutralization, bleaching and deodorisation above 200 °C (chemical refining) or degumming, bleaching and deodorisation at 240-260 'C (physical refining).

3-monochloropropane-l, 2-diol (3-MCPD) esters have been found in all refined vegetable oils such as margarine and oils, and in fat-containing foods including infant formula. The 3-MCPD esters are formed at high temperatures during the refining of edible fats and oils, mainly during the deodorisation step. The main factors for the formation of 3-MCPD esters are the presence of chloride ions, glycerol, tri- di- or monoacylglycerides , as well as temperature and time (IL5I Europe Report Series, 2009).

Studies have identified 3-MCPD fatty acid esters in refined oils, such as refined palm oil whereby 3-MCPD fatty acid esters are believed to be formed at high temperatures in the presence of water following a reaction between fats and chloride ions. In the refining of palm fruit oil and fractions of palm fruit oil, 3-MCPD fatty acid esters are believed to be formed predominantly during deodorisation (where the oil is heated up to more than 200 ^’ C), the last stage in refining wherein undesirable odorous and taste bearing substances are removed. 3-MCPD esters are formed during deodorisation due to a thermal catalysed decomposition of organochlori ne compounds naturally occurring in palm oil into reactive chlorinated compounds such as hydrogen chloride. These compounds can react with acyl glycerols to yield MCPD di esters and also release the free fatty acids from the intact triglyceride molecule (Destaillats, et al . , 2012). Besides 3-MCPD fatty acid esters, 2-MCPD fatty acid esters and glycidyl fatty acid esters have also been identified in these refined palm fruit oils.

Since the first finding of 3-MCPD esters and related compounds in vegetable oils, different possibilities to minimize the formation during refining have been suggested, but only little information are available about precursors for the formation, but it is not clear yet how they act and whether a certain threshold value is necessary (Effect of Different Precursors on the Formation of 3-MCPD Esters and Related Compounds , Federal Research Institute for Nutrition and Food, Germany).

US Patent No. 5,039,455A entitled Process for continuous extraction of palm oil or vegetable edible oil describes a process consisting of the steps of continuously introducing fresh fruit bunches in a receiving bin; while the fresh fruit bunches are in the receiving bin, treating the fruit bunches with steam to deactivate any enzyme responsible for the formation of free fatty acid in the fruit bunches; continuously removing fresh fruit bunches treated in the receiving bin, separating the loose fruitlets and continuously subjecting same to a combined sterilizing and stripping operation to detach fruitlets from the fruit bunches; continuously feeding the fruitlets, each consisting of a nut surrounded by a pericarp, to a pressurized digester; continuously blowing the digested fruit to a blow tank; and continuously extracting oil by pressing the digested fruit mass. The prior art document does not describe about an integrated apparatus for sterilising, digesting and pressing which results in improved oil quality (reduced FFA levels), reduction in oil loss and reduction in total chlorine in the extracted oil.

Malaysian Patent No. MY-103350-A entitled A Continuous Steriliser System for Oil Palm Fruits describes a continuous steriliser system for oil palm fruits comprises one cylindrical housing fitted internally with screw conveyor having at least two pressure steam-locking sluice valves at the inlet and outlet chute of the steriliser, at least one stripping machine, a perforated vibrating screen and at least one scraper plate conveyor for stripping and separating sterilised fruitlets and empty spikelet. The prior art document does not describe about an integrated apparatus for sterilising, digesting and pressing which results in improved oil quality (reduced FFA levels), reduction in oil loss and reduction in total chlorine in the extracted oil. Malaysian Patent No. MY-121530-A entitled Continuous Extraction of Palm Oil and Palm Kernels describes a method for continuous processing of-oil palm fresh fruit bunches having multiple fruitlets on stalks, so as to render the bunches amenable to extraction of palm oil and palm kernels, comprising crushing of fresh fruit bunches to disrupt the close-knit arrangement of fruitlets in bunches thereby enhancing steam penetration into inner layers of the fruit bunch and heating the crushed fresh fruit bunches as they are conveyed continuously and progressively through a heating zone utilizing steam to an extend sufficient to facilitate substantially complete subsequent stripping of fruitlets from the stalks of the bunches. The prior art document does not describe about an integrated apparatus for sterilising, digesting and pressing which results in improved oil quality (reduced FFA levels), reduction in oil loss and reduction in total chlorine in the extracted oil.

Malaysian Patent No. MY-140083-A entitled A Method of Processing Harvested Oil Palm Fruits describes a method of processing harvested oil palm fruits comprising of fresh oil palm fruit bunches as well as loose fruitlets for overall improvements in the palm oil extraction rate through the separate sterilization of fresh fruit bunches and loose fruitlets whereby the sterilizer cage is placed in a steam environment and consists of an open- top enclosure having an internal separation structure adapted to facilitate even distribution of steam about fruitlets filled into the cage by providing fluid passages between neighbouring fruitlets. The prior art _. document does not describe about an integrated apparatus for sterilising, digesting and pressing which results in improved oil quality (reduced FFA levels), reduction in oil loss and reduction in total chlorine in the extracted oil.

Published Malaysian Patent Application No. PI 2010005670 entitled Continuous Sterilisation of Oil Palm Fruitlets describes a method for sterilizing oil palm fruitlets comprising separating the fruitlets from the bunches with a stripping means, generating heated air by combustion of the bunches in a tunnel kiln and steaming the heated fruitlets in a chimney under a flow of steam produced by spraying hot water into the heated air. The prior art document does not describe about an integrated apparatus for sterilising, digesting and pressing which results in improved oil quality (reduced FFA levels), reduction in oil loss and reduction in total chlorine in the extracted oil. Published Malaysian Patent Application No. PI 2012001978 entitled Improved Apparatus and Method for Controlling and Managing a Self-Created Steam Plug- of Oil Palm Material In An Oil Palm Sterilisation Chamber And Conveyor Apparatus For Transporting And Efficiently Heating Oleaginous Matter describes an apparatus for controlling and managing a self-create steam plug of oil palm material comprising a sterilisation chamber having inlet and outlet respectively for entry and exit of oil palm material (0PM) to be steam-heated within said sterilisation chamber, first and second spaced- apart independent! y-operable screw conveyors in said sterilisation chamber, the space between them defining a gap, said first i ndependently-operabl e screw conveyor adapted for driving forward said oil palm material (0PM) from said inlet end of said sterilisation chamber towards said gap where said oil palm material (0PM) accumulates to form a self-created steam plug (SP) within said sterilisation chamber and said second independently- operable screw conveyor adapted for drawing away said oil palm material (0PM) forming said self-created steam plug (SP) towards said outlet end of said sterilisation chamber; and steam inlet means (SI) for injecting live steam (LS) into said sterilisation chamber for heating said oil palm material (0PM) as said material is conveyed through said sterilisation chamber, characterised in that in operation said first independently- operable screw conveyor and said second i ndependently-operabl e screw conveyor rotate at different speeds to permit manipulation and management of said self-created steam plug (SP) . The prior art document does not describe about an integrated apparatus for sterilising, digesting and pressing which results in improved oil quality (reduced FFA levels), reduction in oil loss and reduction in total chlorine in the extracted oil.

Published Malaysian Patent Application No. PI 2012002964 entitled A Sterilizer for Treatment Of Oil Palm Fruits describes a continuous sterilizer for treatment of oil palm fruits with hot water under control conditions comprises a) an elongated receptable with a cover and charging oil palm fruits from one end and discharging the cooked and sterilised fruits from the other end; b) the palm oil fruit bunches are first rinsed in hot water and then threshed to separate the palm oil fruits from the empty fruit bunch; c) the said receptacle is filled with hot water of up to 98 degrees centigrade and the temperature is maintained by way of a series of water jets which have the dual purpose of maintaining the heat in the receptable as well as propelling the floating oil palm fruits from one end of the receptable to the other end; d) the water jet inlets are situated at one end of the receptacle designed to push the oil palm fruits and the side water jet inlets are angled to help push the oil palm fruits along the receptacle; e) the oil palm fruits are conveyed by propulsion through the said receptacle for a period of 60 minutes or less until the fruits are cooked and conveyed out of the receptacle to continue the oil milling process; f) the receptacle has an overflow outlet for the collection of palm oil at the surface of the water and this will be recovered using an ultrasonic oil / water separator for the purpose of processing into crude palm oil; g) a micro-bubble device may be added to the water inlets to facilitate the separation of oil from the water within the receptable itself; and h) the receptacle have drainage pipes at the bottom to remove solids and debris as well as water which will be recycled back to the receptacle. The prior art document does not describe about an integrated apparatus for sterilising, digesting and pressing which results in improved oil quality (reduced FFA levels), reduction in oil loss and reduction in total chlorine in the extracted oil.

Published Malaysian Patent Application No. PI 20053512 entitled A Horizontal Digester for Sterilised Oil Palm Fruitlets describes a process and apparatus for producing palm oil which relates to digester used to mince up sterilised oil palm fruits, a horizontal digester which has twin rotating shafts housed in a horizontal trough, the twin shafts rotate inward in opposite direction and hold a set of paddles each of which are installed in a spectacle trough for providing a circular motion to the fruits. Further, baffles are installed at alternate positions of the travel direction of the fruits provide backpressure and zigzag path to the fruits. The prior art document does not describe about an integrated apparatus for sterilising, digesting and pressing which results in improved oil quality (reduced FFA levels), reduction in oil loss and reduction in total chlorine in the extracted oil.

There remains a need in the art to provide an apparatus and/or process, specifically an integrated oil extractor apparatus and/or an integrated palm oil milling process using the said oil extractor apparatus to produce crude palm fruit oil and/or cold pressed palm fruit oil with improved oil quality (reduced FFA levels), reduction in oil loss and reduction in total chlorine content to address the above problems or at least to provide an al ternative.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention provides an integrated oil extractor apparatus that is capable of sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets, the apparatus includes a conveyor, a sterilisation unit, a digestion unit and a pressing unit, wherein the sterilisation unit consists of a hopper for entry inlet of the oil palm loose fruitlets, a plurality of inlets for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a first outlet to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the sterilisation unit, the digestion unit consists of a plurality of inlets for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a second outlet to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the digestion unit, the pressing unit is to press the oil palm loose fruitlets and to produce palm fruit oil and the pressing unit consists of a plurality of inlets for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a third outlet to remove the palm fruit oil from bottom end of the pressing unit and the conveyor to transport the oil palm loose fruitlets from the sterilisation unit to the pressing unit.

Further, the present invention also provides an integrated palm oil milling process using the above-mentioned apparatus, the process including the steps of (a) cleaning the oil palm loose fruitlets until all foreign objects such as trash and dirt are substantially removed, (b) sterilizing the oil palm loose fruitlets for a time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce substantially sterilised palm fruits, (c) digesting the substantially sterilized palm fruits for a retention time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce substantially digested palm fruits and (d) pressing the substantially digested palm fruits for a time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce pressed palm fruits, whereby palm fruit oil is removed from bottom of the sterilisation unit, digestion unit and pressing unit and wherein the process operates at a substantially atmospheric pressure and in a temperature range of between ambient temperature to 200 ^° C.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Above recited features of the present invention may have been referred by embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. The appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not considered limiting of its scope as the invention may perform effectively to other equally effective embodiments. These and other features, benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following figures: -

Figure 1 illustrates a conventional palm oil milling process;

Figure 2 illustrates the oil extractor apparatus for sterilizing, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets (single-stage design);

Figure 3 illustrates the oil extractor apparatus for sterilizing, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets in a multi-stage design;

Figure 4 illustrates the process flow for producing cold pressed palm oil using the oil extractor apparatus;

Figure 5 illustrates the process flow using the oil extractor apparatus with a dry cleaning and/or wet cleaning step;

Figure 6 illustrates the FFA trend for oil settling tank after extraction;

Figure 7 illustrates the 5mt/hr oil extractor apparatus used in a palm oil mill;

Figure 8 illustrates that the optimum retention time for the 5 mt/hr oil extractor apparatus is 40 minutes to obtain kernel moisture below 20%; and

Figure 9 illustrates the improvement of oil content in mesocarp from 0 bar to 10 bar pressure and the reduction of oil content in mesocarp from 44.80% to 36.07%.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Although the present invention is described by way of example using embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments of drawings described. These drawings are also not intended to represent the scale of various components. These drawings and detailed description are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed but the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. Terminology and phraseology used herein is solely used for descriptive purposes and is not intended as limiting in scope. The words such as “including”, “comprising”, “having”, “containing” or “involving” and other variations is intended to be broad and cover the subject matter as described including equivalents and additional subject matter not recited such as other components or steps.

“Crude palm fruit oil” for this present invention refers to crude palm oil (unrefined palm oil) which is oil extracted from mesocarp of an oil palm fruit. The shell of an oil palm fruit is a brown or black woody ring between the yellow flesh and white kernel. “Mesocarp” for this present invention refers to the yellow flesh of the oil palm fruit. Crude palm oil is semi-solid at room temperature and is reddish in colour in its unrefined form due to the presence of carotenoids and tocotrienols .

“Cold pressed palm fruit oil” of this present invention refers to unrefined palm oil extracted from mesocarp of oil palm fruit at the operating temperatures of between ambient temperature and 60 C, whereby the cold pressed palm oil, cold pressed palm oil fraction and combinations thereof are 3-monochloropropane-l,2-diol (3-MCPD) free. The cold pressed palm oil can be further fractionated into a cold pressed palm olein and a cold pressed palm stearin. Cold pressed palm oil contains natural nutrients of carotenes (precursors to Vitamin A) and the antioxidant tocotrienols (Vitamin E) . Cold pressed palm oil is also known as virgin palm oil.

Palm is generally a mixture of different fatty acids such as saturated, unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. In terms of oil quality, “free fatty acids (FFA)” is an important qualitative parameter and is dependent on the amount of FFA present in the mesocarp of the oil palm fruit. High amounts of FFA generally deteriorates the palm oil. The oil palm fruit mesocarp contains high lipase activity that increases FFA and necessitates post-harvest inactivation by heat treatment of fruit bunches. Even before heat treatment the mesocarp lipase activity causes consequential oil losses and requires costly measures to limit FFA quantities (Morcillo, et. a 7., 2013).

“Total Chlorine” for this present invention refers to the content of chlorides in palm oil. Chlorides can be in organic form or inorganic form. The formation of 3-MCPD esters requires the presence of chlorides and 3- MCPD fatty acid esters are believed to be formed predominantly during deodor isati on (where the oil is heated up to more than 200“C), the last stage in refining wherein undesirable odorous and taste-bearing substances are removed. Although the inventors do not wish to be bound by theory, it is believed that by removing 3-MCPD precursors (i.e chlorine) prior to oil extraction (clarifying step), this will enable the production of refined palm fruit oil with reduced content of 3-MCPD esters.

In a typical palm oil milling process, several operations are involved in extracting crude palm oil from oil palm fresh fruit bunches and/or oil palm loose fruitlets which are sterilization, stripping, digestion and pressing, clarification, purification, drying and storage. Essentially, the pressing of the oil palm fruits creates a liquid which is a mixture of palm oil, water, cell debris, fibrous material and non-oil y solids. These non-oil y solids cause the mixture to be highly viscous, therefore, requiring addition of water. The addition of water causes heavy solids to settle at the bottom while the lighter oil droplets will rise to the top. In other words, the pressing of the oil palm fruits produces undiluted crude palm fruit oil (UDC0) , whereby, UDC0 is highly viscous. Separation of the oil from sludge of the UDCO would be difficult without the addition of water. Hence, water is added to the UDCO to dilute it which produces diluted crude palm fruit oil (DCO) . The addition of water causes heavy solids to fall to the bottom while lighter oil droplets will appear at the top. Composition of DCO generally consists of oil, water, non-oily solids (i.e. sludge) and fine fibrous material. Essentially, clarification process is the first step to recover oil from DCO and requires dilution water to produce oil and sludge and the final step in the oil extraction process is based on centrifugal force be it decanter or centrifuge to recover oil from the sludge. The objectives of the clarification process are to separate as much oil as possible from the DCO, to recover clarified oil at minimal oil loss, for efficient separation and disposal of free water and for the separation of solid impurities. Sand and other heavy impurities are periodically drained off from the bottom of the clarifier. The wastewater from the clarifier which is the clarifier underflow is then sent to the sludge tank (storage tank). The clarified oil proceeds to the pure oil tank, whereby, the pure oil tank is used to store and maintain temperatures of the clarified oil before being sent to the purifier and vacuum dryer.

The invention in one aspect relates to an integrated oil extractor apparatus for sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets in a palm oil mill . The invention in another aspect relates to a crude palm fruit oil obtained or obtainable by an integrated palm oil milling process using the said integrated oil extractor apparatus in a.- palm oil mill.

The invention in a further aspect relates to a cold pressed palm fruit oil obtained or obtainable by an integrated palm oil milling process using the said integrated oil extractor apparatus in a palm oil mill.

This present invention provides an integrated oil extractor apparatus for continuously sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets, the apparatus includes a conveyor [200], a sterilisation unit [201], a digestion unit [202] and a pressing unit [203], wherein the sterilisation unit [201] consists of a hopper [204] for entry inlet of the oil palm loose fruitlets, a plurality of inlets [205] for direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a first outlet [206] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the sterilisation unit, the digestion unit [202] is to soften the oil palm loose fruits and consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a second outlet [207] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the digestion unit, the pressing unit [203] is to press the loose fruit palm fruitlets and to produce palm fruit oil and the pressing unit [203] consists of a plurality of inlets

[205] for direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a third outlet

[208] to remove the palm fruit oil from bottom end of the pressing unit and the conveyor [200] to transport the said oil palm loose fruitlets continuously from sterilisation unit [201] to pressing unit [203].

The present invention also provides an integrated palm oil milling process using the integrated oil extractor apparatus, the process including the steps of a) cleaning the oil palm loose fruitlets until all foreign objects such as trash and dirt are substantially removed, b) sterilizing the oil palm loose fruitlets for a time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce substantially sterilised palm fruits, c) digesting the substantially sterilized palm fruits for a retention time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce substantially digested palm fruits and d) pressing the substantially digested palm fruits for a time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce pressed palm fruits, whereby palm fruit oil is removed from bottom of the sterilisation unit [201], digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] and wherein the process operates at a substantially atmospheric pressure and in a temperature range of between ambient temperature to 200 ^° C. It is an object of the present invention to provide a dedicated apparatus and/or processes) for processing oil palm loose fruitlets in a palm oil mill .

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved palm oil milling apparatus from conventional batch process to continuous process increasing the efficiency in the running of a palm oil mill.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved palm oil milling apparatus which eliminates the use of cages in conventional means and improves the handling operations during sterilisation, digestion and pressing.

It is a further object of the present invention to extract oil from the oil palm loose fruitlets without delay, resulting in reduced free fatty acids (FFA) levels as opposed to conventional means.

It is a further object of the present invention to produce crude palm fruit oil with reduced chlorine (precursors to 3-MCPD) which will result in reduced 3-monochloropropane-l, 2-diol (3-MCPD) levels in the refined palm f rui t oi 1.

It is another object of the present invention to produce cold pressed palm fruit oil and its fractions which is 3-MCPD free as no further refining step is required.

Referring to Figures 2 and 3, the oil extractor apparatus of the present invention is essentially an integrated apparatus in single-stage or multi stages for continuously sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets, whereby the apparatus of the present invention can be constructed to contain only 1 compartment, 2 compartments or more for the purposes of extracting oil from the oil palm loose fruitlets.

The proposed apparatus of the present invention is a dedicated apparatus for the processing of oil palm loose fruitlets to solve the problems associated with processing FFB and oil palm loose fruitlets per conventional milling process. The integrated apparatus of the present invention is capable of continuously sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets and/or is able to provide a continuous process using the said apparatus of the present invention for processing oil palm loose fruitlets, however, the apparatus of the present invention is still able to run and function in batch mode as well . Dedicated -processi ng of oil palm loose fruitlets contributes to cost reduction in the oil palm processing in terms of reduced steam consumption by at least 20% or in the range of between 20% to 50%. Reduction in steam consumption happens due to the following reasons:

• the steam is only used to sterilise the oil palm loose fruitlets when the oil palm loose fruits are processed separately, whereas, steam is used to cook not only the oil palm loose fruitlets but also the stalk and spikelet of the FFB in the conventional means; and

• the oil palm loose fruitlets of the present invention goes through the sterilization process simultaneously with the FFB as opposed to the conventional means whereby the oil palm loose fruitlets are processed only at the end of the milling process.

Throughput of the mill is also improved (i.e. no delay in processing of the oil palm loose fruitlets) with the present invention as conventional milling process requires additional processing time in the range of between 0.25 hours to 1.5 hours to sterilise the oil palm loose fruitlets.

In addition to the present invention being a dedicated apparatus for processing oil palm loose fruitlets addressing problems associated conventional milling process, the apparatus of the present invention also consists of the combination of 3 process units (sterilization, digestion and pressing) into a single integrated and continuous apparatus which is simple and cost-effective means as opposed to conventional batch mode process .

In general , the advantages of this apparatus are as follows:

• improvement in oil quality (i .e. production of crude palm oil with reduced FFA levels) as the oil palm loose fruitlets will be processed in parallel to the conventional process without any waiting period in processing the oil palm loose fruitlets);

• oil loss via absorption of oil into the empty fruit bunches (EFB) can be reduced ;

• reduction in oil palm processing cost from decrease steam consumption by processing the oil palm loose fruits separately; • reduction in total chlorine (precursors of 3-MCPD) content in the extracted crude palm fruit oil which would result in reduced 3-MCPD levels in the refined palm oi ; and

• Production of cold pressed palm oil with reduced FFA content and 3-MCPD free (as no further refining is required).

Overall, the use of the apparatus of the present invention leads to improvements in the designs of mill, lowers the operating and maintenance costs and simplifies the mill operations overall.

The apparatus of the present invention is an integrated apparatus for sterilising, digesting and pressing the oil palm loose fruitlets, whereby the sterilisation unit [201], digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] can either be contained in a single compartment or be divided into at least two compartments and is able to function in single-stage or multi-stages. The oil palm loose fruitlets are continuously transported via a conveyor from the sterilization unit to the pressing unit. The conveyor can be a shafted or shaftless screw conveyor, preferably a shaftless conveyor. The screw conveyor can be controlled in speed range of between 0 rpm to 200 rpm, preferably between 2 rpm to 20 rpm and most preferably 5 rpm to lOrpm. The speed of the apparatus of the present invention is in the range of between 0.1 to 10 meter/minutes, preferably 0.5 to 5 meter/minutes and most preferably 0.8 to 2 meter/minutes.

The sterilization unit [201], digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] of the apparatus of the present invention can be contained as a single compartment, can be divided into two compartments, three compartments or more .

If the sterilization unit [201], digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] are contained as a single compartment, diameter of the sterilization unit, digestion unit and the pressing unit is the same across the integrated apparatus of the present invention.

This said apparatus can also be divided into at least two compartments whereby the first compartment will consist of the combination of sterilisation and digestion mechanism and second compartment will consist of the combination of digestion and pressing mechanism. For this case, the ratio of diameter between the first compartment and the second compartment is in the range of 1:1 to 10:1, preferably in the range of between 5:1 to 5:4 and most preferably in the range of between 4:1 to 4:3.

The apparatus of the present invention can also be divided into three compartments whereby the ratio of diameter between the sterilizer unit and digestion unit is in the range of 1:1 to 10:1, preferably in the range of between 5:1 to 5:4 and most preferably in the range of between 4:1 to 4:3 and the ratio of diameter between the digestion unit and pressing unit is in the range of 1:1 to 10:1, preferably in the range of between 5:1 to 5:4 and most preferably in the range of between 4:1 to 4:3.

The preferred mode for this apparatus would be to have the apparatus of the present invention divided into two compartments, whereby, the difference in the diameter results in pressure buildup causing partial pressing and extraction of undiluted crude palm oil (UDCO) from the sterilized and partially digested oil palm loose fruitlets which is then collected from the bottom of the apparatus. This can either be done in a single-stage or multi-stage apparatus, however, it is preferred for the apparatus to be a multi-stage apparatus for increased efficiency in the extraction of crude palm oil and/or cold pressed palm oil.

The most preferred mode would be for the apparatus of the present invention to be divided into three compartments, whereby the diameter reduces from the sterilization unit to the pressing unit, and the difference in diameter results in pressure buildup causing partial pressing and extraction of UDCO from the sterilization unit [201], digestion unit [202] and finally the pressing unit [203] which is then collected from the bottom of the apparatus. This can either be done in a single-stage apparatus or in multi stages, however, it is preferred for the apparatus to be in multi -stages for increased efficiency in the extraction of crude palm oil and/or cold pressed palm oil .

There is pressure buildup if diameter varies as the sterilization unit is filled up to its maximum limits with the oil palm loose fruitlets. The oil palm loose fruitlets are fed through the hopper [204] attached with a control feeding system for substantially uniform feeding of the oil palm loose fruitlets into the sterilization unit without being overloaded or insufficiently loaded. Oil loss is automatically reduced if the oil palm loose fruitlets are processed separately from FFB as opposed to the conventional means, thus, the purpose for this said apparatus of the present invention. Also, the partial pressing at every stage of the apparatus with two compartments or more further increases efficiency of the oil extraction mechanism and/or process. There exist outlets [206, 207, 208] at the bottom of the apparatus at every unit [201, 202, 203] to collect the crude palm fruit oil and/or cold pressed palm fruit oil obtained from the partial pressing, whereby the said outlets [206, 207, 208] consist of holes and strainer.

The sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] of the apparatus of the present invention whether contained as a single compartment, divided into two compartments, three compartments or more, whether a single stage or multi-stage apparatus is required to be heated up entirely when being used in a palm oil milling process at the palm oil mill .

The heating mechanism of the apparatus of the present invention can be done via direct heating and/or indirect heating. “Direct heating” for this present invention means direct steam or vapour introduction into the apparatus to the oil palm loose fruitlets via the plurality of inlets as contained in the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] . “Indirect heating” for this present invention means when steam or vapour is indirectly used to heat up the body of the apparatus of the present invention, hence heating up the entire apparatus of the present invention for use in the palm oil milling process.

The ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilisation unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is in the range of between 5% to 50% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets, preferably in the range of between 8% to 20% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets and most preferably in the range of between 10% to 18% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets. Ratio of steam above 50% is not preferable as this will increase steam consumption and oxidation of the extracted oil from the said apparatus of the present invention.

The duration of sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is in the range of 1 to 240 minutes, preferably 5 to 120 minutes and most preferably 15 to 90 minutes. Duration of sterilization of more than 240 minutes is not preferable as this will increase steam consumption and oxidation of the extracted oil from the said apparatus of the present invention.

The duration for digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is in the range of 1 to 240 minutes, preferably 1 to 120 minutes and most preferably 1 to 30 minutes. Duration of digestion of more than 240 minutes is not preferable as this will increase steam consumption and oxidation of the extracted oil from the said apparatus of the present i nvention .

The duration of pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is in the range of 1 to 240 minutes, preferable 3 to 20 minutes and most preferably 5 to 10 minutes.

The pressing unit [203] of the apparatus of the present invention consists of a single screw pressing system to extract oil from the oil palm loose fruitlets which will then be collected from the outlets present at the bottom of the pressing unit [203], and pressed fibres are removed through separate outlets from the apparatus of the present invention. The extracted oil at this stage is known as UDCO.

The pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets produces UDCO, which is highly viscous. Separation of the crude palm oil (CPO) from the solid and water would be difficult without the addition of water. Hence, water is added to dilute it which produces diluted crude palm oil (DCO) and would be subjected to clarification, centrifugation, purification and finally drying to produce crude palm oil and/or cold pressed palm oil.

This apparatus of the present invention operates in temperature range of between 61'C to 200 ^‘ C, preferably 80'C to 140 ^* C and most preferably 90 ^" C to 99“C and operates at atmospheric pressure, for the purpose of producing crude palm fruit oil. The crude palm fruit oil is selected from CPO, CPO fraction and combinations thereof.

The apparatus of the present invention operates in temperature range of between ambient temperature to 60 ^” C at atmospheric pressure, if the purpose is to produce cold pressed palm fruit oil. Cold pressed palm fruit oil is selected from cold pressed palm oil, cold pressed palm oil fraction and combinations thereof. The cold pressed palm oil produced will go through a filtration process and can be further fractionated to produce a cold pressed palm olein and a cold pressed palm stearin. Advantageous! sy, the cold pressed palm fruit oil produced using the apparatus of the present invention is 3-MCPD free as no refining is required, thus, the chlorine (3- MCPD precursors) will not be converted into 3-MCPD.

The crude palm fruit oil produced by the apparatus of the present invention is then subjected to degumming, bleaching and deodorization to produce a refined palm fruit oil. The inventors further investigated on the content of the 3-MCPD levels in the refined palm oil and was surprised by the results that showed a decrease in the 3-MCPD levels. This prompted the inventors to further investigate on the chlorine content of the extracted crude palm fruit oil from the apparatus of the present invention. Although the inventors do not wish to be bound by theory, it is believed that by removing 3-MCPD precursors (i.e chlorine) prior to oil extraction (clarifying step), this will enable the production of refined palm fruit oil with reduced content of 3-MCPD esters.

The formation of 3-MCPD is strictly influened by the presence of chlorine precursors in the UDCO. A study to identify areas that contributed to highest 3-MCPD precursors in the mill showed that the steriliser condensate and EFB liquor contains the highest chlorine content (Effect of Total Chlorine on 3-MCPD in CPO using Different Dilution Solutions, Syed Mohd Hadi et. al.). It is therefore understood that by processing the oil palm loose fruitlets separately (without the presence of EFB) in this apparatus of the present invention, it automatically reduces chlorine content of UDCO, hence, will result in reduction in the 3-MCPD content of the refined palm fruit oil .

Total chlorine content of the UDCO of this present invention is as low as 0.5ppm, preferably in the range of 0.01 ppm to 10 ppm and most preferably in the range of 0.1 ppm to 5.0 ppm.

FFA levels of the crude palm oil of this present invention is as low as 1.5%, preferably in the range of 0.5 % to 15.0 % and most preferably in the range of 1.0 % to 10.0 %.

FFA levels of the cold pressed palm fruit oil of this present invention is as low as 0.8%, preferably in the range of 0.3 % to 5.0 % and most preferably in the range of 0.5 % to 3.0 %. The present invention also provides an integrated palm oil milling process using the said integrated oil extractor apparatus that is capable of continuously steril i sing , _ digesti ng·' and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets, the process including the steps of cleaning the oil palm loose fruitlets until all foreign objects such as trash and dirt are substantially removed, sterilizing the oil palm loose fruitlets for a time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce substantially sterilised palm fruits, digesting the substantially sterilized palm fruits for a retention time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce substantially digested palm fruits and pressing the substantially digested palm fruits for a time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce pressed palm fruits, whereby palm fruit oil is removed from bottom of the sterilisation unit [201], digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] and wherein the process operates at a substantially atmospheric pressure and in a temperature range of between ambient temperature to 200”C.

Undiluted crude palm fruit oil is further removed from bottom of the pressing unit [203] and pressed fibres removed through a separate outlet from the apparatus and wherein the undiluted crude palm fruit oil is mixed with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oil and further clarified, centrifuged, purified and dried to produce crude palm fruit oil and/or cold pressed palm fruit oil. The process operates in a temperature range of between 61”C to 200 ^” C to produce crude palm oil, crude palm oil fraction and combinations thereof. Referring to Figure 4, the process operates in temperature range of between ambient temperature to 60 ^° C to produce cold pressed palm oil, cold pressed palm oil fraction and combinations thereof. The cold pressed palm oil as produced through this process goes through a filtration process and further fractionated into a cold pressed palm olein and cold pressed palm stearin.

Pursuant to Figure 5, it is preferred for the oil palm loose fruitlets to proceed to a cleaning step to substantially remove trash and/or dirt prior to being fed into the apparatus of the present invention. Removal of trash and dirt would result in increased efficiency in the extraction of crude palm oil and/or cold pressed palm oil from the said apparatus of the present invention. Apart from that, removal of trash and/or dirt would also reduce wear and tear / prolong life of the said apparatus of the present invention. The cleaning step for this present invention can be done via dry cleaning and/or wet cleaning. “Dry cleaning” for this present invention means blowing and/or suction with a fan, vibration mechanism through the apparatus, using rotation drum with grate and/or holes, si ever and/or mill thresher or any combination thereof. “Wet cleaning” for this present invention means washing the oil palm loose fruitlets with water in the temperature range of between ambient temperature to 70 ^" C (preferably in a temperature range of between 50 ^° C to 60°C) using any means for example via submersion, sprinkling, spraying or any combination thereof. Water used in this wet cleaning step refers to normal processed water, distilled water, reverse osmosis water, effluent treatment plant water, any type of water with the pH levels of between pH 5 to pH 9 (preferably between pH 7 to pH 8) or any combination thereof.

As mentioned above, the present invention provides a dedicated apparatus and /or process using the said apparatus for processing oil palm loose fruitlets addressing problems associated conventional milling process and the apparatus of the present invention consists of the combination of 3 process units (sterilization, digestion and pressing) into a single integrated and continuous apparatus which is simple and cost-effective means as opposed to conventional batch mode process. Further, the inventors have surprisingly found that the apparatus and/or process(es) using the said apparatus of present invention leads to the production of crude palm fruit oil and/or cold pressed palm oil with reduced FFA levels, as well as reduction of formation of 3-MCPD when the crude palm fruit oil is refined and 3-MCPD free cold pressed palm oil as no refining is required,

Various embodiments of the present invention are further described below.

A) Single Compartment - to produce crude palm fruit oil

The present invention provides an embodiment as follows:

1. An integrated oil extractor apparatus that is capable of continuously sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets, the apparatus includes a conveyor [200], a sterilisation unit [201], a digestion unit [202] and a pressing unit [203], wherein the sterilisation unit [201] consists of a hopper [204] for entry inlet of the oil palm loose fruitlets, a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a first outlet [206] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the sterilisation unit [201] ; the digestion unit [202] consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a second outlet[207] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the digestion unit [202] ; the pressing unit [203] is to press the oil palm loose fruitlets and to produce palm fruit oil and the pressing unit [203] consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a third outlet [208] to remove the palm fruit oil from bottom end of the pressing unit [203] ; and the conveyor [200] to transport the oil palm loose fruitlets continuously from the sterilisation unit [201] to the pressing unit [203] .

2. The apparatus according to embodiment 1, wherein the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] are contained as a single compartment.

3. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 2 , wherein the apparatus is a single-stage or multi-stage apparatus.

4. The apparatus according to embodiment 3, wherein the apparatus is preferably a multi-stage apparatus.

5. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] having a substantially same diameter.

6. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 5 , wherein the hopper [204] is attached with a control feeding system for a substantially uniform feeding of the oil palm loose fruitlets into the sterilisation unit [201] .

7. The apparatus accordingly to any of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein the first, second and third outlets [206, 207, 208] consist of holes and strainer.

8. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein the conveyor [200] is a shafted screw conveyor or a shaftless screw conveyor. 9. The apparatus according to embodiment 8, wherein the conveyor [200] is preferably a shaftless screw conveyor.

10. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 9, wherein the conveyor [200] can be controlled in speed range of between 0 rpm to 200 rpm.

11. The apparatus according to embodiment 10, wherein the conveyor [200] can be controlled in the speed range preferably between 2 rpm to 20 rpm and most preferably between 5 rpm to lOrpm.

12. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 11, wherein ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is in range of between 5% to 50% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets.

13. The apparatus according to embodiment 12, wherein ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201], digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 8% to 20% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets and most preferably in the range of between 10% to 18% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruits.

14. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 13, wherein speed of the apparatus is in range of between 0.1 to 10 meter/minutes, preferably 0.5 to 5 meter/minutes and most preferably 0.8 to 2 meter/minutes.

15. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 14, wherein sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

16. The apparatus according to embodiment 15, wherein the sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is preferably in the range of between 5 minutes to 120 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 15 minutes to 90 minutes.

17. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 16, wherein digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes. 18. The apparatus according to embodiment 17, wherein the digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is preferably in the range of between 1 minute to 120 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 1 minute to 30 minutes.

19. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 18, wherein pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

20. The apparatus according to embodiment 19, wherein the pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 3 minutes to 20 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 5 minutes to 10 minutes.

21. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 20, whereby the apparatus operates at a substantially atmospheric pressure.

22. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 21, wherein the apparatus operates in temperature range of between ambient temperature to 200°C.

23. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 22, wherein the pressing unit [203] consists of a single screw pressing system to extract undiluted crude palm fruit oil from the oil palm loose fruitlets which will be collected from bottom of the outlet [208] of the pressing unit and pressed fibres removed through a separate outlet from the apparatus.

24. The apparatus according to embodiment 23, wherein the undiluted crude palm fruit oil is mixed with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oil .

25. The apparatus according to embodiment 24, wherein the diluted crude palm fruit oil is further clarified, centrifuged, purified and dried to produce a crude palm fruit oil.

26. The apparatus according to embodiment 25, wherein the crude palm fruit oil is selected from crude palm oil , crude palm oil fraction and combinations thereof when the apparatus operates in a temperature range of between 61'C to 200°C, preferably between 80°C to 140 ^° C and most preferably between 90‘C to 99 ^" C. 27. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 26, wherein total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is as low as 0.5ppm

28. The apparatus according to embodiment 27, wherein the total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is preferably in the range of 0.01 ppm to 10 ppm, and most preferably in the range of 0.1 ppm to 5.0 ppm.

29. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 28, wherein the crude palm fruit oil produced has free fatty acids (FFA) level as low as 1.5%.

BO. The apparatus according to embodiment 29, wherein the crude palm fruit oil produced has FFA levels preferably in the range of 0.5 % to 15.0 % and most preferably in the range of between 1.0 % to 10.0 %.

B) Two compartments - to produce crude palm fruit oil

The present invention provides an embodiment as follows:

1. An integrated oil extractor apparatus that is capable of continuously sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets, the apparatus includes a conveyor [200], a sterilisation unit [201], a digestion unit [202] and a pressing unit [203], wherein the sterilisation unit [201] consists of a hopper [204] for entry inlet of the oil palm loose fruitlets, a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a first outlet

[206] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the sterilisation unit [201] ; the digestion unit [202] consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a second outlet

[207] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the digestion unit [202]; the pressing unit [203] is to press the oil palm loose fruitlets and to produce palm fruit oil and the pressing unit [203] consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a third outlet [208] to remove the palm fruit oil from bottom end of the pressing unit [203]; and the conveyor [200] to transport the oil palm loose fruitlets continuously from the sterilisation unit [201] to the pressing unit [203].

2. The apparatus according to embodiment 1, wherein the sterilization unit [201], digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] are divided into two compartments.

3. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 2 , wherein the apparatus is a single-stage or multi-stage apparatus.

4. The apparatus according to embodiment 3, wherein the apparatus is preferably a multi-stage apparatus.

5. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 4, ratio of diameter between a first compartment and a second compartment is in the range of 1:1 to 10:1.

6. The apparatus according to embodiment 5, wherein the ratio of diameter between the first compartment and the second compartment is preferably in the range of between 5:1 to 5:4 and most preferably in the range of between 4:1 to 4:3.

7. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein the hopper [204] is attached with a control feeding system for a substantially uniform feeding of the oil palm loose fruitlets into the sterilisation unit

[201] .

8. The apparatus accordingly to any of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein the first, second and third outlets [206, 207, 208] consist of holes and strainer.

9. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 8 wherein the conveyor [200] is a shafted screw conveyor or a shaftless screw conveyor.

10. The apparatus according to embodiment 9, wherein the conveyor [200] is preferably a shaftless screw conveyor.

11. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein the conveyor [200] can be controlled in speed range of between 0 rpm to 200 rpm. 12. The apparatus according to embodiment 11, wherein the conveyor [200] can be controlled in the speed range preferably between 2 rpm to 20 rpm and most preferably between 5 rpm to lOrpm.

13. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 12, wherein ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is in range of between 5% to 50% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets.

14. The apparatus according to embodiment 13, wherein ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 8% to 20% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets and most preferably in the range of between 10% to 18% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets.

15. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 14, wherein speed of the apparatus is in range of between 0.1 to 10 meter/minutes, preferably 0.5 to 5 meter/minutes and most preferably 0.8 to 2 meter/minutes.

16. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 15, wherein sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

17. The apparatus according to embodiment 16, wherein the sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is preferably in the range of between 5 minutes to 120 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 15 minutes to 90 minutes.

18. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 17, wherein digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

19. The apparatus according to embodiment 17, wherein the digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is preferably in the range of between 1 minute to 120 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 1 minute to 30 minutes. 20. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 19, wherein pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is in range of between 1 to- ^, 240 minutes.

21. The apparatus according to embodiment 20, wherein the pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 3 minutes to 20 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 5 minutes to 10 minutes.

22. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 21, whereby the apparatus operates at a substantially atmospheric pressure.

23. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 22, wherein the apparatus operates in temperature range of between ambient temperature to 200 ^° C.

24. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 23, wherein the pressing unit [203] consists of a single screw pressing system to extract undiluted crude palm fruit oil from the oil palm loose fruitlets which will be collected from bottom of the outlet [208] of the pressing unit and pressed fibres removed through a separate outlet from the apparatus.

25. The apparatus according to embodiment 24, wherein the undiluted crude palm fruit oil is mixed with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm f rui t oi 1.

26. The apparatus according to embodiment 25, wherein the diluted crude palm fruit oil is further clarified, centrifuged, purified and dried to produce crude palm fruit oil .

27. The apparatus according to embodiment 26, wherein the crude palm fruit oil is selected from crude palm oil , crude palm oil fraction and combinations thereof when the apparatus operates in a temperature range of between 61"C to 200°C, preferably between 80 ^” C to 14CTC and most preferably between 90“C to 99 ^° C.

28. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 27, wherein total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is as low as 0.5ppm 29. The apparatus according to embodiment 28, wherein the total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is preferably in the range of 0.01 ppm to 10.0 ppm, and .most preferably in the range of 0.1 ppm to 5,0 ppm.

30. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 29, wherein the crude palm fruit oil produced has free fatty acids (FFA) level as low as 1.5%.

31. The apparatus according to embodiment 30, wherein the crude palm fruit oil produced has FFA levels preferably in the range of 0.5 % to 15.0 % and most preferably in the range of between 1.0 % to 10.0 %.

C) Three compartments - to produce crude palm fruit oil

The present invention provides an embodiment as follows:

1. An integrated oil extractor apparatus that is capable of continuously sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets, the apparatus includes a conveyor [200], a sterilisation unit [201], a digestion unit [202] and a pressing unit [203], wherein the sterilisation unit [201] consists of a hopper [204] for entry inlet of the oil palm loose fruitlets, a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a first outlet

[206] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the sterilisation unit

[201] ; the digestion unit [202] consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a second outlet

[207] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the digestion unit [202]; the pressing unit [203] is to press the oil palm loose fruitlets and to produce palm fruit oil and the pressing unit [203] consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a third outlet [208] to remove the palm fruit oil from bottom end of the pressing unit [203]; and the conveyor [200] to transport the oil palm loose fruitlets continuously from the sterilisation unit [201] to the pressing unit [203]. 2. The apparatus according to embodiment 1, wherein the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] are divided into three compartments.

3. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 2 , wherein the apparatus is a single-stage or multi-stage apparatus.

4. The apparatus according to embodiment 3, wherein the apparatus is preferably a multi-stage apparatus.

5. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein ratio of diameter between the sterilization unit [201] and digestion unit [202] is in range of 1:1 to 10:1.

6. The apparatus according to embodiment 5, wherein the ratio of diameter between the sterilization unit [201] and the digestion unit [202] is preferably in the range of between 5:1 to 5:4 and most preferably in the range of between 4:1 to 4:3.

7. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein ratio of diameter between the digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is in the range of 1:1 to 10:1.

8. The apparatus according to embodiment 7, wherein the ratio of diameter between the digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 5:1 to 5:4 and most preferably in the range of between 4:1 to 4:3.

9. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein the hopper [204] is attached with a control feeding system for a substantially uniform feeding of the oil palm loose fruitlets into the sterilisation unit [201] .

10. The apparatus accordingly to any of embodiments 1 to 9 , wherein the first, second and third outlets [206, 207, 208] consist of holes and strai ner .

11. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein the conveyor [200] is a shafted screw conveyor or a shaftless screw conveyor. 12. The apparatus according to embodiment 11, wherein the conveyor [200] is preferably a shaftless screw conveyor.

13. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 12, wherein the conveyor [200] can be controlled in speed range of between 0 rpm to 200 rpm.

14. The apparatus according to embodiment 13, wherein the conveyor [200] can be controlled in the speed range preferably between 2 rpm to 20 rpm and most preferably between 5 rpm to 10 rpm.

15. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 14, wherein ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is in range of between 5% to 50% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets.

16. The apparatus according to embodiment 15, wherein the ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 8% to 20% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets and most preferably in the range of between 10% to 18% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets .

17. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 16, wherein speed of the apparatus is in range of between 0.1 to 10 meter/minutes, preferably 0.5 to 5 meter/minutes and most preferably 0.8 to 2 meter/minutes.

18. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 17, wherein sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is in range of between 1 minute to 240 minutes.

19. The apparatus according to embodiment 18, wherein the sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is preferably in the range of between 5 minutes to 120 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 15 minutes to 90 minutes.

20. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 19, wherein digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes. 21. The apparatus according to embodiment 20, wherein the digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is preferably in the range of between 1 minute to 120 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 1 minute to 30 minutes.

22. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 21, wherein pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

23. The apparatus according to embodiment 22, wherein the pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 3 minutes to 20 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 5 minutes to 10 minutes.

24. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 23, whereby the apparatus operates at a substantially atmospheric pressure.

25. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 24, wherein the apparatus operates in temperature range of between ambient temperature to 200 ^’ C.

26. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 25, wherein the pressing unit [203] consists of a single screw pressing system to extract undiluted crude palm fruit oil from the oil palm loose fruitlets which will be collected from bottom of the outlet [208] of the pressing unit [203] and pressed fibres removed through a separate outlet from the apparatus.

27. The apparatus according to embodiment 26, wherein the undiluted crude palm fruit oil is mixed with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oil .

28. The apparatus according to embodiment 27, wherein the diluted crude palm fruit oil is further clarified, centrifuged, purified and dried to produce crude palm fruit oil .

29. The apparatus according to embodiment 28, wherein the crude palm fruit oil is selected from crude palm oil , crude palm oil fraction and combinations thereof when the apparatus operates in a temperature range of between 61°C to 200°C, preferably between 80 ^” C to 140”C and most preferably between 90 ^‘ C to 99 ^' C. 30. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 29, wherein total chlorine content of the -undil uted crude palm oil is as low. as 0.5ppm

31. The apparatus according to embodiment 30, wherein the total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is preferably in the range of 0.01 ppm to 10.0 ppm, and most preferably in the range of 0.1 ppm to 5.0 ppm.

32. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 31, wherein the crude palm fruit oil produced has free fatty acids (FFA) level as low as 1.5%.

33. The apparatus according to embodiment 32, wherein the crude palm fruit oil produced has FFA levels preferably in the range of 0.5 % to 15.0 % and most preferably in the range of between 1.0 % to 10.0 %.

D) Single compartment - to produce cold pressed palm fruit oil

The present invention provides an embodiment as follows:

1. An integrated oil extractor apparatus that is capable of continuously sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets, the apparatus includes a conveyor [200], a sterilisation unit [201] , a digestion unit [202] and a pressing unit [203] , wherein the sterilisation unit [201] consists of a hopper [204] for entry inlet of the oil palm loose fruitlets, a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a first outlet

[206] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the sterilisation unit [201] ; the digestion unit [202] consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a second outlet

[207] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the digestion unit [202] ; the pressing unit [203] is to press the oil palm loose fruitlets and to produce palm fruit oil and the pressing unit [203] consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a third outlet [208] to remove the palm fruit oil from bottom end of the pressing unit [203]; and the conveyor [200] to transport the oil palm loose fruitlets continuously from the sterilisation unit [201] to the pressing unit [203].

2. The apparatus according to embodiment 1, wherein the sterilization unit [201], digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] are contained as a single compartment.

3. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 2 , wherein the apparatus is a single-stage or multi-stage apparatus.

4. The apparatus according to embodiment 3, wherein the apparatus is preferably a multi-stage apparatus.

5. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein the sterilization unit [201], digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] having a substantially same diameter.

6. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 5 , wherein the hopper [204] is attached with a control feeding system for a substantially uniform feeding of the oil palm loose fruitlets into the sterilisation unit

[201] .

7. The apparatus accordingly to any of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein the first, second and third outlets [206, 207, 208] consist of holes and strainer.

8. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein the conveyor [200] is a shafted screw conveyor or a shaftless screw conveyor.

9. The apparatus according to embodiment 8, wherein the conveyor [200] is preferably a shaftless screw conveyor.

10. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 9, wherein the conveyor [200] can be controlled in speed range of between 0 rpm to 200 rpm.

11. The apparatus according to embodiment 10, wherein the conveyor [200] can be controlled in the speed range preferably between 2 rpm to 20 rpm and most preferably between 5 rpm to lOrpm. 12. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 11, wherein ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is in range of between 5% to 50% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets.

13. The apparatus according to embodiment 12, wherein ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 8% to 20% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets and most preferably in the range of between 10% to 18% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruits.

14. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 13, wherein speed of the apparatus is in range of between 0.1 to 10 meter/minutes, preferably 0.5 to 5 meter/minutes and most preferably 0.8 to 2 meter/minutes.

15. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 14, wherein sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

16. The apparatus according to embodiment 15, wherein the sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is preferably in the range of between 5 minutes to 120 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 15 minutes to 90 minutes.

17. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 16, wherein digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

18. The apparatus according to embodiment 17, wherein the digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is preferably in the range of between 1 minute to 120 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 1 minute to 30 minutes.

19. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 18, wherein pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

20. The apparatus according to embodiment 19, wherein the pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 3 minutes to 20 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 5 minutes to 10 minutes.

21. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 20, whereby the apparatus operates at a substantially atmospheric pressure.

22. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 21, wherein the apparatus operates in temperature range of between ambient temperature to 200 ^° C.

23. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 22, wherein the pressing unit [203] consists of a single screw pressing system to extract undiluted crude palm fruit oil from the oil palm loose fruitlets which will be collected from bottom of the outlet [208] of the pressing unit [203] and pressed fibres removed through a separate outlet from the apparatus.

24. The apparatus according to embodiment 23, wherein the undiluted crude palm fruit oil is mixed with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oil .

25. The apparatus according to embodiment 24, wherein the diluted crude palm fruit oil is further clarified, centrifuged, purified and dried to produce cold pressed palm fruit oil.

26. The apparatus according to embodiment 25, wherein the cold pressed palm fruit oil is selected from cold pressed palm oil, cold pressed palm oil fraction and combinations thereof when the apparatus operates in a temperature range of between ambient temperature to 60 C.

27. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 26, wherein total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is as low as 0.5ppm

28. The apparatus according to embodiment 27, wherein the total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is preferably in the range of 0.01 ppm to 10 ppm, and most preferably in the range of 0.1 ppm to 5.0 ppm.

29. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 28, wherein the cold pressed palm fruit oil produced has FFA levels as low as 0.8%. 30. The apparatus according to embodiment 29, wherein the cold pressed fruit oil produced has FFA levels preferably in the range of 0.3 % to 5.0 % and most preferably in the range of between 0.5 % to 3.0 %.

31. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 30, wherein the cold pressed palm oil, cold pressed palm oil fraction and combinations thereof are 3-monochloropropane-l, 2-diol (3-MCPD) free.

32. The apparatus according to embodiment 31, wherein the cold pressed palm oil is fractionated into a cold pressed palm olein and a cold pressed palm stearin.

E) Two compartments - to produce cold pressed palm fruit oil

The present invention provides an embodiment as follows:

1. An integrated oil extractor apparatus that is capable of continuously sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets, the apparatus includes a conveyor [200], a sterilisation unit [201], a digestion unit [202] and a pressing unit [203], wherein the sterilisation unit [201] consists of a hopper [204] for entry inlet of the oil palm loose fruitlets, a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a first outlet

[206] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the sterilisation unit [201] ; the digestion unit [202] consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a second outlet

[207] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the digestion unit [202]; the pressing unit [203] is to press the oil palm loose fruitlets and to produce palm fruit oil and the pressing unit [203] consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a third outlet [208] to remove the palm fruit oil from bottom end of the pressing unit [203]; and the conveyor [200] to transport the oil palm loose fruitlets continuously from the sterilisation unit [201] to the pressing unit [203]. 2. The apparatus according to embodiment 1, wherein the sterilization unit [201], digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] are divided into two compartments..

3. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 2 , wherein the apparatus is a single-stage or multi-stage apparatus.

4. The apparatus according to embodiment 3, wherein the apparatus is preferably a multi-stage apparatus.

5. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 4, ratio of diameter between a first compartment and a second compartment is in the range of 1:1 to 10:1.

6. The apparatus according to embodiment 5, wherein the ratio of diameter between the first compartment and the second compartment is preferably in the range of between 5:1 to 5:4 and most preferably in the range of between 4:1 to 4:3.

7. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein the hopper [204] is attached with a control feeding system for a substantially uniform feeding of the oil palm loose fruitlets into the sterilisation unit

[201] .

8. The apparatus accordingly to any of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein the first, second and third outlets [206, 207, 208] consist of holes and strai ner .

9. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 8 wherein the conveyor [200] is a shafted screw conveyor or a shaftless screw conveyor.

10. The apparatus according to embodiment 9, wherein the conveyor [200] is preferably a shaftless screw conveyor.

11. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein the conveyor [200] can be controlled in speed range of between 0 rpm to 200 rpm. 12. The apparatus according to embodiment 11, wherein the conveyor [200] can be controlled in the speed range preferably between 2 rpm to 20 rpm and most preferably between 5..rpm to lOrpm.

13. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 12, wherein ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is in range of between 5% to 50% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets.

14. The apparatus according to embodiment 13, wherein ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 8% to 20% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets and most preferably in the range of between 10% to 18% to the weight of the oil palm loose f ruitl ets .

15. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 14, wherein speed of the apparatus is in range of between 0.1 to 10 meter/minutes, preferably 0.5 to 5 meter/minutes and most preferably 0.8 to 2 meter/minutes.

16. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 15, wherein sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

17. The apparatus according to embodiment 16, wherein the sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is preferably in the range of between 5 minutes to 120 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 15 minutes to 90 minutes.

18. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 17, wherein digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

19. The apparatus according to embodiment 17, wherein the digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is preferably in the range of between 1 minute to 120 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 1 minute to 30 minutes. 20. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 19, wherein pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

21. The apparatus according to embodiment 20, wherein the pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 3 minutes to 20 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 5 minutes to 10 minutes.

22. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 21, whereby the apparatus operates at a substantially atmospheric pressure.

23. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 22, wherein the apparatus operates in temperature range of between ambient temperature to 200 ^° C.

24. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 23, wherein the pressing unit [203] consists of a single screw pressing system to extract undiluted crude palm fruit oil from the oil palm loose fruitlets which will be collected from bottom of the outlet [208] of the pressing unit [203] and pressed fibres removed through a separate outlet from the apparatus.

25. The apparatus according to embodiment 24, wherein the undiluted crude palm fruit oil is mixed with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oi 1.

25. The apparatus according to embodiment 24, wherein the diluted crude palm fruit oil is further clarified, centrifuged, purified and dried to produce cold pressed palm fruit oil .

26. The apparatus according to embodiment 25, wherein the cold pressed palm fruit oil is selected from cold pressed palm oil, cold pressed palm oil fraction and combinations thereof when the apparatus operates in a temperature range of between ambient temperature to 60 ^° C.

27. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 26, wherein total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is as low as 0.5ppm 28. The apparatus according to embodiment 27, wherein the total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is preferably in the range of 0.01 .ppm to 10.ppm, and most preferably in the range of 0.1* ppm to 5.0 ppm.

29. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 28, wherein the cold pressed palm fruit oil produced has FFA levels as low as 0.8%.

30. The apparatus according to embodiment 29, wherein the cold pressed fruit oil produced has FFA levels preferably in the range of 0.3 % to 5.0 % and most preferably in the range of between 0.5 % to 3.0 %.

31. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 30, wherein the cold pressed palm oil, cold pressed palm oil fraction and combinations thereof are 3-monochloropropane-l,2-diol (3-MCPD) free.

32. The apparatus according to embodiment 31, wherein the cold pressed palm oil fraction refers to a cold pressed palm olein and a cold pressed palm stearin.

F) Three compartments - to produce cold pressed palm fruit oil

The present invention provides an embodiment as follows:

1. An integrated oil extractor apparatus that is capable of continuously sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets, the apparatus includes a conveyor [200], a sterilisation unit [201], a digestion unit [202] and a pressing unit [203], wherein the sterilisation unit [201] consists of a hopper [204] for entry inlet of the oil palm loose fruitlets, a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a first outlet

[206] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the sterilisation unit [201] ; the digestion unit [202] consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a second outlet

[207] to remove palm fruit oil from bottom end of the digestion unit [202]; the pressing unit [203] is to press the oil palm loose fruitlets and to produce palm fruit oil and the pressing unit [203] consists of a plurality of inlets [205] for a substantially direct and/or indirect steam introduction and a third outlet [208] to remove the palm fruit oil from bottom end of the pressing unit [203] ; and the conveyor [200] to transport the oil palm loose fruitlets continuously from the sterilisation unit [201] to the pressing unit [203] .

2. The apparatus according to embodiment 1, wherein the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] are divided into three compartments.

3. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 2 , wherein the apparatus is a single-stage or multi-stage apparatus.

4. The apparatus according to embodiment 3, wherein the apparatus is preferably a multi-stage apparatus.

5. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein ratio of diameter between the sterilization unit [201] and digestion unit [202] is in range of 1:1 to 10:1.

6. The apparatus according to embodiment 5, wherein the ratio of diameter between the sterilization unit [201] and the digestion unit [202] is preferably in the range of between 5:1 to 5:4 and most preferably in the range of between 4:1 to 4:3.

7. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein ratio of diameter between the digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is in the range of 1:1 to 10:1.

8. The apparatus according to embodiment 7, wherein the ratio of diameter between the digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 5:1 to 5:4 and most preferably in the range of between 4:1 to 4:3.

9. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein the hopper [204] is attached with a control feeding system for a substantially uniform feeding of the oil palm loose fruitlets into the sterilisation unit [201] . 10. The apparatus accordingly to any of embodiments 1 to 9, wherein the first, second and third outlets [206, 207, 208] consist of holes and strai ner .

11. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein the conveyor [200] is a shafted screw conveyor or a shaftless screw conveyor.

12. The apparatus according to embodiment 11, wherein the conveyor [200] is preferably a shaftless screw conveyor.

13. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 12, wherein the conveyor [200] can be controlled in speed range of between 0 rpm to 200 rpm.

14. The apparatus according to embodiment 13, wherein the conveyor [200] can be controlled in the speed range preferably between 2 rpm to 20 rpm and most preferably between 5 rpm to lOrpm.

15. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 14, wherein ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is in range of between 5% to 50% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets.

16. The apparatus according to embodiment 15, wherein the ratio of steam to the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 8% to 20% to the weight of the oil palm loose fruitlets and most preferably in the range of between 10% to 18% to the weight of the oil palm loose f rui tl ets .

17. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 16, wherein speed of the apparatus is in range of between 0.1 to 10 meter/minutes, preferably 0.5 to 5 meter/minutes and most preferably 0.8 to 2 meter/minutes.

18. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 17, wherein sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

19. The apparatus according to embodiment 18, wherein the sterilization of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the sterilization unit [201] is preferably in the range of between 5 minutes to 120 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 15 minutes to 90 minutes.

20. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 19, wherein digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

21. The apparatus according to embodiment 20, wherein the digestion of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the digestion unit [202] is preferably in the range of between 1 minute to 120 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 1 minute to 30 minutes.

22. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 21, wherein pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is in range of between 1 to 240 minutes.

23. The apparatus according to embodiment 22, wherein the pressing of the oil palm loose fruitlets in the pressing unit [203] is preferably in the range of between 3 minutes to 20 minutes and most preferably in the range of between 5 minutes to 10 minutes.

24. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 23, whereby the apparatus operates at a substantially atmospheric pressure.

25. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 24, wherein the apparatus operates in temperature range of between ambient temperature to 200 ^° C.

26. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 25, wherein the pressing unit [203] consists of a single screw pressing system to extract undiluted crude palm fruit oil from the oil palm loose fruitlets which will be collected from bottom of the outlet [208] of the pressing unit [203] and pressed fibres removed through a separate outlet from the apparatus.

27. The apparatus according to embodiment 26, wherein the undiluted crude palm fruit oil is mixed with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oil . 28. The apparatus according to embodiment 27, wherein the diluted crude palm fruit oil is further clarified, centrifuged, purified and dried to produce cold pressed palm fruit oil.

29. The apparatus according to embodiment 28, wherein the cold pressed palm fruit oil is selected from cold pressed palm oil, cold pressed palm oil fraction and combinations thereof when the apparatus operates in a temperature range of between ambient temperature to 60 ^° C.

30. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 29, wherein total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is as low as 0.5ppm

31. The apparatus according to embodiment 30, wherein the total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is preferably in the range of 0.01 ppm to 10 ppm, and most preferably in the range of 0.1 ppm to 5.0 ppm.

32. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 31, wherein the cold pressed palm fruit oil produced has FFA levels as low as 0.8%.

33. The apparatus according to embodiment 32, wherein the cold pressed fruit oil produced has FFA levels preferably in the range of 0.3 % to 5.0 % and most preferably in the range of between 0.5 % to 3.0 %.

34. The apparatus according to any of embodiments 1 to 30, wherein the cold pressed palm oil, cold pressed palm oil fraction and combinations thereof are 3-monochloropropane-l, 2-diol (3-MCPD) free.

35. The apparatus according to embodiment 34, wherein the cold pressed palm oil fraction refers to a cold pressed palm olein and a cold pressed palm stearin.

G) Process using the integrated oil extractor apparatus to produce crude palm fruit oil

The present invention provides an embodiment as follows:

1. An integrated palm oil milling process using an integrated oil extractor apparatus that is capable of continuously sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets, the process including the steps of: a. cleaning the oil palm loose fruitlets until all foreign objects such as trash and dirt are substantially removed; b. sterilizing the oil palm loose fruitlets for a time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce substantially sterilised palm fruits; c. digesting the substantially sterilized palm fruits for a retention time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce substantially digested palm fruits; and d. pressing the substantially digested palm fruits for a time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce pressed palm fruits; whereby palm fruit oil is removed from bottom of the sterilisation unit [201] , digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203] ; and wherein the process operates at a substantially atmospheric pressure and in a temperature range of between ambient temperature to 200 ^° C.

2. The process according to embodiment 1, wherein step (a) is done via dry cleaning and/or wet cleaning.

3. The process according to embodiment 2, wherein the dry cleaning refers to blowing and/or suction with a fan, vibration mechanism through the integrated oil extractor apparatus, using rotation drum with grate and/or holes, siever, and/or mill thresher or any combination thereof.

4. The process according to embodiment 2, wherein the wet cleaning refers to washing of the oil palm loose fruitlets with water in the temperature range of between ambient temperature and 70 ^° C, preferably between the temperature range of between 50 ^° C to 60 ^° C.

5. The process according to embodiment 4, wherein the water used in the wet cleaning process refers to normal processed water, distilled water, reverse osmosis water, effluent treatment plant water, any type of water with the pH levels of between pH 5 to pH 9 (preferably between pH 7 to pH 8) or any combination thereof. 6. The process according to embodiments 4 to 5, wherein the washing of the oil palm loose fruitlets can be done via any means such as submersion, sprinkling, spraying or any combination thereof.

7. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein step (b) is preferably conducted in the time range of between 5 minutes to 120 minutes and most preferably in the time range of between 15 minutes to 90 minutes .

8. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein step (c) is preferably conducted in the time range of between 1 minute to 120 minutes and most preferably in the time range of between 1 minute to 30 mi nutes .

9. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein step (d) is preferably conducted in the time range of between 3 minutes to 20 minutes and most preferably in the time range of between 5 minutes to 10 minutes .

10. The processing according to any of embodiments 1 to 9, wherein undiluted crude palm fruit oil is removed from bottom of the pressing unit [203] and pressed fibres removed through a separate outlet from the apparatus .

11. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein the undiluted crude palm fruit oil is mixed with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oil and further clarified, centrifuged, purified and dried to produce crude palm fruit oil .

12. The process according to embodiment 11, wherein the process operates in temperature range of between 61 ^‘ C to 200”C to produce crude palm oil , crude palm oil fraction and combinations thereof.

13. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 12, wherein total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is as low as 0.5ppm.

14. The process according to embodiment 13, wherein the total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is preferably in the range of 0.01 ppm to 10 ppm, and most preferably in the range of 0.1 ppm to 5.0 ppm. 15. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 14, wherein free fatty acids (FFA) levels of the crude palm fruit oil is as low as 1.5%.

16. The process according to embodiment 15, wherein the crude palm fruit oil produced has FFA levels preferably in the range of 0.5 % to 15.0 % and most preferably in the range of between 1.0 % to 10.0 %.

H) Process using the integrated oil extractor apparatus to produce cold pressed palm fruit oil

The present invention provides an embodiment as follows:

1. An integrated palm oil milling process using an integrated oil extractor apparatus that is capable of continuously sterilising, digesting and pressing oil palm loose fruitlets, the process including the steps of: a. cleaning the oil palm loose fruitlets until all foreign objects such as trash and dirt are substantially removed; b. sterilizing the oil palm loose fruitlets for a time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce substantially sterilised palm fruits; c. digesting the substantially sterilized palm fruits for a retention time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce substantially digested palm fruits; and d. pressing the substantially digested palm fruits for a time period of between 1 to 240 minutes to produce pressed palm fruits; whereby palm fruit oil is removed from bottom of the sterilisation unit [201], digestion unit [202] and pressing unit [203]; and wherein the process operates at a substantially atmospheric pressure and in a temperature range of between ambient temperature to 200 ^" C.

2. The process according to embodiment 1, wherein step (a) is done via dry cleaning and/or wet cleaning.

3. The process according to embodiment 2, wherein the dry cleaning refers to blowing and/or suction with a fan, vibration mechanism through the integrated oil extractor apparatus, using rotation drum with grate and/or holes, siever, and/or mill thresher or any combination thereof.

4. The process according to embodiment 2, wherein the wet cleaning refers to washing of the oil palm loose fruitlets with water in the temperature range of between ambient temperature and 70°C, preferably between the temperature range of between 50 ^" C to 60 ^' C.

5. The process according to embodiment 4, wherein the water used in the wet cleaning process refers to normal processed water, distilled water, reverse osmosis water, effluent treatment plant water, any type of water with the pH levels of between pH 5 to pH 9 (preferably between pH 7 to pH 8) or any combination thereof.

6. The process according to embodiments 4 to 5 , wherein the washing of the oil palm loose fruitlets can be done via any means such as submersion, sprinkling, spraying or any combination thereof.

7. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein step (b) is preferably conducted in the time range of between 5 minutes to 120 minutes and most preferably in the time range of between 15 minutes to 90 minutes .

8. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein step (c) is preferably conducted in the time range of between 1 minute to 120 minutes and most preferably in the time range of between 1 minute to 30 minutes .

9. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein step (d) is preferable conducted in the time range of between 3 minutes to 20 minutes and most preferably in the time range of between 5 minutes to 10 mi nutes .

10. The processing according to any of embodiments 1 to 9, wherein undiluted crude palm fruit oil is removed from bottom of the pressing unit [203] and pressed fibres removed through a separate outlet from the apparatus .

11. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein the undiluted crude palm fruit oil is mixed with dilution water to produce diluted crude palm fruit oil and further clarified, centrifuged, purified and dried to produce cold pressed palm fruit oil.

12. The process according to embodiment 11, wherein the process operates in temperature range of between ambient temperature to 60"C to produce cold pressed palm oil, cold pressed palm oil fraction and combinations thereof.

13. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 12, wherein total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is as low as 0.5ppm.

14. The process according to embodiment 13, wherein the total chlorine content of the undiluted crude palm oil is preferably in the range of 0.01 ppm to 10 ppm, and most preferably in the range of 0.1 ppm to 5.0 ppm.

15. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 14, wherein free fatty acids (FFA) levels of the cold pressed palm fruit oil is as low as 0.8%.

16. The process according to embodiment 15, wherein the cold pressed fruit oil produced has FFA levels preferably in the range of 0.3 % to 5.0 % and most preferably in the range of between 0.5 % to 3.0 %.

17. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 16, wherein the cold pressed palm oil, cold pressed palm oil fraction and combinations thereof are 3-MCPD free.

18. The process according to any of embodiments 1 to 17, wherein the cold pressed palm oil fraction refers to a cold pressed palm olein and a cold pressed palm stearin.

EXAMPLES

Example 1 - Trials on the effect of sterilisation time on oil quality

Tials were conducted using the oil extractor apparatus in Tennamaran Oil Mill where oil palm loose fruits received by the mill were used as the feed for the apparatus. Generally, the oil quality is highly dependable on the feed material (i.e. loose fruits). 250kg of loose fruits were fed into the apparatus and run at batch process to determine the optimum sterilisation time of the apparatus.

The apparatus was set with the following operating parameters for this trial : -

Working Temperature 80 - 90 °C

Working Pressure Atmospheric pressure

Loading capacity 250kg loose fruits per trial

Retention time 10 mins (loading)

45 mins (sterilizing)

15 mins (pressing)

“Retention time” for this present invention refers to the total time taken for the oil palm loose fruitlets to fill up the apparatus of the present invention, sterilization time to heat up the oil palm loose fruitlets and pressing time to extract crude palm oil from the oil palm loose fruitlets.

Results as shown in Table 1.

Table 1

“Kernel moisture” for this example means the moisture content retained in the kernel after going through the sterilization process.

From the results as per Table 1, the mesocarp is conditioned after 30 minutes of sterilisation giving 10.94% oil loss in pressed fibres. However, 45 minutes was taken as optimum sterilisation period taking into consideration of kernel moisture below 22%. Kernel moisture is preferably kept below 23% to facilitate the nut cracking process to ensure the kernel doesnt’t break along during the nut cracking process.

Example 2 - Trials to determine oil quality

“Moisture” for this example refers to the moisture content in the crude palm oil, mesocarp and kernel. “Non-oily solid” for this example refers to the solid particles without oil content which remains after going through hexane extraction analysis.

“Oil loss wet” for this example refers to the content of oil to sample without going through a drying step.

“Oil loss dry” for this example refers to oil content to non-oily solid or dried sample after going through a drying step.

“Kernel moisture” for this example means the moisture content retained in the kernel after going through the sterilization process.

“Palm pressed fibre” or “fibre” for this example refers to the by-product from oil extraction of the oil palm fruits. It is essentially a form of fibre recovered from the pressed oil palm fruits and the pressed oil palm fruits can be referred to as “pressed cake”.

“Steam consumption” for this example refers to steam required for heating up the oil palm loose fruitlets during the sterilization process until the desired kernel moisture of below 22% is obtained.

“Condensate” for this example refers to steam converted to water as an effect of heat exchange between the oil palm loose fruitlets and the steam.

“Pressed fibre quality” for this present invention refers to the composition of the mesocarp and kernel moisture in the nut after the pressing step of the milling process.

The trials were conducted to determine oil quality and mass balance of the oil extractor apparatus. The sterilisation time was controlled at 45 minutes. Pressing time range was controlled in the range of between 15 to 20 minutes.

Figure 6 shows the results of the FFA in settling tank after extraction.

The FFA trend shows a small fluctuation with FFA hovering around 1.95% to 1.99%. This finding indicates that the sterilisation time is sufficient to deactivate oi 1 -spl i tti ng enzyme that causes enzymatic hydrolysis which increases FFA levels in the crude palm oil. Table 2 shows the quality of pressed cake quality from the trials.

Table 2 Some samples were then collected from the trials conducted and evaluated for its chlorine content.

“Total chlorine” for this present invention refers to amount of ion chlorides as present in the crude palm oil.

Results as shown in Table 3.

Table 3 CPO from control showed an average total chlorine content of 6.37ppm, whereas, the CPO as obtained from the apparatus of the present invention had an average total chlorine content of 1.17.

Steam consumption and condensate generated is tabulated in Table 4. Based on the table, an average of 14% of steam per loose fruit is required <i.e. 73kg of steam is required to heat up 506kg of oil palm loose fruits during the sterilization process).

Table 4

Table 5 shows distribution of oil content in various stream during the extraction process from the trials. From the trials in was shown that 45% of the loose fruits is oil and from the extraction, only 35% of the oil extracted out and remaining 10% of the oil (to total loose fruits) remained in pressed cake.

Table 5

Table 6 shows the water balance of the trials. From the trials in was shown that 22% of the loose fruits is oil and from the extraction, only 7% of the moisture extracted out and remaining 16% of the moisture (to total loose fruits) remained in pressed cake.

Table 6 Example 3 - Production of Cold Pressed Palm Oil

Fresh oil palm loose fruits are collected and subjected to a cleaning step to remove trash and/or dirt (Figure 5) before being processed using the apparatus of the present invention.

Process conditions are as follows:-

- Sterilization 60 ^” C for 1 hour

- Digestion <60 ^" C, 15-20 minutes

- Pressing <60°C , 15-20 minutes

- Centrifugation 4,000 rpm, 5 minutes

The results are as follows:

Cold pressed palm oil is 3-MCPD free as there is no refining required.

Example 4 - Trials on the oil extractor apparatus (commercial plant 5 mt/hr system) on the heating time.

Fresh oil palm loose fruits are collected and subjected to a cleaning step to remove trash and/or dirt (Figure 5) before being processed using the apparatus of the present invention.

Trials were conducted using the commercial 5mt/hr oil extractor apparatus (Figure 7) in the Tennamaran Oil Mill where oil palm loose fruits received by the mill are used as the feed for the apparatus. Generally, the oil quality is highly dependable on the feed material (i.e. loose fruits).

2,000 kg to 5,000 kg of loose palm fuits fruits were fed into the apparatus and run at continuous process to determine the optimum sterilisation time of the apparatus. The trials were repeated for 6-8 replication.

The apparatus was set with the following operating parameters for this trial : -

Working Temperature 90 - 99 ^° C

Working Pressure Atmospheric pressure Loading capacity 250kg loose fruits per trial Retention time 22, 30, 40 mins ( variables)

Referring to Figure 8 , results shows that the optimum retention time for the 5 mt/hr oil extractor apparatus is 40 minutes to obtain kernel moisture below 20%.

Exampl e 5 - Tri al s on the extractor for commerci al pl ant 5 mt/hr system - extraction pressure .

Fresh oil palm loose fruits are collected and subjected to a cleaning step to remove trash and/or dirt (Fi gure 5) before being processed using the apparatus of the present invention.

Trials were conducted using the commercial 5mt/hr oil extractor apparatus (Figure 7) in the Tennamaran Oil Mill where oil palm loose fruits received by the mill are used as the feed for the apparatus. Generally, the oil quality is highly dependable on the feed material (i.e. loose fruits).

2,000kg to 5,000 kg of loose oil palm fruitlets were fed into the apparatus and run at a continuous process to determine the optimum sterilisation time of the apparatus. The trial were repeated for 6 to 8 replication.

The apparatus was set with the following operating parameters for this trial : -

Working Temperature 90 - 99 ^° C

Working Pressure 0, 10 bar (variable)

Loading capacity 250kg loose fruits per trial

Retention time 4 mi ns

Referring to Fi gure 9 , it shows the improvement of oil content in mesocarp from 0 bar to 10 bar pressure and the reduction of oil content in mesocarp from 44.80% to 36.07% with reduction efficiency of 19.49%.

Exampl e 6 - Trial s on the pi l ot stai nl ess steel extractor for col d pressed oil qual i ty Fresh oil palm loose fruits are collected and subjected to a cleaning step to remove trash and/or dirt (Figure 5) before being processed using the apparatus of the present invention. This trials were conducted using the pilot stainless steel oil extractor apparatus in the Tennamaram Oil Mill where fresh oil palm loose fruits detached from fresh fruit bunch are used as the feed for the apparatus.

Essentially, the oil quality is highly dependable on the feed material (i .e. loose fruits) .

210kg of loose fruits were fed into the apparatus and run at batch process to determine the optimum FFA quality for cold pressed palm oil. The trials were repeated for 8 to 10 replication. The apparatus was set with the following operating parameters for this trials:-

Working Temperature 60 ^° C

Working Pressure Atmospheric pressure

Loading capacity 210kg loose fruits per trial

Retention time 15-20 mins (Loading)

60 ^° C for 1 hour and 20 minutes (Sterilization)

<60 ^" C, 15-20 minutes (Digestion)

<60”C, 15-20 minutes (Pressing)

Clarifying <60'C, 2 hrs

Centrifugation 4000 rpm, 5 minutes

Vacuum Drying 60 ^° C, 20mbar Vacuum, lhr

The results are inserted into Table 7:

Table 7

Results shows that the parameters of the tested cold pressed palm oil are well below the normal CPO quality.