FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method for storing and detaching oil palm harvest.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In conventional oil palm milling, fresh fruit bunches (FFB)s are sterilized to cook oil palm fruits, ease detachment fruits from the FFB and to stop free fatty acid (FFA) build-up. Currently, large quantity of steam is used for the sterilization process. The FFBs are cooked using steam at a pressure of 3 bars gauge in horizontal cylindrical autoclaves for about 60- 90 minutes. The process is carried out on a batch basis where the FFB are loaded onto a cage and pushed into the sterilizer. As the FFB is densely packed, prolonged steaming under high pressure is necessary to allow sufficient heating to penetrate to the core of the FFB. Even so, there are some FFBs that are unstripped. Almost half of the steam used is exhausted during the sterilization cycle and the remainder steam ends up as sterilizer condensate and forms part of palm oil mill effluent (POME). The conventional sterilization requires large amount of water to generate steam. It is estimated that for every ton of FFB processed, about 0.6 tonnes of condensate is produced. The large amount of water needed in the conventional crude palm oil processing poses environment concerns. Therefore, there is a need for a process that reduces if not eliminates the water required for palm oil milling.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a novel method of storing and detaching an oil palm harvest. An oil palm harvest can comprise of a fresh fruit bunch (FFB), an FFB cluster or a spikelet. The FFB harvest is deactivated of enzymes responsible for free fatty formation (FFA). FFB harvest is uncooked after deactivating the enzymes responsible for free fatty acid formation. The FFB harvest is stored in an enclosure and air is ventilated into contact with the oil palm harvest. Storing the FFB harvest allows natural detachment of oil palm fruits. Natural detachment is a novel alternative to the conventional sterilization process which uses pressurized steam. This novel method uses less energy, reduces oil loss and results in high quality palm oil with low FFA and less pollution or wastes compared to the conventional sterilization process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As used in this application, singular words should be read as plural and vice versa unless the context clearly and unmistakably states otherwise. For example, the term "an FFB" also includes a plurality of FFBs.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board's (MPOB) standard procedure in palm oil milling is that fresh fruit bunches (FFB)s must be sterilized as soon as possible after harvest. FFBs should be sterilized within 24 hours of receipt and should not exceed 48 hours under normal operation. Steps are also taken to ensure that there is minimal bruising of the FFB during harvesting, carriage and movement to the mills. Any damage to the FFB, during this process will produce detrimental effects. It is the general perception that oil quality will degrade the longer the FFB is stored. Hence, storage of FFB is considered a bad practice because any delay in sterilization will result in low quality oil in terms of high Free Fatty Acid (FFA) and low Deterioration Of Bleachability Index (DOBI).

FFB Clusters

An FFB cluster is a subset of an FFB. It can comprise for example a spikelet, a stalk with several attached spikelets, an FFB split into two halves, spikelet cut into four pieces or an FFB chopped into ten pieces with each piece still connected via fibrous strands to each other. A spikelet is defined as a small spike which holds the inner, middle and outer fruits.

The term "FFB clusters" does not encompass oil palm fruits. The processing of FFB harvest as referred to and claimed herein shall also be construed as including the processing of whole FFBs, FFB clusters and spikelets.

Obtaining FFB Clusters

Optionally, an FFB can be separated into FFB clusters or spikelets. This process can be done with the use of a machinery. For example, one can use a chainsaw to saw an FFB into six unequal parts. Another embodiment of mechanized separation is using a mechanized saw with blades adapted to cut fibrous materials to quickly separate an FFB into clusters. Non-mechanized separation of FFB include manual methods such as using a knife, a machete or an axe to chop, cut or separate the FFB into many pieces. Another example of manual separation is the use of a normal hand saw to saw an FFB in half.

By separating an FFB into clusters, we are usually damaging the FFB's fruits. Damaged fruits should have the enzymes responsible for FFA formation (Here forth referred to as "FFA enzymes") deactivated as soon as possible to limit the rise of FFA. Conversely, we can also deactivate FFA enzymes before damaging the FFB's fruits.

Separating an FFB into spikelets, can be done with minimal to no damage to the fruits. This is because spikelets are cut at the point just before the inner fruits start growing. Spikelets can be separated directly from an FFB or an FFB cluster. An embodiment using machinery to obtain spikelets would be the use of a reciprocating saw to cut off spikelets from the FFB stalk. A manual embodiment uses a chisel and a hammer to manually separate spikelets from the FFB stalk. Yet another embodiment uses a chainsaw to saw the FFB into four pieces. Then, spikelets are cut from the FFB cluster using a knife. The optional step of separating FFB clusters from an FFB can be done any time before, during or after the FFA deactivation step. Compared to FFBs, FFB clusters has a greater contact surface area which will aid the respiration process. Bruising to the FFB also increases ethylene production.

Deactivating Enzymes

FFB harvest are subjected to a step of deactivating the enzymes responsible for the build-up of free fatty acid (FFA). The enzyme deactivation process should be done as soon as possible to limit the degradation of the oil quality. The step of deactivating enzymes is not the same as conventional sterilization. Unlike conventional sterilization, the deactivation of FFA enzymes does not need to cook the FFB harvest. Therefore, the step of FFA enzyme deactivation yields uncooked FFB harvests. Heat is applied just enough to deactivate the FFA enzymes but not cook the FFB harvest. The step of deactivating the FFA enzymes is faster and requires less energy than existing

conventional methods to sterilize and cook an FFB.

To deactivate the FFA enzymes, the FFB harvest are heated to a temperature of at least 50°C. One embodiment administers dry heat using microwaves to heat the FFB harvests which are six FFBs to above 55°C. Another alternative embodiment uses wet heat by steaming FFB clusters for about 5 minutes. Yet another embodiment uses the oven (hot air) to heat the fruits of an FFB to above 60°C. Once the fruit's temperature reaches 60.1°C, heating is immediately halted. Yet another embodiment uses hot water with a temperature of 62°C to soak a spikelet for 10 minutes and deactivate the FFA enzymes.

Substantially Uncooked Substantially uncooked FFB harvests are FFB harvests that are mostly uncooked. Slight cooking can happen for example if FFB harvests are heated longer than required while deactivating FFA enzymes but these fruits are still mostly uncooked. The usage of the term substantially uncooked also includes uncooked FFB harvests as obtained by this disclosure after FFA enzyme deactivation. Substantially uncooked fruits are different to fruits that have gone through the conventional process or the continuous sterilization, which cooks fruits. The conventional and the continuous sterilization process heats up the fruits to 100°C or more with steam to detach and cook the fruits.

Storing Fresh Fruit Bunch harvests

Unlike traditional milling processes, FFB harvests are not processed immediately but stored under ideal conditions. Storing of FFB harvests under ideal conditions preserves the physiological condition and minimizes deterioration to the fruits and oil quality. In addition, ideal storage conditions can hasten natural detachment of oil palm fruits. Natural detachment is a novel alternative to the conventional sterilization which uses pressurized steam. Natural detachment doesn't use any water and has no Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME). Natural detachment also differs from the conventional sterilization because the fruits are substantially uncooked. Natural detachment also uses less energy as well as eliminates oil loss because there is no steam condensate and no oil gets absorbed by the empty bunch. Using pressurized steam of 3 bar increases the temperature to about 135°C. At this high temperature, undesirable chemical reactions can occur such as the formation of 3-MCPD (3-monochloropropane-l,2-diol) and glycidyl esters (GE) which are known carcinogens and genotoxins and are a big issue in the palm oil industry.

Ideal storage of the FFB harvest also reduces deterioration caused by external factors such as fungi, mould, microbial, diseases, parasites and pests such as insects and rats. Mould and fungi will grow where there is stagnant air and a humid environment. Storage is also beneficial, where there is a need to delay processing of palm oil. For example, FFB harvest should be stored properly, if there are more FFBs than can be handled by the mill's capacity or if there is a huge backlog of FFBs. Other factors such as shortage of labour or a low crude palm oil(CPO) pricing may favour deferring the extraction of palm oil until a later date. FFB harvests can be stored in any combination. One embodiment stores ten ripe FFBs, eight FFBs separated into FFB clusters and six FFBs separated into spikelets in the same ripening chamber. Enclosure

An enclosure is something that encloses such as a box, a steel drum, a box pallet, a 20-foot container, an enclosing polymeric film, an amorphous plastic bag, a room or a chamber. The enclosure can be constructed with insulating materials such as fibreglass, polyurethane or other insulating materials to prevent heat transfer and conserve energy. The enclosure covers all sides and can be modular. The enclosure doesn't have to be fully air-tight, but merely create an environment which is favourable for storage. When gasses such as oxygen, carbon dioxide or ethylene are used, it is preferable to have a

substantially air-tight enclosure to reduce the cost of maintaining the desired gas levels in that enclosure. A mobile unit is any enclosure that has mobility characteristics. An example of a mobile unit is a cold-storage lorry which carries perishables. Another embodiment of a mobile unit is a 20-foot container towed by a lorry. The enclosure can be located in an oil palm estate or within a few kilometres away. By having it within the vicinity of an estate, the FFA enzymes can be deactivated sooner to yield oil with low FFA. Additionally, having an enclosure close to the estate also reduces transportation costs.

Plant Senescence

FFB harvest follows a natural biological aging process called plant senescence. From ripening to senescence, the FFB harvest will shed fruits and start decaying. Under proper conditions, all fruits will eventually loosen or detach from an FFB harvest and this process is a function of time. Several catalysts can hasten this loosening and detachment process. Storing the FFB harvest under ideal conditions will not only hasten the natural detachment process but will also minimize the negative effects caused by plant senescence. The aim is to preserve fruit quality until the palm oil extraction process.

FFB harvest are living tissues and will undergo respiration. Higher respiration rates advance the FFB harvest towards senescence. Respiration rates are influenced by several factors such as temperature, oxygen, relative humidity, carbon dioxide and so on. Oil palm harvests naturally secrete ethylene when they are ripe. Ethylene is a plant hormone regulating fruit ripening by coordinating the expression of genes that are responsible for a variety of processes, including a rise in respiration. Ethylene can optionally be introduced or synthesized by external sources such as with the use of an ethylene generator or with phosphonic acid. (Ethephon or 2-Chloroethylphosphonic acid) Adding external sources of ethylene is optional because ripening will occur on its own without any external intervention. Ventilated Air

An ideal storage of FFB harvest has ventilated air. Ventilated air is the

replacement of stale air with fresh air. Ventilated air regulates plant respiration as well as reduce growth of decay organisms such as mould especially when the environment is damp and warm. Ventilated air also regulates heat that is released by respiration and ensures there are optimum levels of oxygen. Fresh air introduced by the ventilation process is circulated within the enclosure. Air circulation is the movement of air within the enclosure. An embodiment uses a blower that circulates air around the FFB harvests at low speeds. Another embodiment uses natural ventilation by having planned openings that take advantage of diffusion, wind pressure, or the stack effect to introduce and circulate fresh air within the enclosure.

Adequate provisions should be made to ensure that the oil palm harvest has sufficient contact with ventilated air. This can be done for example, by having sufficient space between spikelets. Spikelets that are spread out has an increased exposed surface area to ventilated air. Another embodiment spreads out FFB clusters so that the clusters are about 20cm apart and are not clumped together. FFB harvests can also have sufficient contact with ventilated air by moving it to another enclosure with fresh air. An embodiment would include storing spikelets in an air tight plastic bag for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the spikelets are moved into a substantially sealed steel drum. The spikelets are again moved after 24 hours to a box pallet.

The introduction of fresh air does not have to be a continuous process. Ventilation of fresh air can be done on an intermittent basis. Ventilation intervals can vary depending on the situation and can be several minutes, hours or days. For example, one

embodiment has five FFB clusters spread out evenly in a 1 cubic metre plastic thermal insulated box that is substantially air tight. After 36 hours, the top of the plastic box is opened. The FFB clusters are left in the same box without a top for a further 48 hours to make sure ventilated air comes into contact with the FFB clusters. Another embodiment is a ripening room which vents air periodically every 12 hours using an extractor fan.

Another common way of ventilating involves opening the doors to the ripening room for 15 minutes every 6 to 8 hours. The venting of air can be done automatically using sensors. An embodiment would be a ripening room which has carbon dioxide sensors. When carbon dioxide exceeds 0.7%, a ripening room management system automatically vents the indoor air and obtains fresh air from outside. Fresh air can also come from a gas source such as from a pressurized nitrogen gas tank or from an oxygen generator. Once harvested, an FFB harvest will continuously lose water to a point where quality will be affected. A small amount of water loss may accelerate ripening if the FFB harvest is in the process of respiration. When ventilating, be careful not to have excessive air circulation around the FFB harvest. An excessive air circulation will evaporate an undue amount of water from the FFB harvest. This will reduce the water content of the oil palm harvest and affect the quality. An example of excessive air circulation is putting an FFB cluster under a direct fan running at about 500 revolutions per minute for 12 hours.

Temperature

Reducing the FFB harvest temperature slows metabolism and respiration. Low

temperature slows the rate of ripening and senescence of the FFB harvest and thus prolongs its storage life. Low temperature also slows the development of any decay by hindering microbial growth and mould. Conversely, by increasing the temperature, respiration will increase. Increasing the temperature is used when we require a faster detachment of fruits. Regulating the temperature is optional.

Relative Humidity

Relative humidity, expressed as a percent, is a measure of the amount of water vapor that air is holding compared the amount it can hold at a specific temperature. Warm air can possess more water vapor (moisture) than cold air. A relative humidity of 50% means the air on that day at a specific temperature holds 50% of water needed for the air to be saturated. Saturated air has a relative humidity of 100%. A high relative humidity slows respiration as well as prevent water loss from an FFB. A high relative humidity is recommended for long storage of FFB harvest to prevent water loss. A low relative humidity encourages respiration. Having a low relative humidity also impedes growth of mould and fungi. Relative humidity can be lowered with the use of a de-humidifier or with desiccants such as silica gel. An embodiment that uses relative humidity is putting ten FFBs that have been deactivated of FFA enzymes into a room. This room has a heater which heats the room temperature to 42°C. A dehumidifier reduces the relative humidity of the room to less than 50%. Air is ventilated at a slow rate. This is to conserve energy from heating and dehumidifying the fresh air coming into the room. Regulating relative humidity is optional.

Oxygen Respiration requires oxygen. Reducing the amount of oxygen in the air slows down respiration while having enough oxygen ensures that respiration is optimum. Increasing oxygen levels slightly increases respiration. Oxygen can be generated using oxygen generators, introduced from oxygen gas tanks or replenished from ventilated air. An embodiment continuously monitors and releases oxygen from a gas tank to increase the oxygen volume in a ripening room to at least 23%. Monitoring and regulating the levels of oxygen is optional.

Carbon Dioxide

High levels of carbon dioxide slow down respiration while low levels ensure that respiration is optimum. During the respiration process, carbon dioxide is emitted.

Respiration slows down when the carbon dioxide levels in the air exceeds 5% by volume. Carbon dioxide can be reduced with carbon dioxide scrubbers, displaced by pumping nitrogen into the enclosure or by venting air. Some examples of carbon dioxide scrubbers are carbon dioxide absorbing machines that are used in spacecraft, zeolites, activated charcoal and calcium hydroxide. An embodiment to remove carbon dioxide is using a container to store spikelets that have been deactivated of FFA enzymes. The ambient temperature inside the container is heated to 45°C. Sodium hydroxide is put inside the container to absorb carbon dioxide. Monitoring and regulating the levels of carbon dioxide is optional.

Air Pressure

An elevated pressure is any pressure that is above normal atmospheric pressure. Having an elevated pressure in an enclosure increases gas penetration. This is useful when using the plant hormone ethylene. Furthermore, having a pressurized room will make it easier to ventilate air as air will flow outward from the enclosure. An embodiment using elevated pressure is a refrigerated unit which uses a pressure regulator that turns on pressure fans to increase the pressure inside the unit to 1.3 bar. The regulation of pressure is optional.

Recommended Configurations

Table 1 shows various embodiments illustrating the concepts discussed. The ambient configuration leaves the FFB harvest to detach naturally in an enclosure with ventilated air. Using the ambient configuration as a baseline, the fast configuration hastens FFB harvest respiration. The slow configuration detaches in a slow controlled manner. The slow configuration may be faster than the ambient configuration due to the variability of ambient temperature and relative humidity. As all fruits will eventually loosen or detach from an FFB harvest under proper conditions, each these optional parameters of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, oxygen, carbon dioxide and ethylene can be individually configured to get an outcome somewhere between the fast and slow recommended configurations to suit the circumstances required. For example, we can increase only oxygen levels to 25% in an embodiment while leaving all other factors unchanged. Another embodiment reduces relative humidity to 45% while leaving all other factors unchanged. Another embodiment uses 60% relative humidity, 22% oxygen and 250ppm of ethylene in a pressurized ventilated environment while leaving all other factors unchanged.

Recommended operating temperatures are from 10°C to 45°C. FFB harvest exposure times to high or low temperatures should be short if you choose to exceed the recommended temperatures as you may end up chilling or cooking the fruits.

Table 1 - Recommended configurations for FFB harvest

Although it can be understood that each of the parameters are optional, using a low temperature is the preferred parameter to store and detach the FFB harvest. A low temperature not only slows down respiration, it also retards microbial growth.

Ripening Room

A ripening room is a chamber or room which has a controlled atmosphere that encourages fruit ripening. Concentrations of oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, as well as the temperature or humidity of a storage room are regulated. There is many equipment to achieve these outcomes. A ripening may have a heater, a refrigeration unit, an exhaust fan, an air-circulation blower, a carbon dioxide scrubber, an oxygen source, an insulated panel, a humidifier or a dehumidifier. It can also have a computerized control system (atmosphere control unit) with sensors to monitor and automatically regulate parameters for optimum ripening. Sensors use a range of measurement technology such as infrared absorption to detect parameters such as carbon dioxide, oxygen and so on.

Ripe Fresh Fruit Bunch

FFBs should be harvested when they are ripe. Ripe FFBs can be harvested according to acceptable industry ripeness standards or MPOB grading manual. However, due to differences in management, standard operating procedures and other factors, FFB of different ripeness are harvested. For this disclosed method, ripe FFBs are preferred. Using unripe and over-ripe will also produce the same results as all fruits will eventually loosen or detach from an FFB harvest over time. Unripe FFBs will take a long time for detachment and should be avoided. Generally, the riper the FFB, the faster is its natural detachment process. Consequently, fruits will detach at different time intervals. A first in first out basis for detached fruits should be implemented to maintain the quality of the fruits.

Segregation of Fruits

FFB consists of outer, middle and inner fruits. Each of the tiers have different characteristics. The outer fruits have a high Deterioration Of Bleachability Index (DOBI) and carotene content while the inner fruit has a lesser DOBI and carotene content. Outer, middle and inner fruits loosen at detach at different times. Outer fruits will loosen or detach first followed by middle and inner fruits. Outer fruits are generally the first batch of fruits to be collected. These three fruit types can be segregated to obtain different grades of oil. An embodiment collects only the outer fruits that normally detaches after 24 hours from spikelets. Another embodiment collects fruits after 24, 48 and 36 hours. Each of those collected intervals are processed separately to yield different grades of oil.

Mould Growth

Mould growth can be prevented with ventilated air, low temperatures, low relative humidity or any combination thereof. Under ideal storage, detached fruits obtained from this disclosure will be substantially free of mould. The term "substantially free of mould" also includes having no mould.

The following are examples to illustrate this new process and to teach one skilled in the art the concepts and ramifications. These examples are not meant to limit the scope of the invention in any way. Example 1

A preferred embodiment uses a 1000 cubic metre room as an enclosure. This room has several roof suction fans to vent air to the outside. Several floor-height and wall-heights fans to suck air into the room. There are blowers within the room positioned at several key points to circulate air inside the room. Air will come in through the floor-height and wall-heights fans, circulate inside the room and get vented out through the roof. The air is exchanged at one room volume (1000 cubic metre) every 6 hours. The temperature and humidity is unregulated and follows its immediate surroundings. Twenty ripe FFBs are heated to a temperature of 53°C in a heated chamber to deactivate FFA enzymes. This heating process takes about 30 minutes. After heating, these twenty FFBs are split into spikelets using a mechanized chisel. The spikelets are then transferred from the chamber to the 1000 cubic meter room. These spikelets will have natural detachment within 10 days and are collected using a thresher to separate fruits from the spikelets. As there is sufficient air exchange, there is no need to attend to oxygen, carbon dioxide and other gasses in this room.

Example 2

In a preferred embodiment, a ripe FFB is cut into spikelets with a reciprocating saw. Care is taken to prevent any damage to the oil palm fruits while cutting. The spikelets are then brought into a 27-cubic metre storage room and arranged neatly on multi-layered mesh racks. This room has constant ventilation. A de-humidifier maintains the relative humidity to less than 50%. The room is then heated with an electric heater to bring the room temperature to about 55°C for 30 minutes. The spikelets are inspected after 30 minutes to see if the fruits have been heated up to above 50°C. If the fruits have not been heated to above 50°C, the room temperature is kept at about 55°C and the fruits are inspected every 5 minutes until the temperature of the fruits are above 50°C. After the FFB enzymes have been deactivated, the room temperature is subsequently lowered to 35°C. Throughout this process, there is constant ventilation in the room to make sure the air doesn't become stale. Relative humidity for the room is also monitored that it is less than 50%. Any temporary fluctuations above 40°C and above the relative humidity of 50% is acceptable. The spikelets are left in this room for about 7 days or until they detach. After 7 days or when detached, the detached fruits are collected and processed to extract palm oil.

Example 3 An FFB has its FFA enzymes deactivated by heating it with hot air in a heated chamber at 60°C for 20 minutes and subsequently soaked in hot water of 50°C for 10 minutes. This FFB is moved to a ventilated room. A hook is attached to its stalk and the FFB is hung on a rail and suspended in mid-air. This allows circulation to the fruits. Relative humidity of the room is decreased to 70°C or less with a de-humidifier and carbon dioxide is maintained at less than 0.05% with a carbon dioxide scrubber. The FFB is left to detach naturally over 7 days.

Example 4

Two ripe FFBs are crushed with a palm oil splitter as used in the continuous sterilization process under a temperature of 70°C. These FFB clusters are exposed long enough to deactivate the FFA enzymes but not cook the fruits. These FFB clusters are then put into an air-tight 210 litre steel drum. The FFB clusters are put over several layers on stackable mesh stands inside the steel drum to ensure adequate air circulation between the clusters. Manganese (IV) oxide and hydrogen peroxide are mixed in a container and put in the steel drum before it is closed. This steel drum is left outside in the shade for 36 hours. The steel drum will trap oxygen produced by the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. After 36 hours, the lid of the steel drum is open to ventilate the air. A mini fan is mounted on top of the steel drum to ventilate air into the steel drum as well as circulate air inside. The inside of the steel drum will be wet due to moisture emitted by the respiration of the ripe FFB clusters. Air circulation and a hot climate will cause the moisture inside the steel drum to evaporate. A dry cloth is used to remove the water inside the steel drum if there is too much water or if the evaporation is not fast enough. The steel drum with adequate air ventilation is left aside for 7 days. After 7 days, fruits will have detached from the FFB clusters. The stackable mesh stands are removed layer by layer and the fruits are collected for further processing.

Example 5

In a preferred embodiment, a ripe FFB is cut into spikelets with a handheld mini-circular saw. These spikelets are then deactivated of their FFA enzymes with hot air and care is made sure that the spikelets are substantially uncooked. The spikelets are then moved to an air tight insulated room which has a controlled atmosphere. Ethylene is pumped into the room until 500 parts per million (ppm) and kept at this level. The room temperature is reduced to 22°C. Relative humidity of the room is kept high at 85% to 95% with a humidifier. Oxygen levels are kept elevated at 25% with an oxygen generator that switches on should the levels fall below 25%. Carbon dioxide in the room is kept at less than 1%. When the carbon dioxide levels go above 1%, the air inside the room is ventilated until the carbon dioxide levels in the air drops to 0.05%. At the same time, the relative humidity, oxygen and ethylene levels are replenished to their respective levels. Air in the room is periodically vented every 24 hours. The spikelets are kept in this controlled atmosphere room until fruits have been detached. There is no mould growth despite high humidity because air is ventilated and the temperature is kept low. This room is located in an oil palm plantation.

Example 6

Clusters are cut from an FFB with a chainsaw. These FFB clusters are then deactivated of their FFA enzymes using microwaves and care is made sure that the spikelets are substantially uncooked. These clusters are put in a 20-foot shipping container which is ventilated with exhaust fans. A de-humidifier reduces the relative humidity to less than 65% and an oxygen generator maintains a minimum volume of 24% oxygen. The temperature follows its surroundings. This 20-foot container is towed by a lorry to different plantations.

Example 7

A preferred embodiment obtains spikelets from an FFB. This is done using a vibrating blade to cut the spikelets as close as possible to the stalk. There is minimal to no damage to the fruits. These spikelets are put in a heated container to heat the spikelets and fruits to a temperature of 55°C. Once the fruit's temperature reaches 55°C, the heating is stopped. The heating process should take about 15 minutes. Once the FFA enzymes are deactivated, the spikelets are put into a ripening room. The ripening room has a controlled atmosphere that is monitored automatically with sensors. The oxygen, carbon dioxide, humidity and temperature are regulated. Spikelets are placed evenly on multi- layered racks and spaced out such that they are not densely packed. There are fans in the room to circulate air and each spikelet has ample exposure to circulated air. Oxygen levels are kept at greater than 22% of the air volume. Carbon dioxide levels are kept at less than 0.5%. At any time, these levels deviate from those values, the ripening room automatically vents air until oxygen and/or carbon dioxide are back within their respective values. A dehumidifier keeps the relative humidity at less than 65%. The dehumidifier also automatically turns on if values go higher than 65%. An ethylene generator pumps into the room and kept at 200ppm. Should ethylene levels drop below 200ppm, it is replenished from the generator. For the first 24 hours, the ripening room's temperature is kept at about 40°C. After 24 hours, the temperature is dropped to 18°C and ethylene levels are no longer maintained at 200ppm. All other parameters remain unchanged (Oxygen at greater than 22%, carbon dioxide at less than 0.5% and relative humidity at less than 65%). Spikelets in the room are detached within 4 to 7 days by passing it through a thresher.

Example 8

A substantially sealed room has an ambient temperature of 60°C maintained by a wall heater. An FFB is brought into the room and separated into FFB clusters using a long sharp knife. Separating the FFB into clusters in a heated environment performs the FFB cluster separation and deactivation of the FFA enzymes simultaneously. After the FFB has been separated into clusters, these clusters are put on shelves. The temperature of the room is cycled from 22°C to 38°C and relative humidity is cycled from 95% to 50% with a computerized atmosphere controller to mimic normal changes in an outdoor environment.

Example 9

Two FFBs of different ripeness were cut into spikelets using a vibrating saw. An oven was pre-heated to 55°C. Each of these spikelets were put in the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes and FFA enzymes were deactivated. The spikelets were left in a well-ventilated room which had an extractor fan that continuously vented air to the outside. A fan was run at low speeds to circulate air within the room. The temperature and relative humidity was based on its immediate surroundings. Temperature increased during the day and decreased at night. Every 24 hours, the room door was opened for about 15 minutes to further introduce fresh air into the room. Spikelets were inspected every day for fruit detachment and for mould. Spikelets which had loosened fruits were dropped from a height of about 1 metre to a hard floor to detach fruits. Any un-detached fruits from the spikelet were further loosened and picked individually with fingers by various twisting actions. If the fruits were unable to be picked with fingers, they were returned to the room and stored. After 8 days, all fruits were successfully detached from the spikelets. Outer fruits were detached first followed by middle and inner fruits. The outer fruits were segregated and extracted for palm oil and a small sample were sent to a laboratory for analysis. The sample had an FFA of 1.19% and a Deterioration of Bleachability Index (DOBI) of 3.78. All detached fruits from this trial were substantially free of mould.

Example 10 Four spikelets were cut from an FFB using a vibrating saw. These spikelets were put in a Memmert digital oven for 30 minutes at a temperature of 55.0°C to deactivate FFA enzymes. After 30 minutes, the spikelets were put in an air-tight plastic container together with small packets of activated ethrel (Ethephon). These activated ethrel released gaseous ethylene over time. The container was put in the Memmert digital oven and heated to 40.0°C. After 12 hours, the container was removed from the oven. The top of the air-tight plastic container was removed to ventilate air to the spikelets. Ethylene was detected to be about 150ppm with an ethylene gas measurer. The opened container was left outside for 10 minutes before being sealed and placed back in the Memmert oven heated at 40.0°C. Every 4 hours thereafter, the process of ventilating the container for 10 minutes was repeated. After 24 hours, fruits were detached from the spikelets by knocking it against a hard object and separated individually by hand. All fruits were successfully detached and these fruits had no mould. This test was repeated with the same settings for different temperatures at 35.0°C, 38.0°C, 42.0°C, 45.0°C and the same fruit detachment results were obtained within 24 hours.

Example 11

Three spikelets were cut from an FFB with a reciprocating blade. These spikelets were deactivated of FFA enzymes in an oven heated to 55.0°C for 30 minutes. These spikelets were put in an air-tight plastic container together with small packets of activated ethrel (Ethephon). The container was kept in a refrigeration unit with regulated temperature of 24.9°C and a relative humidity of 85%. After 24 hours, ethylene was detected around 300ppm with an ethylene gas measurer. The container was opened and spikelets were twisted by hand and dropped to the floor from the height of 1 metre to detach fruits. The spikelets were then left to air outside for 10 minutes before being returned to the refrigeration unit. This detachment process and ventilation process was repeated every 24 hours. All fruits were detached from the spikelets after six days. These fruits had no mould. Another test was repeated at a temperature of 10.0°C, and full fruit detachment was obtained in 20 days.