Sept. 16, 2024

Production of African Palm Oil is a major world-wide industry. Annual production of palm oil runs 70 million metric tons, valued at approximately US$ 60 billion. The leading producers are Indonesia and Malaysia, which account for 85% of the total crop. In the Americas, Ecuador is the leading producer.

The oil is extracted from the fruit growing on palm trees. These berries grow in bunches, similar to grape bunches, but larger. Typical bunches are 20” (half a meter) in diameter. See the photos below.

Once harvested, the fruit is removed from the stems of the bunches by heating and tumbling. That leads us to the subject of this newsletter, EFB’s, Empty Fruit Bunches.

EFB’s are extremely tough fiber. Some residual, lower grade oil can be recovered from them. And the remaining fiber is used as biofuel and compost.

The palm oil producers have boilers. These supply the steam which is used in the oil recovery and production process. It is notable that there is a surplus of EFB because there is more EFB available than is required to satisfy the plant steam requirements.

Working with the Wilhelmena consortium in Malaysia, Vincent Corporation is participating in a project to make use of the surplus EFB. The process being developed involves washing out potassium salt and processing EFB through hydrolyzation. This makes it possible to pelletize the EFB fibers. The “black pellets” are seen in the photo below. Vincent presses are used for easy dewatering prior to the dryer.

Once pelletized, the EFB can be shipped and stored economically. The result is a steady supply of biofuel with excellent combustion properties.

A second, more challenging, application for Vincent screw presses is dewatering fresh, washed EFB. This involves working an extremely abrasive fiber which has very high tensile strength. Designs for abrasion resistant screws, combined with screens designed for superior burst strength, have resulted.

ISSUE #357