AUTOMATIC CRUDE OIL DILUTION CONTROL WITH PREMIUM OIL SEGREGATION USING NEAR INFRARED (NIR) ON-LINE SYSTEM

The clarification operation in a palm oil mill is an important processing step that should be carefully handled with as much care as possible.As the oil loss in the clarification processes is a major source of oil loss in the overall milling operation, there is an urgent need to improve the crude oil dilution control for efficient oil recovery.Currently, there are no reliable methods to maintain the oil to crude oil ratio.As a result, no automatic dilution control is in practice even when mill throughputs are widely fluctuating.The trend to produce crude palm oil with low (<1.5%)free fatty acid (FFA) appears to be increasing among the millers as it commands a premium price in the world markets.In order to meet this demand, it will be worthwhile to use the near infrared (NIR) analyser for rapid analysis of the crude oil.It is also more efficient than the conventional method.Field trial results have shown that the NIR On-line system can be used not only to control the water dilution at an average of 39% to 40% of the crude oil but also to monitor the FFA content below 1.5% for automatic premium oil segregation during the palm oil processing.