ISSUE NO. 116 (July - Sept.

2015)

Engineering Bulletin #102

front cover

LEMBAGA MINYAK SAWIT MALAYSIA ISSN 1511-9734

MALAYSIAN PALMPALM
OIL O
BOARD
IL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 1
KEMENTERIAN PERUSAHAAN PERLADANGAN DAN KOMODITI MALAYSIA
MINISTRY OF PLANTATION INDUSTRIES AND COMMODITIES, MALAYSIA
Website: www.mpob.gov.my
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2 PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116

 Editorial

T
CONTENTS

Editorial 1 he articles in this issue are

specifically written to bring the
TRAINING AND SEMINARS attention of the millers and the
MPOB Training Programme 2015 7
mill owners to the future trends that are
8 likely to dominate the thinking of those
MPOB Conferences and Seminars 2015
involved in the palm oil industry. Let us
FEATURE ARTICLES look at the current scenario faced by the
Thermodynamics Applied to Palm Oil nation. The on-going declining prices of
Milling 11 the crude palm oil is causing some concern
in the minds of some of the investors who
Evolution of Boilers in Palm Oil Mills 21 have invested heavily in this industry
based on the input from the whispering
TITBITS 47
gallery. Malaysian millers working in
Indonesia do not seem to be comfortable
DATASHEET
Glimpses of Oil Palm History 35 years ago with the falling price of palm oil that has
55 hit below RM 2000 per tonne level. There is
a close link between the prices of fossil fuel
and palm oil when palm biodiesel emerged
its head. The shale gas production rate is
reported to be slashed but the crude oil
producers do not seem to be keen to reduce
production. Ringgit’s declining value is
cause for concern and this raise up the big
question mark on the fate of the industry.
EDITORIAL BOARD In order to overcome the current
Chairperson problems, we need new thinking or
Datuk Dr Choo Yuen May a paradigm shift to prevent a similar
situation causing serious chokage to our
Members national income. Malaysia needs an exit
Dr Ahmad Kushairi Din
Dr Lim Weng Soon strategy, a strategy that can muffle the
Ab Aziz Md Yusof impact of external factors on national
interests. If as explained in the article of
Secretary this issue we concentrate on renewable
Ir N Ravi Menon
energy (RE) power production not for
Malaysian Palm Oil Board grid-based export, we do not need that, but
Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities, another lucrative industry within the mill
Malaysia complex that takes power from the mill. It
6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia. can be an unrelated industry that uses say
Tel: 603-8769 4400 5 to 8 MW and it produces merchandise
Fax: 603-8925 9446 that is unaffected by the price of fuel oil
Website: www.mpob.gov.my or palm oil. A good example is electronic
© Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 2015 and electric products which are not only
All rights reserved. not perishable but unaffected by the price
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a of fossil fuel or crude palm oil prices. All
retrieval system, in any form or by any means, electronic, such items can be listed under exit strategy
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher. by our ministry and mills encouraged to
take them up with widest distributions so
Products and services advertised in this that more products are distributed as back-
Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin do not
connote endorsement by MPOB.
see page 2

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 1

 from page 1
up merchandise. These merchandise should
not be perishable but must have a ready
market. If all the palm oil mills have an exit
strategy they will never have to worry and
Malaysia can flood the foreign markets with
exit strategy products similar to China. It is
impossible to fail in this type of venture.
In any industry there must be an exit
strategy especially palm oil industry. Its
trump card is the ability to produce power
and availability of land for the factory that
can be anything under the sun as long as it
is non-perishable having a local or a global
market. The industry is invited to give
us their feedback on the viability of the
proposed strategy.

CALL FOR ARTICLES

Personnel of the palm oil mills are invited to send in articles of relevance to the palm oil industry in
Malaysia for publication in Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin. By sharing your expertise you will be
helping the industry and the nation as a whole. The topics of interest are:

1. Plant modifications done in your mill that resulted in improvements in milling operation or main-
tenance.

2. Innovations done in your mill that produced improvements in the operation of the mill and that
you are willing to share them with others.

3. Any special work done in your mill that directly resulted in improvements in OER and product
quality.

Please submit your article to us and we shall be pleased to publish them in Palm Oil Engineering
Bulletin. Feel proud to have your articles published in this Bulletin that is circulated throughout the
industry and MPOB offices worldwide.

2 PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116

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Training & Seminars

MPOB TRAINING PROGRAMME 2015

Code
Title Date Venue
No.
A COURSES
1 OIL PALM
A1.1 Kursus Kemahiran Menggred
Buah Sawit
Wilayah Utara 4 – 6 Ogos Legend Inn Hotel,
Taiping, Perak
Wilayah Tengah 17 – 19 Ogos Melang Inn Hotel, Kuala Pilah,
Negeri Sembilan
Wilayah Sabah 8 – 10 Sep MB Hotel, Tawau, Sabah
Wilayah Timur 20 – 22 Okt Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu
Wilayah Sarawak 27 – 29 Okt RH Hotel, Sibu, Sarawak
Wilayah Selatan 3 – 5 Nov Segamat, Johor
A1.2 Kursus Operator Mekanisasi
Ladang (KOML)
Tahap 3 Okt (5 month) PLASMA Keratong, Pahang
A1.3 Kursus Pengurusan dan
Penyelenggaraan Nurseri Sawit
Bil. 4: Wilayah Utara 25 – 26 Ogos Sungai Petani, Kedah
Bil. 5: Wilayah Tengah 20 – 21 Okt Puteri Resort Ayer Keroh,
Melaka
2 PALM OIL
A2.1 Diploma in Palm Oil Milling
Technology & Management (DIPOM)
Examination 7 – 8 Sep MPOB HQ
th
A2.2 The 29 MPOB Oil Palm Products
Surveying Course 26 – 30 Oct Shah Alam, Selangor
th
A2.3 The 28 MPOB Oil Palm Products
Surveying Examination Dec* *

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 7

 Training & Seminars

A2.4 Kursus Penyelia Kilang Sawit 21 – 25 Sep

Plasma, Lahad Datu, Sabah
Peperiksaan 23 Nov
A2.5 Kursus Asas Rawatan Tertiari
Efluen Sawit
Wilayah Semenanjung 3 – 5 Nov Plasma Keratong, Pahang
Wilayah Sarawak 19 – 21 Okt Sarawak
A2.6 Margarine Course * MPOB HQ
A2.7 Kursus Drebar Enjin 2 – 6 Nov PLASMA Lahad Datu, Sabah
A2.8 Kursus Penyelia Bengkel Kilang Sawit 8 – 16 Nov MPOB HQ
B MPOB CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS
B1.1 PIPOC 2015 6 – 8 Oct KLCC, Kuala Lumpur

Note: *To be confirmed.

For enquiry or further information, please contact:

HRD & Conference Management Unit

Tel. No. : 03-8769 4400 ext. 4865, 4860, 4867
Fax No. : 03-8925 7549
E-mail : rubaah@mpob.gov.my
MPOB’s website : www.mpob.gov.my

All information are correct as at press time.

8 PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116

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Feature Article
Thermodynamics Applied to Palm Oil Milling
N Ravi Menon*
M
INTRODUCTION
ost of the mill engineers, in
particular the mechanical
engineers, may be quite familiar
with the engineering thermodynamics
associated with the biomass fired boilers
that they operate daily in a palm oil mill. The
heat content in the biomass fuel expressed
usually as the calorific value is transferred
to the water in a boiler to generate the steam
which in turn operates the steam turbine
wheels when undergoing an approximate
isentropic expansion. As the alternator
is coupled to the turbine shaft through a
gear box, it can generate electricity that is
sufficient to operate all the mill machinery
as well as the domestic supplies if worker’s
quarters is located nearby.
As the energy produced is from
biomass, the mill operation is completely
powered by renewable energy (RE).
Palm oil mills had been (say for the past
100 years) and still are processing fruit
bunches using the self-generated RE. The
staff and worker’s quarters and in some
* Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail: nravi@mpob.gov.my
PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116
cases the estate worker’s quarters also use
the RE generated by the mill, so RE is not
something new for the palm oil industry.
The palm oil mills also have diesel operated
power plants as a back-up for use during
non-processing hours for security lighting,
office equipment, workshop operation
and domestic consumption. The diesel
generator set load is considerably low
compared to the full load demand during
processing hours that may vary from 1 to
1.5 MW in a mill capable of processing 60 t
fresh fruit bunches (FFB) per hour (usually
called 60 tph mill).
The RE is also known as green energy.
Many people seem to be confused with
the term RE. When the by-products of
the processing operation like the biomass
are burnt, it still produces identical
carbon dioxide (CO2) that the fossil fuels
produces when combusted. It is exactly
the same molecule having one carbon
atom combined with two oxygen atoms. It
certainly does not exhibit green colour and
its greenhouse gas (GHG) impact on the
environment will remain exactly the same
as that being generated by other means.
It will be helpful to emphasis this because
some non-technical decision-makers
seem to think that the CO2 released by the
11
 Feature Article
combustion of biomass and fossil fuel have
different molecular structure!
The biomass has heat energy which
we do not feel when we touch them. The
heat value of a biomass can be easily
ascertained using calorimeters. There are
many types of calorimeters known as
solution calorimeter, differential scanning
calorimeter (DSC), titration calorimeter,
gas calorimeter and reaction calorimeter
for different applications. But generally for
evaluating the calorific values of biomass
a bomb calorimeter is used. In a bomb
calorimeter made of a steel chamber, a
small sample of the fuel is combusted in
an atmosphere of oxygen at high pressure.
The steel chamber is immersed in another
closed chamber containing water so that the
heat can be absorbed by the water during
the complete combustion of the sample of
the fuel. During the combustion process,
the chamber pressure and temperature
may reach very high values and as such
the chamber must be able to withstand the
required conditions.
The calorific values of raw biomass is
very much lower than that of fossil fuels
like coal as for example, the moisture
content of empty fruit bunches (EFB) can
be as high as 70% and that of fibre which
has about 40% moisture. Reduction of the
moisture content of 15 t of EFB from 70%
to 30% by drying would entail evaporation
of 6 t of water per hour at atmospheric
pressure. As the enthalpy of evaporation
(latent heat) at atmospheric pressure is 2258
kJ kg-1, the drying of EFB to make it a usable
fuel will need approximately 13.5 MJ of
heat per hour! This factor alone will make
EFB one of the worst fuels in the world.
The cost of transportation of the water in
the EFB will not make it financially viable
if we consider transporting the EFB from
several mills to a central power station
for grid connected power generation. The
relevant authorities or investors, who want
to venture into power generation using
EFB, should consider these crucial issues
as they may only focus on the mass of EFB
12 PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116
available rather than its heat content. Some
of the salient points associated with palm
oil biomass-based power generation as
compared to conventional power stations
are discussed in this article.
POWER PLANTS IN POWER
STATIONS vs. PALM OIL MILLS
There is a vast difference between the heat
content of palm oil biomass and the fossil
fuel that is used in power plants belonging
to the Tenaga National Berhad (TNB) or
Independent Power Plants (IPP). Although
the palm oil mill power plant (POMPP) may
look like a toy when compared to the TNB
or IPP, the fundamental principles of power
generation remains very much the same
except perhaps the palm oil mill managers
have a much wider scope of responsibilities
than just operating the power plant.
As I had the opportunity to work in both
the Lembaga Letrik Negara (LLN) now
renamed as TNB thermal power stations
and the palm oil mills, I may be in a position
to draw some comparisons between the
two systems based on my specific scope of
work. This is purely a subjective discourse
based on my experience with events that
took place about half a century back in time
at LLN and the current experience in the
palm oil mills. Some of the comparative
responsibilities of a mill manager and a
station superintendent are given in Table 1.
Mill Manager’s Responsibilities
As can be seen in Table 1, the mill
managers have a number of additional
responsibilities compared to their
counterparts in power plants. The palm oil
millers use the steam not only for power
generation but for processing the crop as
well. The operational system comprises an
assortment of processing stages before the
final product is ready for shipping. Most of
the miller’s time and energy are focussed
on refining the processing techniques
as the product quality is an important
target for marketability of the products.
 Feature Article

TABLE 1. RESPONSIBILITIES OF PALM OIL MILL MANAGERS AND POWER STATION

SUPERINTENDENTS

No. Events Palm oil mills National electricity board

1 Overall in charge Mill manager Station superintendent
2 Wages computation/payment Mill manager Chief clerk and staff
3 Power plant Mill manager Operational engineer
4 Operation Mill manager Operation staff
5 Maintenance Mill manager Maintenance engineer
6 Product quality Mill manager -
7 Product sale/shipment Mill manager Grid demand (automatic)
8 Duty time coverage 24 hr Mill manager Shift charge engineer
9 Water treatment Mill manager Chemist
10 Dispute settlement Mill manager Human resources department
11 Crop purchase Mill manager -
12 DOE compliance (boiler fuel gas) Mill manager Chemist
13 DOE compliance (effluent) Mill manager -
14 Sustainability Mill manager -
15 Output Palm oil, palm kernel, Only electricity
biomass, electricity
16 Product market Overseas (90% of the oil) Within Malaysia
17 Location Remote area with poor Mostly urban or close to it
roads
18 Workers benefits No pension or special Pensionable in most cases
benefits

Note: DOE – Department of Environment.

It is possible that about 90% of all millers’
attention will be directed towards product
quality, process losses, environment issues,
sustainability issues and social welfare. As
a consequence, the efficient utilisation of
steam and power generation aspect of the
milling operation in a palm oil mill takes
the backstage leading to the pathetic abuse
of energy in palm oil mills.
THERMODYNAMICS APPLIED TO
PROCESS OPERATIONS
Energy Wastage
As mentioned earlier, the steam utilisa-
tion segment of a palm oil mill is a grossly
under-explored area and is likely to remain
so based on the attitude of the mill owners
or top management. It is not difficult for
a thermodynamist to fathom the criminal
waste of steam in certain stages of the pro-
cess line. The areas that offer great oppor-
tunities to save the wasted steam and use it
for the benefit of humanity are still awaiting
the right opportunity for the right Malay-
sian investor to coordinate with our com-
petent steam engineers and set up energy
saving systems before someone from some
remote corner of the earth start selling the
product to Malaysia.
Application of Thermodynamics
Application of engineering thermody-
namics in a palm oil mill are seen in the

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 13

 Feature Article
POMPP, sterilisation station and other heat
exchange equipment like kernel silo heater,
oil tanks, process water tanks, sludge oil
storage tanks, crude palm oil storage tanks,
etc. This clearly indicates that the mill engi-
neers should be fairly well-versed with en-
gineering thermodynamics associated with
steam, a very interesting part of mechanical
engineering. Currently the mill engineers
are expected to process whatever crop con-
taminated with stones, sand and other
trash that accompany them are brought
to the mill and try to extract more oil than
what the fruit bunches contain. The de-
mand for increasing the oil extraction rate
(OER) of the mill by the mill owners or the
top management is exerting an unreason-
able pressure on the mill personnel as OER
is solely dependent on the oil content of the
bunches that is clearly under the jurisdic-
tion of the plantation managers.
Steam Leakage
The mill engineers should also try to
improve processing techniques associated
with steam by applying the thermodynamic
principles wherever it is required. A me-
chanical engineer with sound knowledge
of thermodynamics will not allow steam to
blow out of steam joints or the steam traps.
When the MPOB code of practice (CoP) au-
ditors audit the mills, a common sight in al-
most all mills is the free issuance of steam
from steam traps. When the auditors query
on whether the steam traps are working,
the answer is always “yes” based on the
considerable amount of steam visibly seen
blowing out of the steam traps! This cer-
tainly is a sad state of affairs as the engi-
neers do not seem to know how to diagnose
the defect in a faulty steam trap. They do
not even realise the fact that the function of
a steam trap is to trap the steam and allow
it to blow out freely.
Apart from the steam trap losses a
significant amount of heat is wasted from
the leaky steam pipe joints in palm oil mills
and this will paint a poor picture of our mill
engineers who do not seem to be interested
14 PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116
in tapping this large potential of energy. If
a mechanical engineer from overseas visit
our palm oil mills and observe a substantial
amount of steam blowing out of steam
traps, leaky seam joints, isolating valves
and relief valves he will certainly have a
bad impression of the professionalism of
the engineers operating the mills. Most
of these leaks can be easily prevented by
tightening the nuts on the flange coupling
and yet these are not attended resulting in
unnecessary waste of steam.
Lack of Preventive Maintenance
Our observation of the maintenance
work carried out on steam traps in palm
oil mills are as follows. None of the mills
we visited had a routine maintenance pro-
gramme associated with steam traps. Most
of the steam traps were never overhauled
ever since the mills were commissioned.
Common sense dictates that any mechani-
cal machinery must be maintained on a rou-
tine basis at least once a year, if we want the
machinery to perform efficiently. If the mill
personnel have no time to carry out this one
day job they may outsource experts to carry
out this job. It is worth the while as a lot of
steam can be saved, bearing in mind that to
produce steam which itself is a GHG the bi-
omass combustion involved for its produc-
tion also releases CO2, which also is a GHG.
Energy Wastage Evaluation
Even the exhaust steam released from the
steriliser that is responsible for causing so
much of noise pollution reaching perhaps
200 decibels can be effectively curtailed. For
this, the exhaust may be re-routed through
the condensate line or discharged into an
open chamber from where its enthalpy of
condensation could be recovered for prod-
uct drying operations. The blown out steam
from the sterilisers still has a sizable quanti-
ty of heat that is currently discharged func-
tioning literally as a device meant for dis-
trict heating, which we can do without as
we are already blessed with an abundant
supply of sun’s heat throughout the year.
 Feature Article

Let us now make some quantitative
analysis of the heat lost in the steam exhaust
in a 60 tph mill steriliser with an operating
cycle spanning 90 min ( door close pressure
cook and door open time) similar to the
home pressure cooker. For the purpose of
simplification, the calculation is based on
an hourly data as shown in Table 2.
This is a criminal waste of steam that no
one seem to worry about. This is indeed a
steam engineer’s dilemma. The reasons are
easy to find. The progressive thinking of
the human race and their genuine concern
on diminishing fuel reserves, conservation
of energy, global warming leading to
adverse GHG impact on environment
are in place. There are also a number of
successfully established mechanisms for
monitoring and enforcing the major well
known and popular energy guzzlers and
pollution generators like power stations
and transport industry. However, the odd
ones like the non-efficient steam generation
and its usage in palm oil mills, being not
widely established, may not appear in the
global energy abuse radar screen. In such
situations, the monitoring mechanisms
must necessarily evolve locally as global
bodies will only look at common issues
such as sustainability and environmental
impact but steam wastage and its efficient
utilisation in specific applications like palm
oil industry will be left out for the local
industry management to handle.
But a specialised body is yet to evolve
for addressing such issues either in
Malaysia or Indonesia who are the major
producers of palm oil. Most developing
countries find it easy to copy systems
prevailing in developed nations as then
we do not have to re-invent the wheels.
That is fine but the question arises as to
why the developed nations should make
efforts to develop something that they do
not need. In such cases, we have to take the
initiative and move forward. Based on the
current discussion, the palm oil industry in
Malaysia must establish a centre to address
the important issues related to upgrading
milling operation so that they are on par
with other food processing industries from
all angles including efficient and profitable
use of resources.
MASTERING MONGANA REPORT,
A COMPETENT MILLER BORN?
A palm oil miller’s encyclopedia is the
Mongana Report, a very useful report
that was published in 1955 (it is now
the property of MPOB, a gift from Lever
Brothers). This magnificent report is the
outcome of a research project conducted
by a team of scientists from the Institute for

TABLE 2. THE ENERGY LOST FROM THE STERILISER DURING EXHAUST

BLOW-OFF OPERATION

Wasted energy calculation

FFB processed 60 tpm
Steam consumption (say at 40% of FFB processed) 24 tph
Steriliser condensate produced (20% of FFB processed) 12 tph
Steam used for deaeration (say 5%) 3 tph
Steam blown out during exhaust (15%) 9 tph
Total steam blown out 12 tph
Heat contained in saturated steam at 4 bara (steam table) 2.739 MJ kg-1
For 18 000 kg steam per hour (energy lost in blown out steam) 32 860 MJ hr-1

Note: FFB - fresh fruit bunch. tpm – total productive maintenance. tph – tonne per hour.

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 15

 Feature Article
the Advancement of Scientific Research in
Industry and Agriculture (IRSIA) during
1952 till 1955 organised by Congopalm,
a cooperative registered in Congo to
establish parameters for optimum palm
oil processing operations. The research
findings originally presented in French have
not undergone any appreciable changes
even after 60 years and the mill engineers
still hold on to this report with great respect.
There is a good reason for it. It comes in
two volumes and it is very comprehensive
as it contains every aspect of the palm oil
mill processing in very great detail. That is
why it is apt to declare that ‘When someone
masters the Mongana Report, a competent
miller is born’. It is difficult for palm oil
mill engineer who has not digested the
contents of the Mongana Report to become a
competent miller. But they can go beyond
being a competent miller to become an
expert miller or a consultant with a good
back-up of engineering thermodynamics.
HISTORIC AND CURRENT
REQUIREMENTS
The early boilers were functioning as a
steam generator cum incinerator purely to
save money for transporting the surplus
biomass to a suitable dumping site. The
biomass, in the most unwanted list, was the
wet shell amounting to 2.4 tph (about 4%
of the 60 tph FFB processed) that had to be
transferred out for laterite road surfacing or
dumping in an allocated site. In the early
days, all mills had incinerators for partial
combustion of EFB whose production rate
was 13.8 tph (23% of 60 tph). The bunch
ash produced was a useful potash source
for the oil palm nursery. These incinerators
frequently used to be choked up due to
overloading and were not designed to
combust kernel shell to produce charcoal, a
good commercial product of good value.
The situation now has changed with the
spiraling price of fossil fuel and the steadily
increasing use of biomass fueled boilers. In
addition, the recent interest in alternate use
16 PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116
of biomass like biodiesel production, eco
mat, RE power generation, etc. has encour-
aged the millers to conserve the biomass for
sales and for the generation of additional
revenue. The current requirements of the
millers with steam generation and its ap-
plication are closely linked to efficient use
of biomass and the steam. However, despite
being aware of the need for a paradigm
change the mill owners have done very lit-
tle to call it a breakthrough in this direction.
Now, let us examine the reasons and
conditions prevailing at the time when the
horizontal steriliser (wrong name given for
a pressure cooker) made its debut about
a century ago. The requirement was to
pressure cook the fruit bunches satisfying
the two basic conditions of deaeration and
maintaining three bar steam pressure for 30
min. The recommended pressure cooking
temperature was found to be 130°C, a
temperature that was and still is sufficient
for the steam to penetrate the bunch and
condition the mesocarp so that the fruit cells
are ready to release oil as well as partially
dry the kernel within the nut.
It will be of interest to note that the
pressure cooking (sterilisation) of bunches
using low pressure steam radically differs
from the normal process heating performed
in other food processing industries. In the
pressure cooking operation, the sterilisers
are first charged with the fruit cages laden
with 20 to 30 t of FFB after which the doors
are closed and steam at 3 bar is admitted
in two peaks with intermittent blow off for
deaeration followed by the third peak where
the pressure is held for approximately 30
min. During each peak comprising steam is
admitted causing a pressure rise followed
by blow-off with each peak being higher
than the preceding one.
The efficiency of the steriliser deaeration
process is riddled with many hurdles as it is
not actually possible to completely remove
all the air from the steriliser chamber even
with multiple peaks. Some of the problems

stem from the miller’s poor knowledge of
thermodynamics. The sterilisers of all palm
oil mills are fitted with pressure gauges
that generally give a satisfactory reading of
three bar if the boiler capacity is sufficient
to cater for the mill. When anyone taking
a quick look at the steam table and see the
saturation temperature corresponding to
this pressure as 143.6°C, he has good rea-
son to be satisfied as the optimum required
temperature is 130°C. If a thermometer had
been installed on the sterilisers the engi-
neers would have realised that something
was not right. The temperature shown
corresponds to a much lower steam pres-
sure as the air content in the steriliser has
reduced the effective steam pressure and
its corresponding saturation temperature
according to Dalton’s Law of Partial Pres-
sures. The mills must find an effective way
to reduce the air contained in a steriliser so
that the sterilisation temperature remains
above 130°C.
THE STEAM TURBINE
The mills usually use a non-condensing
steam turbine with a single Curtis wheel
that receives steam at 20 bar or 30 bar
and discharges it at about 3 bar. This low
pressure steam can be used for process
heating. The turbine nozzles are located
within the turbine casing at the steam
inlet chamber and the pressure drop is
accompanied by the rise in kinetic energy
that drives the Curtis wheel. The nozzle
may be placed in nozzle groups of two or
three with separate isolating valves or can
be distributed equally in circular formation.
The steam exhausting out of this turbine
still has considerable amount of energy and
this is used for process heating with very
little condensate return.
The thermal efficiency of the power
plant seldom exceeds 3% to 4% as the ex-
haust steam still carries most of the heat.
As the turbine efficiency is dependent on
the maximum isentropic expansion of the
steam within the turbine, the existing Rank-
ine cycle does not cater for high power gen-
PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116
Feature Article
eration coupled with low specific steam
consumption.
There are many options available in this
area. Boilers may opt for medium pressures
like 50 bar or even higher with high super
heat of say 500°C so that the Rankine work
done by the turbine exceeds 10 MW in a
60 tph mill. This is possible and at higher
superheat temperatures the specific steam
temperatures can drop to even 5 kg steam
per kWh compared to the 25 kg kWh-1 in
the conventional non-condensing turbines
currently used in palm oil mills.
There will be some changes in the design
of the turbines as the single Curtis wheel
will be replaced by a six stage reaction
turbine. Adequate steam bleeding points
also will be needed with steam re-heating if
necessary, to shift the superheat state point
towards far right so that after the isentropic
expansion the exhaust state point is out of
the wet region. There are many ways to
achieve the industries’ objectives.
However, the most important
consideration for Malaysia is not to be
influenced by the strategies used by other
industries when they set up RE power
plants overseas. They may set them up
near a place where the grid connection is
convenient so that the transmission cost is
low. But in the case of the Malaysian palm
oil industry, we should always think about
an industry moving close to the mill.
There are two great advantages:
● low grid connection cost (if the grid
connection point is far the transmission
cost could exceed the cost of the RE
plant); and
● low price for the land close to the mill
compared to urban area.
PROCESS HEAT REQUIREMENTS
Processing operations will require about
65% by weight of the FFB processed. The
individual plant requirements are listed in
Table 3.
17
 Feature Article

TABLE 3. APPROXIMATE STEAM UTILISATION BY PROCESSING PLANTS

Process plant Requirements % to FFB tph

Sterilisation Cook FFB, direct steam injection, ∆ T= 95°C 40 24
Digester Direct steam injection, ∆ T= 20°C 6 3.6
Diluted crude oil tank Direct steam injection, ∆ T= 10°C 3 1.8
Clarifier (C.S) tank Closed coil and direct injection, ∆ T= 10°C 2 1.2
Pure oil tank Closed coil, ∆ T= 10°C 2 1.2
Sludge tank Closed coil, ∆ T= 10°C 2 1.2
Process water Direct steam injection, ∆ T= 50°C 6 3.6
CPO storage tank Closed coil, ∆ T= 10°C 4 2.4
Total 65 39

Note: ∆ T - temperature rise. FFB – fresh fruit bunch. CPO – crude palm oil. tph – tonne per hour.

Palm Oil Mill Heat Balance
The turbine exhaust steam is admitted
to a steam receiver drum having a diameter
of about 2 m and a length of about 6 m
having a volume of 18.84 m3. However,
considerable variations can be seen in
different mills. The 40 t of steam exhausting
form the turbine at 4 bara will have a
specific volume of 0.4623 m3 kg-1 occupying
a volume of 18.49 m3. The steam receiver
volume is just sufficient to receive the
exhaust steam form the turbine when the
mill is processing 60 tph of crop. When there
is a mill breakdown and the mill throughput
drops to half there will be a corresponding
drop in generator load. But if the mill
continues to operate the sterilisation station
at full capacity, the steam pressure will drop
resulting temperature drops in all stages of
processing ending up in process loss.
waste compared to its costly transportation
to the dumping site. The system of steam
exhausting to the atmosphere as chosen at
that time was the cheapest way to dispose
it. Noise pollution from factories was not
an unusual phenomena or a Department of
Environment (DOE) issue at that time. Now
requirements have changed but the millers
are not ready yet to responding fast enough
to the new requirements.
Palm oil mills in Malaysia are slow to
embark on projects that will improve the
efficient utilisation of heat. A good example

Let us now look at the influence of

thermodynamics in this application.
Efficient utilisation of heat and steam
were deliberately ignored in the case of
seam generation, turbine selection and
operation, and conservation of fuel. Low Figure 1. Heat transfer in shaft-less screw conveyor
boiler efficiency was preferred as that via counter flow direct contact with flue gas.
would assist in the evacuation of biomass Conveyor length: 20 m, conveyor diameter: 50 mm.

18 PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116

 Feature Article

good opportunity to generate more money

by selling the surplus biomass, the boiler
performance should also increase in terms
of particulate emission and black smoke.
The investment cost also need not be high.
The advantages are discussed in Table 4 for
a 60 tph mill, under different options.

Heating mesocarp fibre contains about

Figure 2. Air pre-heater.
is the heat lost in the flue gases from the
stack. Assuming it is 280°C and if some of
the heat is used back for either heating the
feed water, air or fuel there is not only a
40% moisture which is on the high side for
good boiler performance. If we can bring
this down to say 30% the performance
of the boiler would certainly improve
resulting in better combustion. As the
heat exchangers mentioned in all cases are
not under pressure the fabrication cost is
expected to be low. This can be fabricated in
the mill workshop.

TABLE 4. SIMPLE METHODS OF WASTE HEAT RECOVERY

Options Heating purpose Achievement Remark

Reduce moisture content from Better combustion P
Mesocarp
40% to 30%. Heater type: scroll Reduced black smoke P
fibre
type. Expected cost of heat transfer Reduced particulate emission P
equipment: RM 150 000 Some investment cost is involved N
Feed water Economiser: tubular type. Reduced fuel consumption P
Heat the feed water from ambient Improved combustion efficiency P
34° C to say 80°C. Reduced black smoke P
Expected cost of heat transfer Reduced particulate emission P
equipment: RM 150 000 Some investment cost is involved N
Reduce moisture level from 80% to Reduced fuel consumption P
40%. Expected cost of heat transfer Improved combustion efficiency P
Decanter
equipment shown in Figure 1: Reduced black smoke P
cake
RM 150 000 Reduced particulate emission P
Some investment cost is involved N
Air pre-heater shown in Figure 2. Better combustion P
Combustion Tubular type. Heat the air from Reduced black smoke P
air ambient 34°C to say 100°C. Expected Reduced particulate emission P
cost of heat transfer equipment: Improved boiler efficiency P
RM 150 000 Reduced fuel consumption P
Some investment cost is involved N
Scroll type or drum type. Reduced fuel consumption P
Evaporate part of the liquid sludge Improved combustion efficiency P
Sludge to reduce effluent discharged and Reduced black smoke P
evaporation recycle evaporated water for process Reduced particulate emission P
operation. Expected cost of heat High investment cost is involved N
transfer equipment: RM 500 000

Note: P – positive. N – negative.

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 19

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20 PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116

Feature Article
Evolution of Boilers in Palm Oil Mills
N Ravi Menon*
T
SINGLE TUBE LOW CAPACITY FIRE
TUBE BOILER
he Lancashire boiler (Figure 1) was
popular in palm oil mills in the
1960s. This is a single fire tube boiler
with the fumace at one end. The hot flue
gases will heat the water surrounding the
tube and come out of the tube and heat
up the bank of super heater tubes before
steaming on to the range. This boiler can
take widely fluctuating steam loads as is
the case in palm oil mills. The boiler is also
very reliable and is rugged.
In 1916, Ulu Remis Palm Oil Mill
(Kumpulan Guthrie) in Layang-Layang
had about six of these hardy British boil-
ers for its operation. As these boilers had
low capacities, a number of boilers were
needed for mill operation resulting in selec-
tion of high capacity water tube boilers. By
1974 when Kumpulan Guthrie built its new
* Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail: nravi@mpob.gov.my
PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116
-1
60 t hr (tph) mill, the Lancashire boilers
were replaced by three water tube boilers.
Amsterdam-based Stork fire tube boilers
having capacities ranging from 10 - 15 tph
also were popular in smaller mills in the
1970s but now with increased processing re-
quirements, water tube boilers have almost
completely replaced the fire tube boilers.
MULTITUBE FIRE TUBE BOILER
Figures 2 and 3 showed the basic
configuration of a low range (10 to 20
tph) palm oil mill boiler. In a 20 tph mill,
two units of 15 tph boiler steaming at 20
bar pressure used to be quite common.
But the problem arises when the boiler
throughputs start dropping due to the
formation of scales on the outer surface of
the tubes. As palm oil mill turbines operate
on a non-condensing Rankine cycle, the
feed water circuit is an open one with no
condensate being returned as in the case of
power station where most of the steam is
condensed and the condensate returned to
the feed water circuit.
21
 Feature Article

3-4 Steam out

Saturated steam space

Strorker s/heater
Flue gases Single fire tube

Water 2-3

1-2: Heating from condenser pressure to boiler pressure.

2-3: Raising the temperature at constant pressure.
3: All water has changed phase from liquid to vapour
(saturated).
3-4: Superheating a steam at constant pressure.
4-5: Isentropic expansion in a steam turbine. Power
output steam turbine operates and it drives an electric
generator to produce electricity. The work done is the
area under the curve represented by 1-2-3-4 minus
area under 1-5.

Figure 1. A Lancashire boiler and temperature-entropy chart.

Water level

3rd pass

2nd pass

1st pass

Boiler furnace with refractory brick walls and refractory

casting for the roof.
Note that the first pass is below the drum.

Fire grate

Figure 2. Stork three-pass fire tube boiler.

22 PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116

 Feature Article

Steam

Water

Flue gas out

Flue gas in

Flue gas out

Figure 3. The flue gas path.

Another significant difference between
power station and palm oil mill boilers is
the feed water treatment. Power stations
use water which is demineralised before
it is pumped into the boiler. This is a very
useful operation as the life cycles of a
boiler is directly related to the care given
to purify the feed water. Demineralised
water is purer than distilled water as it does
not carry any traces of minerals that could
otherwise cause deposition within boiler
tubes leading to scale formation.
It is rather a mystery that palm oil mill
management in Malaysia is quite contented
with the simple raw water treatment
system comprising water clarification using
flocculation tank, followed by sand filtration
and water softening. This is indeed a far cry
from the highly effective demineralisation
plant (usually called demin plant) which is
popular in Indonesian mills. It is far more
critical for palm oil mill boiler feed water to
be demineralised as the water circuit is an
open one and the quality of the muddy raw
water drawn from the stream is far from
satisfactory. The reason why the power
station boilers last nearly half a century is
basically because of the care taken to treat
the boiler feed water. If the palm oil mill
boilers are fed with demineralised water,
its life span can be extended considerably
especially when palm oil mills are opting
for high pressure boilers exceeding 20 bar.
WATER TUBE BOILERS
Water tube boilers (Figure 4) made its debut
in Malaysia when the oil palm cultivation
started expanding by leaps and bounds
mainly after 1970s. Until now the palm oil
industry had mainly focussed on processing
the crop to produce crude palm oil (CPO)
and palm kernel (PK). But now time has
come to widen the scope of the industry
by paying attention to other products like
power generation within the mill that could
host a number of unrelated industries
in the surrounding areas as power at a
cheaper price may become available. This
could give rise to assorted generation of
custom made boilers and turbines to cater
for these specific requirements. Overnight
the industry may take on a different path.

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 23

 Feature Article

Chimney

Water/steam
drum

Riser
pipes

Down comer
pipes
Header

Water tube
bank

Header

Furnace

Fire grate

Figure 4. A vertical frazer water tube boiler.

The boilers will have to shed the current water tube boilers. It can have very high
attachment to the inefficient boilers and capacities and ratings in terms of pressure
turbines and start growing big. There are and temperatures.
innumerable options when considering

24 PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116

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Titbits

COOKING AND BAKING WITH

PALM OIL

M
Asam Pedas Recipe -The Pride of Melaka

outh-watering? Yes. This is

one of the magnificent fish
dishes, the pride of Melaka
that will charm most Malaysians if they
make an effort to try it. In my college days
I used to drive 30 km to my cousin’s house
to satisfy my urge to consume it. There are
some variations in the formulation but the Ingredients Quantity
basic ingredients and cooking methodology
remains the same. You may make it with Making the paste
or without bunga kantan (torch ginger) and
daun kesum but it will taste a lot better if Blend the following:
you can add at least one of them preferably Dried chilli 16
Shallot 10
bunga kantan, the price of which has risen
Ginger 1-2 cm
up many times from what it used to be a Garlic 4 cloves
few years back. In addition, a healthy sweet Fish curry powder optional
tooth dessert - seri sawit banana cake will
make your day amazing. Add the following to the paste

To begin with, you have decided on Turmeric powder 1 tsp

which fish you like to have for this dish.
The fish normally used are pari, tenggiri
(Spanish mackerel) and bawal (pomfret).
Pari will be a wonderful choice if you do
not mind the excessive bones in it. Tenggiri
should be a better choice for this, if you do
not want to entangle with the pari bones.
Please try to get the fish as fresh as possible.
Lemon grass 4 stalk
Tamarind juice dissolved using
500 ml of warm water
Young okras (bendi) 12
Bunga kantan 1
Daun kesum 3 sprigs
Salt 15 ml
Sugar 30 ml
Shrimp (belacan) paste 1 tsp

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 47

 Titbits

Method Method

1. Select a fresh fish, say 1 kg, clean thoroughly
and cut into 3-4 cm pieces.
2. Heat 60 ml palm oil and fry the blended paste
with lemon grass until the fragrant smell of
lemon grass comes out.
1. Preheat oven to 180oC.
2. Mix ingredient A until well blended.
3. Mesh bananas and add vanilla essence
(ingredient B).

3. Add fish curry powder, stir well and follow 4. Sieve and mix ingredient C in a bowl.
with the tamarind juice.
5. Add ingredients A and B until well mixed.
4. Let it cook for about 5 min after boiling.
6. Add ingredients C and D until homogeneous.
5. Add the okras, fish and salt/sugar to taste.
Stir gently without breaking the fish pieces. 7. Line baking tin with greaseproof paper.

6. After 2-3 min the asam pedas should be ready. 8. Pour mixture into baking tin and bake for
1 hr.
7. Make sure you have enough rice to go with it.

Did You Know That Using

Electricity For Cooking Or
Baking Is Cheaper Than Using
Gas In Malaysia?

The normal 14 kg cylinder of cooking

gas costs RM 28.20 (including GST and
delivery charges).

The lower calorific value of this gas is

18 000 kJ kg-1.
Seri Sawit Banana Cake
14 kg has an energy of 14 x 18x 103 = 252 x
Ingredients Quantity 103 kJ.
A
Castor sugar 250 g This is equal to 252 x 103/3.6 x 103 = 70 kWh.
Eggs 5
B This works out to be = RM 28.20/70 = 40.3
Vanilla essence 1 tsp sen per kWh.
Bananas 5
C Let us slot 70 kWh in the first five tariff
Baking powder 1 tsp blocks shown in Table 1.
Flour 250 g
D Unless the electricity consumption is
Palm olein 200 ml high, cooking or baking with electricity
Condensed milk 2 tbs appears to be the better option.

48 PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116

 Titbits

In addition, the combustion efficiency of cooking gas is about 55% compared to electrical
heating that is close to 90% (generally about 10% heat is lost to surrounding air).

TABLE 1. ENERGY COST CALCULATIONS

Tariff block

First Second Third Fourth Fifth

Tariff block allocation (kWh) +200 +100 +300 +300 +300

Maximum cumulative usage 200 300 600 900 1200

(kWh)

Cost per kWh (sen) 0.218 0.334 0.516 0.546 0.576

Cost for 70 kWh (RM) 15.26 23.38 36.12 38.22 40.3

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 49

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PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 53

 Turning Point of Palm Oil Mill Industry

SELF-DISCHARGE
VERTICAL STERILIZER
Ad NO AUGER
HSS Industrial Products Sdn Bhd
NO WATER
Sterilization Cycle < 100 Mins

HSS INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS SDN. BHD.

Address | Lot 64, Batu 4 ½ Jalan Bukit Pasir, 84300 Muar, For more information, please contact :
54 Johor Darul
PALM OTakzim, Malaysia.
IL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 Mr S.S Hon +6012 631 3662
Tel +606 953 2553 (HL) | Fax +606 953 1378
Ms K.L Hon +6017 653 9991
Email inquiry@hssip.com | Website www.hssip.com
Datasheet

GLIMPSES OF OIL PALM HISTORY 35 YEARS AGO

1875: Oil palm plantation introduced to Singapore.
1917: Introduced to Malaysia (Tennamaram and Elmina Estate).
1920: Elmina Estate had 16 ha.
1964: World production of palm oil was 1200 t and kernel 1040 t.
Nigeria was the largest producer (35 % to 40%) followed by Congo, Indonesia and Malaysia
(10%).

WORLD PRODUCTION OF PALM OIL AND PALM KERNEL OIL (‘000 t)

PALM FRUIT 137

1978 1979 1980 1981

Country Palm Palm Palm Palm

Palm oil kernel Palm oil kernel Palm oil kernel Palm oil kernel
oil oil oil oil
Malaysia 1 778 367 2 188 475 2 573 557 2 821 588
Nigeria 670 239 650 335 675 345 675 350
Indonesia 524 99 605 113 676 121 722 131
China 176 42 184 46 190 48 190 46
Zaire* 170 70 170 70 168 69 155 65

Ivory Coast 145 - 132 - 170 - 190 -

Papua New Guinea 85 - 34 - 33 - 37 -
Cameroon 78 45 48 45 79 46 88 46
Colombia 48 - 61 - 69 - 88 -
Sierra Leone 45 - 45 - 48 - 50 -

Guinea 40 - 40 - 42 - 42 -
Angola 40 - 40 - 40 - 40 -
Ecuador 22 - 31 - 38 - 42 -
Other countries 228 271 242 299 251 308 251 315
Brazil - 260 - 262 - 265 - 275
Benin - 66 - 69 - 73 - 75
Total 4 049 1 459 4 500 1 714 5 052 1 832 5 383 1 891

Note: * Now known as Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Source: Harcharan Singh (1976). An Economic Study of the Oil Palm Industry of Malaysia.

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 55

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PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 59

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 ADVERTISEMENT

D
ue to the increased cost of printing, the advertisement rate is RM 800 per issue for
an A4 size page of black and white, whereas the cost for colour is RM 1000. One
year of complimentary Vendor’s List advertisement for every one page A4-size colour

MPOB PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN - FULL PAGE

or black & white advertisement. Advertisers are required to submit to us either their
own black and white or colour artwork in CD. Cheque should be made payable to
the ‘Malaysian Palm Oil Board’. If you have any queries, please contact the follow-
ing at MPOB.

Tel: 03-87694400 Fax: 03-89262971

Dr. Lim Weng Soon ext: 4406 • Ir. N. Ravi Menon ext: 4467 • Lim Soo Chin ext: 4676
E-mail: milleng@mpob.gov.my

Advertising Schedule for MPOB Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin

Issue Quarter Deadline for Deadline for

Registration Submission of Artwork
118 Jan - Mar 2016 30 Jan 2016 27 Feb 2016
119 Apr - Jun 2016 30 Apr 2016 31 May 2016
120 Jul - Sept 2016 30 Jul 2016 30 Aug 2016
121 Oct - Dec 2016 31 Oct 2016 29 Nov 2016

REPLY-SLIP

Dr. Lim Weng Soon/Ir. N. Ravi Menon

Engineering and Processing Division
Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin
MPOB
6, Persiaran Institusi
Bandar Baru Bangi
43000 Kajang, Selangor

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN ADVERTISEMENT – FULL PAGE ADVERTISEMENT

1. We confirm our intention to advertise in the MPOB Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin.

Company:

Address:

E-mail: Tel. No.: Fax No.:

Contact Person: Issue No.:

2. The artwork is attached/will be sent on for your further action.

3. Please find enclosed *crossed cheque No.: for RM

( ) being payment for the advertisement fee.

4. Thank you.

(Signature and Date) (Company stamp)

#

* Made payable to ‘MALAYSIAN PALM OIL BOARD’.

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 61
Advertisement Reply Form received on/after 1 April 2015 will be subjected to 6% Goods and Services Tax (GST)
as imposed by the Malaysian Government.
 ADVERTISEMENT

F
ollowing a decision by the Editorial Board to further increase the role of Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin to serve the
industry better, a new addition called Palm Oil Mill Vendor’s List has been introduced similar to Telekom Yellow
Pages to assist mill engineers to know where to source materials or services pertaining to the industry. In order to
MPOB PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN - VENDOR’S LIST

make this useful, we need the co-operation of the mill engineers/managers to persuade their vendors to advertise
in the Vendor’s List for a nominal fee of RM 100/year. If you have any queries, please contact the following at
MPOB.

Tel: 03-87694400 Fax: 03-89262971

Ir. Ravi Menon ext. 4467 or e-mail: nravi@mpob.gov.my

Ms. Lim Soo Chin ext. 4676 or e-mail: milleng@mpob.gov.my

REPLY SLIP
Dr. Lim Weng Soon/Ir. N. Ravi Menon
Engineering and Processing Division
Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin Advertisement
MPOB, 6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.

We wish to advertise in the MPOB Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin Vendor’s List

Company: Issue No.:

Contact Person: H/P:

Address:

E-mail: Tel: Fax:

Please find enclosed a crossed cheque No.: Bank:

for RM: (Ringgit Malaysia)

drawn in favour of MALAYSIAN PALM OIL BOARD

Please select the headings from the list given below (not more than five headings) under which you wish to advertise.

Air filters/dryers Filter press/materials Scrubbers

Air separators Fluid control system/couplings Sludge separators/decanters
Bearings/belts/bushes Gaskets/packing materials/seals Steam turbines/generator/spares
Biomass/bio-compost/products Gear boxes Sterilizer/parts
Boiler spares/control/others Hardware Storage silos
Boiler suppliers Hydraulic systems/services/spares Vacuum pumps
Bunch crushers Laboratory analysis Valves/seats
Castings Laboratory equipment Waste water treatment
Civil engineering Lubricants Water treatment
Cleaning - general Mill machinery/spares Weighing machines/spares
Condition monitoring Miscellaneous Welding equipments
Consultancy services/certification Nut crackers Wheel loaders/spares
Control/automation/spares Oil recovery systems
Conveyors/chains/elevators/belts Palm kernel oil crushing plant
Diesel eng./services/spares Power plant
Dynamic balancing Pollution control/safety systems
Electric motors/systems Pressure vessels
Expansion joints Pumps/services
Fabrication works Purifiers
Fans Screw press/parts

Signature:

Name:

Date: Company stamp

62
#

PALM OILReply
Advertisement ENGINEERING BULLETIN
Form received NApril
on/after 1 O. 116
2015 will be subjected to 6% Goods and Services Tax (GST)
as imposed by the Malaysian Government.
 From:

Address:

Question/Comment:

Signed: Date:

(We have enclosed this form to assist you in sending to us any questions or comments)

PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116 63

#
 STAMP

Chairman
The Editorial Board
Palm Oil Engineering Bulletin
Malaysian Palm Oil Board
P. O. Box 10620
50720 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

64 PALM OIL ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO. 116

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