CHAPTER I

ASSESSMENT OF THE OIL ENTERING THE MILL

Processing control in the oil mill can be carried out in two v/ays:By weighing the amount of oil produced and calculating the ratio of that weight, to the ' sum of the weight of oil produced and the weight of oil lost in the waste products. This ratio (always lower than'l) will be ' termed "efficiency". b) By weighing the amount of oil produced and calculating the ratio of that weight to the weight of oil received at the factory as raw material and as assessed by analysis (bunch or stripped fruit). This ratio will be termed "'recovery" . a)

The first method is accurate and its use is recommended in the case of a pilot plant. This is because all the waste products of processing can be .weighed and are homogeneous enough to be sampled easily. In industrial practice, this method possesses the serious disadvantage of ignoring the accidental losses resulting for instance from faulty plant operationThe second method, i.e. that based on the analytical determination of the oil content of the raw material, could laad to useful pointers for .processing control but its implementation is difficult because of the pronounced heterogeneity of the raw material. A. Efficiency The efficiency is given by the following formula : -

in which H HS HR Hp HN HD = = = = = = Weight of oil produced. Oil lost in steriliser condensate. Oil lost in bunch refuse. Oil lost in fibre. . Oil lost on nuts. Oil lost in the clarification of crude oil.

The coefficients a(/3 and ^represent the efficiency of the extraction proper (t } and that of the purification of the extracted oil ( ^ . /) The coefficient is affected by another one ( %*) which takes into account the practical industrial efficiency compared with the limit obtainable in the laboratory.

Determination of the efficiency The method entails the weighing or at least the accurate estimation of the weight of waste products. After consideration of a number of ways to obtain these weights, the following system was proposed. It consists in:a) Assuming a fixed loss in steriliser condensate. The loss is governed solely ay the sterilisation procedure and the form ,\n which the crop is processed (detached fruits "cr bunches). Generally, once sterilisation procedure is finalised, no further modification is introduced. The amount of oil finding its way into the condensate is therefore constant. The form in which the crop is processed is practically constant for a given factory except in the case of/plant receiving progressively less detached fruit and more and more bunches. a The loss in steriliser condensate can therefore oe considered as a fixed quantity -which is evaluated once and for all subject to verification if a modification occurs either in the sterilisation cycle or in the fruit, particularly in the case of marked changes in the degree of ripeness. b) Assessing the weight of bunch refuse and titrating the oil content therein. The percentage ratio of bunch refuse to bunches shows consistency either in the course of time or in relation to the type of bunches. It is therefore generally sufficient to weigh the bunch refuse during a certain period of time and to carry out a few spot checks during the year to determine this ratio with sufficient accuracy. Determining the weight of fibre from the ratio of fibre to cake and from the weight of nuts. The ratio of fibre or nut to cake is essentially governed by the type of fruit which is processed. It varies between wide limits (vide Chapter VII). In the case of factories dealing with bunches of one variety only, the variation is not important and the ratio may be considered as constant. On most estates, however, palms of various origins and ages are encountered. In addition to differences due to the type of fruit, the stripping procedure also affects the cake composition as a result of the variable proportion of impurities -mixed with the fruit at that stage. The determination" of the cake composition is therefore indispensable. That operation should be done over the whole processing time either by manual sorting of large samples or by means of a small scraping knives depulper. The drying of fibre does not affect the final result since oil content is determined on dry basis. It is however important to draw the sample of fibre during

c)

the datsrmination of the cake composition.

- 3 d) Weighing the nuts. That operation is performed in a tilting nut -weighing device after separation from the fibre. The number of tilts 'of the apparatus is recorded automatically. This makes it possible to know, at the end. of processing, the"weight of nuts derived from a known weight of bunches. Current tilting scales ippears to provide a sufficiently high accuracy. The oil loss is calculated directly from that weight and the oil. content of nuts. e) Weighing the discharged effluents. As for the preceding weighing, the weight of effluents or sludge originating from the clarification of crude oil is determined in a tilting weighing scale. The oil. .loss is calculated directly from that weight and the oil content of sludge. As fast methods of analysis are available (see relevant paragraph), the oil losses can be checked daily by this system. The quantity of oil produced can also be accurately assessed daily by means of a tilting scale, the recommended method permits therefore to calculate daily the mill efficiency. An outline of ^tilting weighing scale is given on the following page (figures 1 & 2). B. Recovery Its determination involves:i) ii) iii) The weighing of the raw material entering the factory. The determination of the average oil content thereof. The weighing or the volume assessment of the oil produced.

The weight of the raw material can be known with less than 0.1$ error but the determination of the average oil content may be seriously erroneous "since it is carried out on a small aliquot. The determination of the oil content of the raw material involves sampling and analysis operations. \ In this paragraph only sampling will be considered. The analyses themselves present 'little difficulties. .They can be carried out using conventional methods. An attempt has however been made to evolve analytical procedures particularly suitable for application to the palm fruits or the waste products of processing.

Tilting weighing device (with feed manifold)

Tilting weighing device for palm oil

Figure 2

Sampling #
In the case of processing of bunches, the amount of oil entering the factory can be assessed from the weight of frash bunches or from the weight of sterilised fruits (as collected from, the strippar).

a)

StgrilisQd fruit The second method is, "a priori", more attractive because of the higher homogeneity of the sterilised fruit compared with that of the bunches. It iapliss however the weighing of a material not particularly suited for that operation. It was triad in the pilot plant and it has been possible to establish that with homogeneous batches of fruit without impurities the oil content is determined with an error of less than 1% if the sample is made up of the following number of fruits:13 x P material T x T material P.G-. material Mixed material - 2,500 4,000 5,700 5,700 fruits fruits fruits fruits

On account cf the pronounced variability of the material, the determination of the percentage of trash (x) of the fruits requires the analysis of 8,500 x 500 g samples to obtain an accuracy of lyis or of 340 x 500 g for an accuracy of 57- Hewever, by using 5 kg samples, the percentage of trash in sterilised fruits can be evaluated with a 5% error if 52 samples of fruit are examined. The variations in oil content of the trash are smaller than those of the trash content of fruit. The determination, with an accuracy of 10$, of the oil content of trash requires the soxhlet extraction cf 27 samples (the average oil content is 20% on dry matter in trash). Although the above remarks still permit to envisage the determination cf the cil content of sterilised fruit, the method vvas definitely discarded when it was observed that after stripping the sterilised fruit sustains an important loss of weight. (vide Chapter II, Effect of Sterilisation). After 10 minutes storage the apparent , increase in oil content of the fruit is approximately 2%. It can reach 4 to 5^ after one hour. Variations of such magnitude constitute too serious an obstacle to the accurate determination of the oil content of sterilised fruit. # Unless mentioned to the contrary the number of bunches or fruit to be sampled is given for P = 0.05. (x) Vide appendix 2.

b) Fresh bunches The analysis of fresh bunches involves:- the determination of the ratio of fruit to bunch. - the determination of the ratio of oil to fruit. The ratio of fruit to bunch This is generally established by chopping the spikelets from the bunch then cutting the fruit from its socket. The method is extremely time consuming and can only be used if a limited number of determinations are to be carried out. A worker can only deal with a few bunches per day. To speed up the work, the bunch or the spikelets are sometime allowed to remain in a heap for a day or two. The removal of the fruit is then carried out. The resulting desiccation of the fruit and the stalk is detrimental to the accuracy of the analysis (v:ie the analysis of fruit). In order to achieve easy fruit stripping without the need for maturation storage of bunches or spikelets, the use of steam at' atmospheric pressure was tried. It has been observed that under these conditions, a period of 20 minutes steaming practically does not affect The weight of the fruits or spikelets and releases all the fruits from the sockets. A trained worker using suitable equipment can in this manner strip 20 bunches per hour. It has been established that it is necessary to strip 1,200 bunches drawn from homogeneous batches to achieve an accuracy of 1% in the determination of the ratio of fruit to bunch. Ratio of oil to fruit The determination of this ratio requires two operations: the assessment of the percentage of pulp and the oil content of that pulp. Single bunch analysis The object of the experimental work was to establish what weight or -what number X5f fruits should be drawn from a bunch to obtain an estimate of the proportion of pulp with a given accuracy.

The statistical analysis of 36 samples of fruits per bunch (1/3 external fruits, 1/3 middle fruits, 1/3 inner fruits) drawn from a number of Dura .and Tartars "bunches of various sizas showed that approximately 3 to 6% of the weight Qf fruits must "be taken in order to attain a relative error of 1$ on the determination of the ratio of pulp to fruit. Table 1 gives the relevant data for Dura "bunche s' Table 1 Number of fruits to "be drawn from a "bunch to determine the percentage ratio of pericarp "to fruit 7/ith an accuracy of 1$
i'Bunch" i Bunch ! Bunch Bunch j Bunch Average 4 j 5 i 6 i 1 ! 2 .! J_ '

200 i 90 127 $ of the total weight i i .1 of fruits 5 o$ i 5 6$ ; 6. 4$ 6.6$ I 5.1$ i 5.9$

Number of fruits

75

106 ; 166

In the case of fruit from Tenera bunches issued from T x T crossings, the ratio of pulp to fruit can be determined with an accuracy of 1% using samples of half the size indicated above. Vanderweyen and Alias (l) have established that in a sample consisting of 50 fruits of average weigh"?, the percentage of pulp is ascertained with an accuracy of 2.5$ to 4.5^. The determination of pulp on fruits of average weight is perfectly justified for single bunch analyses performed in a research station. It is impractical for industrial analyses carried out in control laboratories. The determination of the moisture content of pulp requires a larger number of fruits because of the higher variability of that characteristic. A few results are given in Table 2. Table 2 Number of fruits to be drawn from a bunch to determine the percentage ratio of water to pericarp with an accuracyof 1$ onchi Bunch iBuncn iauncn Number of fruits 350 ; 300 11,069il,342j 150 % of the total weight | j of fruit i26.9$ il5-S$|41.1$;43. 3$ ; 8.6$
Average ;

638

27.2$

In the case of Tenera bunches, the sample must also amount to about 25$ of the total fruit to achieve an accuracy of 1%. Finally, to determine the cil c'ontent of fruit of a bunch, whether Dura or Tenera, with !,"-> accuracy, 'it is necessary to analyse from 15 "co ICOfo of its fruit;. That kind accuracy is seldom required. It shows however the considerable heterogeneity of the bunches. If a 5% relative error is deemed acceptable, it is necessary to take approximately 2.3^ of the fruit. That degree of accuracy is sufficient in certain cas'as but it is of no interest if the object is to assess the extraction efficiency which must have an accuracy of approximately ~L%. As a palliative against the hsterogensity of bunches the possibility of building up samples from spikelets instead of from fruits was envisaged. The idea being that a spikelet of 5 fruits might be more representative of the bunch than just 5 fruits -oaken at random from it. The analysis carried out on a number of bunches showed that for an equal number of fruits, the error is larger for the spikelets than for the fruits. j

Analysis of a batch of bunches Practically in the industry the need for single bunch analysis does not arise. The problem is to determine the oil content of a batch of bunches. To that end, a study has been made of the number of fruits that it is necessary to draw from each bunch in order to arrive at a predetermined degree of accuracy. .The number of fruits to be taken manner in v/hich the sample is drawn. 10 fruits drawn at random lead to the error as 3 selected respectively from and inner fruits. depends on the For instance, same relative outer, middle

Moreover, increasing the sample to 9 and 24 fruits per bunch, still distributed as 1/3 each from outer, middle and inner layers respectively does not decrease the relative error appreciably. The fact that 10 fruits drawn at random -are just as representative of a bunch as 3 selected from outer, middle and inner layers respectively was established only when the research was about to be completed. Consequently, all experiments aimed at ascertaining the number of bunches to be sampled from a batch were carried out with the,.-3 fruits per bunch sampling technique.

The number of bunches required to achieve a predetermined degree of accuracy is given by the general formula:-

N
where N A = =

A () 2

number of bunches a constant which has been determined in each case . The required relative error (in percentage)

Table 3 gives the value of "A" as determined for the various components of the Dura and Tenera bunches subjected to test. Table 3 Value of "A"

Particulars Ratio of pericarp to fruit ; Ratio of moisture to wet pericarp Ratio of oil to fruit Ratio of fruit to bunch

Dura i Bun c he s ; 26.5 i

Tenera Bunches

3-6 9-1
12.3 12.6

13.0 ; 28.2
3-1

The following remarks may be made regarding the data of the above table:The heterogeneity of the fruit is more pronounced for Dura than for Tenera. On the contrary, Dura bunches are more homogeneous than Tenera's in respect of the fruit to bunch ratio. c) Loose fruit The sampling has shown that the analysis of approximately 1% of the fruits in batches of ?.(J. crop leads to a relative error of 1$ on the oil content. In practice, no more than 0.01$ if the fruit is subjected -to analysis: Factories dealing with loose fruit assess the oil_,_content on fruit with" an error of 5 to 1C$ (20$ oil - 1% under suitable conditions). The above results were obtained on batches of fruit derived from completely stripped bunches: that is containing the whole of the inner fruits, parthenocarpic fruits, etc... Normally, the batches of fruit bought from the local farmers are more homogeneous because the inner fruits are not included.

10 -

The method, of sampling described above should therefore lead to a more accurate determination of the oil to fruit ratio. The impurities content of loose fruit subjected to test was fairly constant, approximately '!.% (sand, calyx leaves etc....)- The sampling of estate loose fruit was not studied. 2. ANALYTICAL PROCEDURE ?CR THE PHUIT AM) THE 7/ASTE PRODUCTS OF PROCESSING " A. Desiccation of the fruit and of the fresh bunches This point was studied with a view to establishing if the stripping made possible by ageing of the bunches modified the ratio of fruits to bunch. A few results are given in Table 4 which shows the loss in weight of freshly stripped fruit (cut from the spikelets) and of bunches as a function of time. Table 4 Effect of time of storage on the loss of weight (in percentage units)

Hours of storage

0 1 1 15
20 25

. _ Prxiits Dura Tenera 0 0 0.1 0.2

0.7

Bunches Tsnera Dura

0
! 0.9

"

I -

2.1 4.8 6.0

1.7
-2 ^
C JL

0.2 1.7
2.1 2.4

2.5

1.9 2.3
6.1

68 90

5.7 7.1

6.0 7.5

The desiccation of bunches appears faster than that of fruits. Prom a large number of tests carried out over several months by Vanderweyen & Alias (2) it appears that the loss in weight of Tenera and Dura loose fruits amounts respectively to 3-45$ and 2.79$ after 1 day and to 6.23?' and 5.08$ after two days. The loss recorded for" the Tenera material is statistically higher than that for Dura's (P = 0. 01) over a period of 4 days, but ' the relative rate of evaporation of the pulp moisture is higher for Dura.

to

The loss in weight of bunches amounts to 1.7 djf after 1 day and 3-1 - 3.4$ after two days.

Vanderweyen i Alias ascribe the loss of -.'/eight of the bunch chiefly to the desiccation of the stall* and that of the fruit tc loss of moisture through the area of attachment to the bunch and hot through the exocarp. They suggest to allow for a 1 to 2> correction for bunches stored for 1 or 2 days before analysis or, bettar still, if the weight of bunches as harvested ia known to add the loss of weight to the weight of the bunch stalk. This can be arranged on research stations but not on commercial estates where it is not possible either to weigh the bunches immediately after harvesting or even to know with any degree of certainty how many hours have elapsed between harvesting and analysis or processing. 3. Desiccation of the pulp In the standard analysis of the fruit of the oil palm, the fresh pulp is peeled off and weighed. Does this depulping entail a certain amount of desiccation liable to induce an increase in oil content? The loss of weight of fresh pulp immediately after depulping was assessed. Depulping was performedas quickly as possible. The time elapsing between the beginning of the operation and the first weighing was 2 minutes. Figure 3 gives the loss of weight against time.

Figure 3 Effect of time on the desiccation o: :ulp

Time Loss of weight (f)

0.70 '' I Loss of weight (in #) 0.50 0.50

s

0.02 0.05 0.09 0.12 0.19 0.29 0.36 0.48 0.60 0.71 0.86

0.40
l

0.30 0.20 0.10

5 8 10 15 24 30 41 51 61 75

10

20

30 40 50 60 70 Time in minutes

12 -

It may be observed, that up to 75 ninutes, the desiccation is dirsctly proportional to time and that a normal time of de pulping, 15 to 20 mjnutes, does not practically affect the oil content. The depulping operation entails very low losses of weight if it is carried out with suitable care. It appears from ten of thousands of analyses that the difference between the initial weight and the sum of the weights of nuts and pulp averages 0.4$. About 1 to 2% of the analyses show a depulping loss of more than ifo (for a sample of 100 to 150 g of fruit). This is in fact a loss of matter rather than the effect of desiccation. As a general rule the results of such analyses are discarded in control laboratories. Recently, an investigation into the determination of the oil content of pulp .(34) has shown that the loss of weight due to depulping and pounding was approximately 1%. It seems that 95$ of the loss is due to pounding which is not used in the Belgian Congo. The extraction being carried out on pulp as peeled off from the fruit. Determination of the oil content a) Combined determination of oil-, moisture and non-oily solids (N.O.S.) The standard analytical procedure for the assessment of fatty matter requires drying of the pulp o^ the fibre before solvent extraction. The drying is generally carried out in an oven and is truly the most time consuming step of the analysis. It usually requires 12 to 14 hours. The possibility of substituting azeotropic dis. tillation to drying. ha.s been .envisaged by several research workers but, to our knowledge, no apparatus suitable for the fruit of the palm or the waste products of processing has yet been evolved. The proposed apparatus is a Kumagawa extractor (high temperature Soxhlet extraction) in which the solvent is, before percolation, separated from the water by a separator of the Dean & Stark or the Sundin type depending on whether the solvent used is heavier or lighter water. Moreover, the method of oil extraction, from the effluents was evolved by a firm belong ing to the Cooperative (5). The description and the specifications of the equipment are given in Appendix. The method can be used for the combined determination of moisture, oil and IT. 0.5. of the pulp of the fruit , the- cake , the bunch refuse .and the mill effluents.

13 -

The time required 'for" the analysis varies with the solvent "used. It is shorter for toluene .(or xylsne) than with -richlcrethylene. The latter offers the advantage of being uninflammable. The completa analysis with toluene as solvent, that is the weighings, the extraction and drying talces 2-3C hours for pulp and 1.3C hours for fibre on buiich refuse. te) Determination of oil by measurement of the refractive index In the' preceding method, the solvent is usually distilled off and the residue is dried to constant weight. In order to eliminate the drying step, the possibility has been investigated of titrating oil directly in the solvent through measurement of the refractive index'of the solution.
*

Mention is made in technical publications (6,7) of several procedures for the determination . Of oil in various organic media based on the variations of the refractive index according tc oilcontent. The following factors which affect the refractive index were studied:i) The oil concentration, ii) The temperature of the solution. iii) The ?.F.A. content. iv) The nature of the oil. The effect of moisture content needs not be considered since the solution of oil in xyiene is always dehydrated by azeotrcpic distillation prior' to testing. The time of ebullition of the solution of oil in xyiene does not affect the refractive index. i) Effect of concentration and temperature The results regarding the effect of . concentration and temperature plotted on Figure 4 were obtained for a 5-76>: F.F.A.'oil. The refractive index of the solution^ of oil in xyiene fellows a linear relationship until 6C5t. After that point, the line - deflects slightly into a curve. The following equation gives the concentration of oil for 100 ml of solution according to the refractive index. :

C
where %
N

14 -

NY - at - Ns A - bt

= =

refractive index of xylene at OOC.

refractive index of the solution. t = temperature. A, a and b = constants which have been established.

Figure 4
Refractive index

\ r\

x x x \\\\

Oil
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

100

Variation of the refractive index according to the oil concentration and the temperature of the solution

15

ii)

Effect of acidity This has "been studied on oil acidified by addition of palm oil fatty acids. The refractive index of artificially acidified oil is not, of course, identical to that of a spontaneously acidified oil which, contains a higher proportion of mono and diglycerides. Although the refractive index of fatty acids was found, .to "be. 1.439-8 at 600Q .against 1.4585 at 40C for most oils, the difference in refractive index between oil of normal acidity (between 1 and 6$) is of the same magnitude as the testing error, that is 0.0002. It may be ignored. The variation in refractive index resulting from variations in P.P.A. is negligible if the average index is determined daily on the oil produced at the mill.

iii)

Effect of the nature of the oil .Twelve samples.of oil extracted from fruits of various origin and from different parts of the bunch were found to have a nD40C index ranging from 1.4583 to 1.4590 (average 1.4584). In that case again, the recorded differences may be assimilated to the testing error. It may therefore be postulated that the refractive index is independent of the nature and the origin of the oil. The oil concentration can be determined with an accuracy of 1.5$', compared with the solvent evaporation method. The procedure avoids the evaporation of the solvent after extraction and the frequent ovsrhaating suiting Z The determination proper is very fast but aelicate volume adjustments are required. ^therefrom. The method was successfully used at Mongana but it is not recommended for a laboratory where supervision of personnel is not permanent.' Checking .is easy. It simply involves the evaporation of the solvent from the 100. ml of solution from which one drop has been drawn for the refractometer reading. Zylene was selected in prefer.ence to benzene or toluene on account of its lower vapour pressure.

- 16 The table "below gives a few comparative results obtained by weighing of the oil and by refractometry. Table 4 Origin of the oil Fruits Fruits Fruits Fruits Fruits Fruits Fruits Fruits Crude oil Crude oil Fibre Fibre \ Oil as | determined by refract cine try : Oil : determine.d ; by weighing 21.20 g 25-20 g 29-60 g

i ! i j j ; 1 | | i ; ; :
!

21.60 g
!

. i I i

26.60 g 30.40 g

20.50 g
j

28.80 g

42.10 g 18.20 g
;

22.90 g

19-75 27-30 41.20 19-10 23-40

g g g g g

'. ; | 1 -

: i i i

21-30 g
30.30 g 32.40 g

21.60 g
29OO g 32.55 g :

31-60 g
25.40 g 26.80 g i

31-30 g
25.30 g 26.70 g

!
;

i1 Fruits ; Fruits

Assessment of the oil content of p moisture content

through its

It is known that F.M. Dyke of the Research Department of HCB (Huile-rie-s du Congo 3elge ) established more than 30 years ago tha~ in fresh fruit the sum of oil and moisture of pulp is practically constant and equal to 8 $ 4. It had been observed that in the case of loose fruit derived from bunches stored long enough to make manual stripping possible, the total oil + moisture fell -to 82.5 ( 0.25) except for fruit with very low pulp content (30$) for which the sum remained below &$ 0 . The oil content was therefore described by the following equation:-

Y
where

82.5 - X

Y is the oil content X _is the moisture content of pulp.

17

As a result of this observation a table was prepared giving the sum of oil and moisture content of fresh pulp over a wide range of moisture content. The tabl-e- could.,be used. to determine the oil content of fresh pulp in the following manner: The moisture ^en-tent as determined by analysis, was deducted .from the corresponding sum of oil and moisture. The method has been adopted by all important mills of the Belgian Vanderweyen and Alias (3) confirmed the correlation. From 136 'analyses they derived the following regression equation: y = 37.33 - 1.08 X

from which they computed a table showing the oil content of pulp according to moisture content (see Table 6). These authors do not specify the time elapsed between harvesting and analysis. It must be assumed however that the time is short sines the work was. carried out. on a research station. There was a discrepancy of a few percentage units between the results of Dyke and those of Vanderweyen, which we assumed originated from a more important desiccation of the fruit in the case of Dyke's work than in the case of We wanted to check whether the latter ' s results were applicable' to fruit stripped by the local farmer, as. it is delivered to mills dealing with loose fruit, that -is- without information or control over the age of _ the fruit. To that end, 150 analyses wers carried out onloose' frui't "delivered, on the average, 4. days after harvesting of the bunches. The results confirm the INEAC data. The slope coefficient is smaller than 3#Table 5 gives the average result of 10 analyses listed in order of increasing moisture content.

- 18 -

Table 5 Analysis of fresh pericarp Fruits plucked routinely "by the small holders | % Moisture/7 Oil/fresh % Oil + fresh pulp pulp moisture 24.47 26.86 60.90 58.95 55.08 52.08 52.18 51.35 51.32 49-52 50.33 48.50 47.39 47.83 44.36 37.67 31-59 49-27 85-37 85.81 85.08 83.60 84.76 84.55 85.03 84.09 85.95 84.73 84.63 85-91 84.86 84.54 33.39 84.82 fo Oil/dry pulp 80.60 80.12 78.37 76.06 77.40 76.87 77.46 75.69 78.15 76.04 75.55 77.12 74-53 70.43 65.39
76.01

30.00
31-57 32.58 33-20 37-71 34-57 35.62 36.23 37.24 38.08 40.50 | . 46.87 51.80 i

% Oil/fresh pulp (calculated) 60.81 58.30 55/00 53.55 52.29 51.64 51.11 50.20 49.10 48.46 47.40 46.52 43-98 37.29 32.11
49.17

Average : 35.55

It is therefore confirmed that the IITEAC' table can be used for loose fruit as received in processing mills. We assume that the discrepancy recorded between the above figures and those of Dyke is due to the fact that desiccation is now less pronounced than it was 30 years ago. Transport conditions have improved considerably and the time elapsed between harvesting and delivery to the mill certainly exceeded taBK the present average of 4 days (Numerous markets were open only weekly or even fortnightly).

- 19 We give below (Table 6) the table established by Vandarweyen for the analysis of fresh pulp together with the data collected at Mongana. Table 6 Anal.ysis of fresh ta ult)

% Oi 1 % c5il i Sun of ? mois;o to ! % Moisture/ j turs ancL oil to ^~v fresh MulD : f r e sh T3UlT3 Pulp gaJt ^ mis i Mongana INEAC Mcngana INEAC Montana ISEAC 83. 3 80. 4 80.5 6C.4 85.4 60.3 25 ; 80.1 80.1 2659-3 85-3 85.3 59-3 56.2 79-7 85.2 - 85.2 58.2 27 79. 7 79.4 85-2 28 79-3 57.2 57-1 85.1 79.0 1 79.0 56.1 56.1 85.1 29 ! 85.2 78.6 i 78.1 55-0 85-1 55.1 30| 85.1 78.1 85.0 54.0 73.3 53-9 84.9 31 T~> ,C ' i l . D 52.6 85.0 S4.-8 53-0 77.9 32 ] 77.2 . 51.7 77.5 84.7 3384.9 51-9 76.8 77.1 3450.7 84.9 84.7 50.9 76.6 49-6 34.5 49-8 84.0 3576.3 75.8 76.2 84.8 48.8 48.5 36 34.5 75.2 .47. 4 37 84.7 75.7 84.4 47.7 84.3 74.7 84.7 ! 38 75.3 46.7 46.3 84.3 74.7 84. 6 39 45- 6 74.3 45-3 40 84.6 44.2 34.2 44.6 73-7 74.3 41 84.1 73-7 84.5 73-1 43-1 43-5 72.4 42 42.0 84.0 84.5 73-3 42.5 < r\ , f^ 84.4 i*y y 71.8 72.6 43 41.4 83-9 71.2 44 84.4 72.1 40.4 39-9 83-9 : 45 38.3 ! 71.4 83.8 84.3 70.5 39-3 46 69-8 37.7 83.7 84.3 70.9 38.3 1 47 69-0 83.6 70.4 84.3 36.3 37.3 48 84.2 36.2 83o 35-5 69. 6 68.3 .1 O 84.1 83. 5 49 68.8 O / . Si 34.5 35-1 50 84.0 66.8 ; 66.0 33.4 34-0 .33-4
Case of the sterilised fruit It was deemed necessary to ascertain whether a regression equation between the oil content and the moisture content of pulp of sterilised fruit could be established as it was for fresh fruit.

20 -

To that end 300 samples of sterilised fruit were subjected ~o analysis. The 300 results are given in Table 7 in 15 groups of 15 each. Table 7 Analysis of sterilised pulp
1

ivloi attire/

16-58 18.4-5 19-64

20.70 21.45 22.68 23.85 24.81 25.95 ' 27.27 28.83 29.82 31.75 33-01 39.42 ______ 25.67

Oil/ Fresh "oul'D 65.44 64.00 63.27 62,67 61.68 60.55 59-98 59.78 56.84 56.64 55.39 54.03 51-90 '50.85 45-22 _____
57.88

Sum of oil ; and moisture ; 32.02 82.45 J

Oil/ Dry T2uiD 78.44 78.48

78.73 79-03 78.53 78.32 73.77 79.51 76.76 77-88 77.83 76.04 76.04 75-91 ________ 74.65

32.91 83-37

83.13 83.23 83-32 84.59 32.79 33-91

84.22

33.35 33.55 83.86 34.62

| !

83-55

77.38

( o) Each ressuit is the avei'a*ce of 20 anal.ys es.

Although, a relationship may be observed, as in the case of fresh fruit, between the oil and moisture contents of the pulp, important deviations occur around 25% moisture. At that level, oil on dry pulp falls by almost 3$ for a difference of slightly more than ~L% in the moisture content of pulp. If we compare the results obtained on fresh and sterilised fruit, we observe that sterilisation not only induces a certain amount of desiccation but also increases the oil content on dry matter. Three hypotheses can be formulated to acco'unt for the increase in .oil/dry matters from 76$ for fresh pulp to 1$% for sterilised pulp. (The difference exists for 2/3 of the results, discarding those at both ends of the range).

21 -

The oil content en dry matter loose fruit purchased from the local farmer is different iron that bought in the form of bunches. A large proportion of the fruit with high oil/dry basis might not be delivered by the local farmer. The absolute oil content increases during sterilisation.

Part of the N.O.S., that is part of the extracted dry pulp is solubilised and washed away thus increasing the ratio of oil to dry matter.

In all probability the second hypothesis should be rejected whilst the other two should be retained. The local farmer, tends in fact, to keep the large fruits,those with low moisture content and high moisture + oil content, for his personal consumption. The loss also may occur of loose fruits which are relatively drier (8) and richer in oil on dry matter. Moreover, it may be observed that a certain amount of dry matter finds its way into the condensate resulting from sterilisation. It is difficult to ascertain which part of this loss comes from the bunch stalk and which originates from the fruit. CONCLUSIONS The calculation of the percentage recovery in a mill implies necessarily the determination of the amount of oil entering the factory. That determination requires the analysis cf the bunches or the loose fruit. The analysis of bunches provides the oil content with an accuracy of 1% only if mere than 3,000 bunches of a batch of standard homogeneity are subjected to test. That degree of uniformity probably prevails in some sectrrs, such as blocks or divisions of one estate during a certain period of time. The number of bunches that must be drawn daily for the computation of the monthly recovery is about 100. The relative error must not exceed 1%, . failing which the calculated percentage recovery loses its usefulness and, particularly, the faculty of detecting any abnormal loss occurring during processing.
.-. -

<

The analysis of the sterilised fruit requires smaller quantities of fruit to achieve the same degree of accuracy but it has the disadvantage of requiring the accurate weighing of the fruit precisely when the sample for the oil determination is being drawn. Storage of the fruit after stripping entails an apparent increase in oil content as a result of desiccation which may reach a few percentage units. Moreover, the weighing of the sterilised fruit must be performed automatically. That operation lias not "been investigated, but it seems according to constructors of automatic weighing scales that serious difficulties would be encountered.

22 -

In the case of loose fruit from, palm groves, the analysis of sterilised fruit leads to an accuracy of 10% on the oil content. A certain amount of sorting (removal of the parthenocarpic ' fruits,....) probably lowers -he relative error. The sampling of sterilised fruit from plantation crop has not been investigated. The determination of the oil content of the crop must-be carried out by solvent extraction to obtain a satisfactory degree of accuracy excspt in the case of freshly stripped fruit. The latter to disappear as a large proportion of the crop iq-.. sow processed in the form of bunches. To sum up, the procedure now recommended-for process control as well as for the determination of the oil content of bunches relies on the assessment with as high an. accuracy as possible of the processing losses and the oil production. The percentage recovery is no longer determined but rather the efficiency. The procedure makes use of tilting weighing scales for the nuts and the oil. The oil loss on fibre is calculated from the composition of the cake and the weight of nuts. Past analytical procedures may be used for the determination of oil in waste products discharged at various stages of processing. The losses can be computed daily whilst the oil production can also be ascertained on a daily basis. The efficiency can therefore be worked out daily. An additional advantage of the control procedure described above lies in the accurate determination of the kernel content of fruit or bunches simply through the weight of nuts and the ratio of dry kernel to nut.

STANDARDS OF RIPENESS' Vanderweyen (19) has written: "In an isolated fruit, the oil content reaches maximum level at full maturity, that is when the fruit drops from the bunch still attached to the palm". It is known that the ripening of the 500 to 3,000 fruits of a bunch does not occur simultaneously. Theoretically, to extract the maximum of oil, only the detachable fruits should be processed. In practice, a criterion of ripeness is selected. It is based on the number of fruits already detached from the bunch and not on the number that can be detached. The criterion is sometime 5 or 10 or 20 detached fruits. Although it is relatively easy tc determine perhaps not the optimum degree of ripeness but one very close to it, it is difficult to do so on a large batch of bunches to be harvested. It should "be made clear that we are not particularly interested in ripeness; we are more concerned with the absolute oil content of the bunches. The disadvantage of harvesting at less than full ripeness is the concomitant drop in oil content whilst harvesting at toe advanced a degree of ripeness increases the number of _detached fruits which may be bruised or may ferment (increase in the acidity of the oil). The conventional chemical analysis of a batch of bunches does not provide useful information on the average degree cf ripeness. In seme mills in the ?ar East, checking of ripeness is carried out by assessing the number of detached fruits from every bunch of a control batch. The classification adopted in a specific case is given in the table below. The table specifies the proportion of bunches having reached maximum oil content. The distribution frequencies were calculated for a 7 days harvesting7 cycle and for an average total ripening period of 10.6 days. This is the time elapsed between the fall of the first fruit to the time when all fruits have been detached. Table 8 Proportion of the bunches having reached maximum oil content

00 0

2 3 4 5

No detached fruit: green bunch 1 to 10 detached fruits 10 fruits to 1/4 of all fruits detached 25 to 50/c of all fruits detached 50 tc 75$ of all fruits detached 75 to 100$ of all fruits detached All fruits detached

0$ 15% 30$ 30$ 25$ 0$ 0$

24 -

A similar method was triad 'with a slight modification of the classification. Sampling was standardised.
\

The following provisional classification was adopted:Table 9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9

No detached fruit I to 10 detached fruits II to 20 detached fruits 21 to 40 detached fruits 41 to 70 detached fruits 71 to 100 detached fruits 100 to half of all fruits detached 50 to 75$ of all fruits detached 75 to 100% of all fruits detached.

The checking consists in examining the first 10 bunches from every lorry load being unloaded. Presently, the trend is to draw the optimum frequency curve. It is governed by the harvesting cycle, the speed of ripening, the type of handling between harvesting and bunch checking, the age of palms,etc... Some IFEAC specialists consider that the palm reaches "stability" from the point of view of speed of ripening and oil content of fruit only after 7 years. The specifications are:- Maximum absolute average acidity. As an quency curves are given tried experimentally in the Congo. A. set up for the optimum curve oil content and ainimum illustration 5 actual frebelow. The curves are being a large number cf estates in

Oil content of bunches It is assumed that maximum oil content in the fruit is attained-only when that fruit detaches itself, then it must be implicity acknowledged that bunches are, inpractice, harvested below that maximum. The following question therefore arises: What is the effect of the average ripeness on the oil content of bunches?

25 -

It is extremely difficult to study the evolution of the absolute oil content of bunches during ripening. It is however easy to assess the relative oil content of the pulp or of the dry matter or of the fruit. The oil content of fruit can be used in the assessment of the absolute oil con-cent only if the evolution of the weight of the fruit during ripening is known. The study of the increase in absolute oil content is in progress. It requires a very large number of tests. Moreover, the increase in the oil content of dry matter in the course of ripening is also being investigated on a large scale. It may be pointed out that the oil shortage resulting from insufficient ripeness as calculated from the Kehren data (20) is as follows:Table 10 Loss of oil expressed as percentage -of total oil

Ripeness Ripe fruit 2 days before 5 days before 3 days before

Ofc
2.6/c

Gil content of bunches 20%

19. 5#

7.7/= 23.1?

285 ..* 1.* 54

The figures of the 3rd column of the table show the drop in the oil content of bunches calculated on the basis of 20$ at optimum ripeness. The data show how serious the problem is; also that it might be easier in the present conditions of oil extraction to increase oil production through close control of bunch ripeness than through process control in the mill. It oust however be taken account of the fact that too advanced a degree of ripeness may trigger an increase in P.?.A. which may wipe off the profit derived frcm the extraction of a larger amount of oil. In addition to the loss in value inherent in the acidity, the difficulties of disposing on the market of oil with high acidity must be reckoned with.

26 -

50 |
40

5<rs u8nc

y in 1

'

30
t!

Crop with high proportion of green bunches. -Hiper crop still containing too high a proportion of "0" bunches.

20

\ \
10

1-0 11-20 21-404-70 7W.OO Classes Figure i Rroeness curves

po
40

\ Frequency in

\CroT) with wide range of

^^ _^

\ ^^T

r*-i - n p r j a o o * A l C^XQ SO.

T*o -t w U C i fcj 1">A"h*i

"^ w

he

^ \

30

20 10
ft

'

'^1 \>N -^^.^^x ^ x

x

! ,''

; ' / '

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'

proportion of green bunches and that over-ripe bunches. ~r-r~.-Experimental harvest.

S , / N ' ^<^ ?x ^*.,'

t^-^\

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N.

0
0

1-0 11-20 21-40 41-70 71-100 lOOi Classes Figure 6 Ripeness curves