The sterilization or cooking station of palm oil mill is a process to loose fruit by use of high-temperature wet-heat treatment.The difference between cooking and sterilization is that cooking uses hot water whereas sterilization involves the use of pressurized steam.

Main Equipment: Fruit Cage, Horizontal Sterilizer and Tippler.

Sterilizing Station Of Palm Oil Milling Factory

Palm oil is generally processed by sterilization. The sterilization process serves the following processes. As a kind of improtant palm oil machine, palm oil sterilizer (sterilizing machinery) serves the following purposes.

Purpose of Palm Oil Sterilizing Process

• • The heat treatment helps destroy oil-splitting enzymes and seizes hydrolysis and autoxidation.
• • In large scale palm oil mill plant, where the fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) need to be cooked whole, the steam weakens the stem of the fruit and reduces the effort required to get the fruit from the bunch with mere tumbling in the threshing machine or shaking.
• • The heat is very important since it assists in solidifying proteins that contain the oil-bearing cells that are microscopically dispersed in it. This process of protein solidification/coagulation enables the oil bearing cells to collect together and flow with much ease when pressure is exerted.
• • Further, the fruit is subjected to cooking to weaken the pulp structure, make it soft and easy to remove the fibrous material and its components during the process of digestion. High heat is recommended to partially disband the oil containing cells found in the mesocarp and further allows the oil to flow more readily. This stage of processing is very important.
• • During sterilization, the moisture produced by the steam helps to chemically disintegrate the gums and resins. If this is not done, the resins and gum will cause foam during frying. Since part of the resins and gums are soluble in water, you can choose to apply wet steam to dissolve them in water such that they can be easily removed during clarification. Even the starch contained in the fruit can be hydrolyzed and removed in the same way.
• • High-pressure steam is recommended for sterilization to cause the (warm air) moisture in the nuts to expand. Reducing the pressure causes contraction of the nuts and detachment of the kernels within their shells.
• • After detaching the kernel from its shell wall, the nut cracking operation then begins. This clearly demonstrates that sterilization is therefore the most important process here. It is a pre-requisite for the success of all other palm oil processing processes.
• • On high-pressure steam heating, the sterilization systems causes the bunches to loosen the fruits. This is critical because it helps the palm fruit bunches loose less water during the process.
  
   

It is very important to ensure that air in the sterilizer is evacuated before the process of sterilization begins. The air may act as a blocker to heat transfer and again most likely to increase oxidation particularly at high temperatures. Note that oxidation risks is common during high temperature sterilization whereas over-oxidation may as well cause poor or partial bleach ability of the end product (oil). Sterilization is undoubtedly the main cause of the discolouration of palm kernels resulting to poor bleach ability of the extracted oil and no doubt, the cause of reduction in the protein value of the oil press cake.

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