The importance of monitoring crude palm oil (CPO) quality cannot be overemphasised when we consider the fact that good-quality refined oils must be produced from high quality CPO. The trend to produce CPO with low (<1.5%) free fatty acid (FFA) has increased among the millers as it commands a premium price due to its hygienic food grade quality. CPO normally contains FFA which need to be removed as part of the refining process. The FFA levels can vary from the time of harvesting to the milling processing and storage. Lipase activities causes increment in FFA levels in CPO. FFA is formed when the bound fatty acid in triglyceride molecules are split either by chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis. Currently, the premium oil at the mill is manually collected every 30 min after checking FFA content and switching the flow of CPO into the clarifier tank. The common practice to determine the FFA content in CPO is the wet chemical method. To meet this demand, it will be of great advantage to use the near infrared (NIR) system, which is more efficient, much faster and solvent-free compared to the titration method. With the NIR system, the FFA of the CPO can be analysed instantaneously where the result is conveyed as an electrical signal to operate a two-way valve that switches the CPO flow into separate tanks. As a result, mills can segregate automatically the low and from high FFA CPO.

Researcher: Fatah Yah Abd Manaf
Email: fatahyah@mpob.gov.my