PFAD

PALM FATTY ACID DISTILLATE (PFAD)

Crude palm oil main product is refined bleach and deodorized palm oil. They are fractionated into RDB olein and stearin fractions by cooling down process and filter pressing process. The main component of PFAD is free fatty acids, which are oleic, stearic and palmitic. The FFA stripping tower has good efficiency process if it content in Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD) is high while triglycerides are low.

Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD) is a by-product of crude palm oil refinery plant, which was produced from the physical refining of palm oil. PFAD has very similar composition to Palm Acid Oil (PAO), but it generally has higher FFA (over 70%), the balance being neutral oil and up to 1% moisture and impurities. It is a light brown solid at room temperature, melting to a brown liquid on heating.

The main uses of PFAD are in soap industries, animal feed industries and also is used as raw materials for bio-diesel and chemical industries. When extracted, Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD) produces Vitamin E which has large purposes in many fields, especially health. Chromatographic separation process of vitamin E adsorption gives a better control.

Most biodiesel plants are use the conventional sodium hydroxide/sodium methoxide-based transesterification process, which requires highly priced refined oil feedstock. Although palm oil is one of the more competitive feedstocks for biodiesel production, it can be expensive because its price is linked to that of crude petroleum. However, during the refining of palm oil, a lower-value by-product known as palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) is generated in the fatty acid stripping and deodorization stages. PFAD is potentially a valuable, low-cost feedstock for the production of biodiesel. It also makes the much-debated “food vs. fuel” argument a non-issue as PFAD is generally sold as a source of industrial fatty acids for non-food applications. It has also been used as a fuel in power plants and industrial boilers.

The amount of readily available PFAD is not significant, and it presents biodiesel producers with excellent access to a low-cost, non-food source of feedstock. PFAD is always traded at a discount to crude or refined, bleached, and deodorized (RBD) palm oil.

By incorporating a continuous esterification section, a biodiesel producer with a conventional sodium hydroxide/sodium methoxide-based transesterification process now has the opportunity to possess a new, truly multiple feedstock plant able to handle difference raw materials including PFAD. By using the above processes, combined with pretreatment and other processes, the variety of feedstock can be further expanded to include low-quality and high free-fatty-acid (FFA) oils, thereby ensuring that a very wide range of low-cost feedstocks are available to the biodiesel processor, thus ensuring the profitability of the plant.

PFAD also provides a source of a value-added co-products for the biodiesel producer. PFAD contains 72.7-92.6% FFA, with a small amount of unsaponifiable components (1-2.5%) and the remainder of neutral oil. Modern palm oil refineries consistently produce PFAD with FFA content higher than 88%, and crude palm oil also contains non-glyceride minor components that have been associated with health benefits, some of which are distilled off together with the FFA as unsaponifiable components.

The unsaponifiable materials of PFAD have long been considered a potential source of highly valuable phytochemicals. Vitamin E, phytosterols, and squalene are of particular interest, and their beneficial effects are well documented.

The initial step in the extraction of phytochemicals from PFAD is conversion of the fatty acids into a methyl ester that is biodiesel. The methyl ester is then distilled in a short-path evaporator where the

phytochemicals are concentrated in the residues. The residues are further processes to produce the high-value added phytochemicals. The distilled methyl ester is a high-quality biodiesel that will meet all biodiesel EN and ASTM specifications, including the Cold Soak Filtration Test. Furthermore, other parameters such as mono-, di-, and triglycerides content are reduced significantly, further enhancing the fuel properties of the biodiesel.

The challenge for biodiesel producers is to remain profitable, and one solution is to operate a new-generation biodiesel plant that is truly multiple-feedstock capable. PFAD is one alternative low-cost feedstock that is available today. PFAD also gives a producer the ability to produce high-value co-products. Going one step further, these new-generation truly multiple-feedstock biodiesel plants can be designed to accept low-quality and high-FFA oil feedstocks using proven process technologies that are already operational in several plants today.

Specification:

Packaging:-

• Used steel drum: 185kgs/drum x 98 drums per 20ft container [18.13 MTs]
• Flexibag in 20ft container: ±21 MTs per 20ft container
• Bulk vessel

PALM OIL REFINING PROCESS

PROCEDURES TO OPERATE THE HEATING PAD WHEN DISCHARGING LIQUID:

SHORTER TUBE – Inputting steam source [installed on the right door of container]

LONGER TUBE – Outputting the steam source [installed on the left door of container]

1. Once laden container reached, open the right door of the container.
2. Hand the outputting hose to the outside left door of the container.
3. Straighten the hoses and check if they are not bent, kinked or twisted.
4. Connect the inlet hoses to the steam or hot water hoses. Ensure that steam or hot water is properly discharging from the output hoses.
5. Slowly increase steam or hot water pressure to the heating pad. Check the melting temperature of the product and ensure that the heat source is not hot to overheat the product.
6. Once the product has been sufficiently melted, start to discharge the product. Do not turn off the heat source at this stage.
7. Heating until one quarter of the product remains and slowly decrease the steam or hot water pressure. Pump out the remainder of the product.
8. Allow the heating pad to be sufficiently cool before you disengage the hoses. Dispose the heating pad once the operation is over.