The fruit of the palm tree Elaeis guineensis is the source of two distinctively different oil types. Palm oil is obtained from the mesocarp of the palm fruit; the outer pulp contains kernels that are the source of palm kernel oil.
How is palm kernel oil processed?
Due to its particular triacylglycerol composition, palm kernel oil cannot be easily processed with a classical dry fractionation technology, and panning and pressing was for a long time the only alternative to solvent or detergent fractionation. In this process, the palm kernel oil is poured in pans and stored in cold rooms to crystallize.
What is chemical refining of palm oil?
When starting with very good quality crude palm oil (low FFA and high DOBI), chemical refining is able to purify the oil so effectively that the bleaching step can be skipped or performed with very small amounts of non-activated bleaching earths or with silica.
How is palm oil reprocessed?
The first step of crude palm oil and palm kernel oil physical refining is the degumming, which consists of the removal of the phosphatides. When this content is low, as is the case for these oils, the dry degumming is the common way.