Effect of Flowrate and Circulation Time on Fractionation of Refined Bleached and Deodorised Palm Oil using Progressive Freeze Concentration Method

This research concerns on the possibility of separating refined, bleached and deodorised palm oil (RBDPO) into olein and stearin using another alternative through Progressive Freeze Concentration (PFC) to replace the conventional process of dry fractionation. The process was carried out in stainless steel coil crystalliser and the quality of olein and stearin and the performance of crystalliser to purify the olein were analysed. The quality of oil was evaluated through iodine value (IV) and Slip Melting Point (SMP), while for the performance of PFC, effective partition constant, K, and yield of olein were used to determine the system efficiency. The purified olein were obtained for IV and SMP at higher flowrate (2800 mL/min) and longer period of time (60 min) are 55.87wijs and 23.04°C, 55.89wijs and 23.08°C, respectively. Meanwhile, the best K and yield of olein were obtained at higher flowrate and time, giving values of 0.2369, 67.99% and 0.238 and 67.93%, respectively.