Crude Palm Oil Physicochemical and Quality Characterisation

Abstract

Crude Palm Oil (CPO) is extracted from the mesocarp of fruit obtained from the oil palm tree, which is also known as Elaeis guineensis. CPO contains Free Fatty Acid (FFA), which is one of the unnecessary constituents in CPO that is not good for food items and human consumption. Various methods for the deacidification process led to maximising the processing time, energy, and operating costs. Therefore, the aim of this research is to do a physical upgrading of the CPO, which may remove the FFA from the CPO while minimising the processing time, energy, and operating costs. However, prior to the physical upgrading of the CPO, it is important to highlight the physicochemical and quality characterisation of the CPO, which is essential and becomes a necessary procedure before the refining process. The purpose of this research is to examine the physicochemical and quality characteristics, which are fatty acid composition and FFA content, of the CPO, respectively. The American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS) method was used for this research work. The results showed the percentage of palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, and linoleic acid of the CPO were 40.1 %, 2.5 %, 37.5 %, and 19.9 %, respectively. The FFA content of the CPO was 4.90 %. The findings indicated the CPO met the recommended value by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). The physicochemical and quality characterisation of the CPO provide information as a guideline before the physical upgrading of the CPO that may produce palm oil products with good constituents for human health and the food industry.