Production

Elaeis guineensis is a species of palm commonly called African oil palm. It’s fruit provide many industries with numerous uses, including edible oils, as well as additional resources – Palm Kernel Shells that are used, among others, in heating processes as they are efficient as fuels as well as Palm Kernel Cake, which being a very rich nutrient is commonly used worldwide as an ingredient in cattle foods.

Palm Oil is extracted from both the pulp of the fruit (crude palm oil, an edible oil) and the kernel (palm kernel oil, used in foods and for other industry manufacturing processes)

Crude Palm Oil is a kind of Palm oil which is fully edible and widely used in the food industry among the world. It is extracted from the pulp of fruit of oil palms. The color of pulp is red. That’s why crude palm oil is naturally similar to pulp color because of high inactive vitamin A content. It is different from kernel oil or coconut oil. Commonly it is combined or mixed with coconut oil to make highly saturated vegetable fat, which is also used for cooking purposes.

Main usage of Crude Palm Oil is for cooking purposes and is largely used in South-East Asia, West Africa and some parts of Brazil.

After the pulp of the Palm Fruit is used and Crude Palm Oil is the main product, Palm Kernel Nuts are what remain. This nutrient – rich, incredibly useful Kernel is then processed further in order to split Palm Kernel from Palm Kernel Shells.

That production process includes cracking the nuts with specialized equipment, which is done in all three of PCC Organic Oils facilities – Abenase, Bechem and Aketenchie. After the nut is cracked, the shells are separated from the Kernel to allow further processing to continue.

Palm Kernel Shells are the shell fractions left after the nut has been removed after crushing in the Palm Oil mill. Kernel shells are a fibrous material and can be easily handled in bulk directly from the product line to the end use. Large and small shell fractions are mixed with dust-like fractions and small fibres.

Moisture content in kernel shells is low compared to other biomass residues with different sources suggesting values between 11% and 13%. Palm kernel shells contain residues of Palm Oil, which accounts for its slightly higher heating value than average lignocellulosic biomass. Compared to other residues from the industry, it is a good quality biomass fuel with uniform size distribution, easy handling, easy crushing, and limited biological activity due to low moisture content.

After the shells are separated from the Nuts, Palm Kernels are what remains. Those nutrient – rich seeds need to be cleaned in a very precise and thorough way before further processing continues.

Palm Kernel is then crushed in the mill, resulting in the making of two final products – Palm Kernel Oil and Palm Kernel Cake.

Palm Kernel Oil produced by PCC Organic Oils is a high-end, best quality product, produced in an efficient and environmentally–friendly way.

Resembling coconut oil, palm kernel oil is packed with myristic and lauric fatty acids and therefore suitable for the manufacture of soaps, washing powders and personal care products as well as many more among number of industries. Lauric acid is important in soap making: a good soap must contain at least 15 per cent laurate for quick lathering, while soap made for use in sea water is based on virtually 100 per cent laurate.

Palm Kernel Cake is produced out of Palm Kernel – after all the Palm Kernel Oil is extracted, the solid residue left behind Palm Kernel Cake is what is left. It is now well entrenched as a major feed ingredient in beef and dairy feed in the country.

The Palm Kernel Cake is obtained out from two stages of oil extraction from the palm fruit. The first stage is the primary extraction of palm oil from the pericarp portion of the fruit. The extraction of oil from crushed kernel then results in the production of Palm Kernel Cake as by-product.

Palm Kernel Cake is widely used as a rich nutrient and an addition to cattle and poultry diets among the world.