World's Most Consumed Vegetable Oil
Palm oil is the world's most produced and consumed vegetable oil, accounting for approximately 36% of global vegetable oil output. With annual production exceeding 78 million metric tons, palm oil processing represents a major segment of the global edible oil industry.
Huatai's palm oil production lines deliver complete EPC solutions covering every stage — from fresh fruit bunch (FFB) sterilization, threshing, digestion, and pressing, to clarification, palm kernel recovery, refining, and dry fractionation. Our plants are engineered for maximum oil yield, energy self-sufficiency using biomass by-products, and production of both crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel oil (PKO).
We offer flexible capacities from 5 TPH for smallholder mills to 120 TPH for large plantation complexes. Each line is custom-engineered based on your FFB variety, mill layout, and target products. Our experienced engineering team provides complete support from feasibility study to plant commissioning.
Palm Oil Production Steps
From fresh fruit bunches to refined, fractionated palm oil — a fully integrated process.
1. Sterilization
Fresh fruit bunches (FFB) are loaded into horizontal sterilizer cages and treated with saturated steam at 140-150°C for 75-90 minutes. This inactivates lipase enzymes to prevent free fatty acid rise, loosens fruits for threshing, and softens the bunch structure.
2. Threshing
Sterilized bunches are fed into a rotary drum thresher rotating at 22-28 rpm. The threshing action detaches individual fruits from the bunch stalks. Empty bunches are discharged for use as boiler fuel or organic fertilizer.
3. Digestion
Detached fruits enter a vertical digester with stirring arms. Live steam heats the fruits to 90-100°C, rupturing oil-bearing cells and conditioning the mesocarp for efficient oil release during pressing.
4. Pressing
Digested fruits are fed into a continuous double-screw press. The contra-rotating screws progressively compress the mash, releasing crude palm oil (CPO) while discharging a press cake containing fibers and nuts.
5. Clarification
The crude oil mixture passes through a vibrating screen to remove fibers, then a settling tank for primary separation, followed by centrifugal clarification and vacuum drying to produce clean crude palm oil below 0.1% moisture and 0.05% impurities.
6. Kernel Recovery
Press cake is broken in a ripple mill to crack palm nuts without damaging kernels. A combination of clay bath separation (density differential) and hydrocyclones separates palm kernels from shells for further processing.
7. Kernel Pressing
Cleaned palm kernels are conditioned, flaked, and pressed in a screw press to extract palm kernel oil (PKO). The remaining palm kernel expeller is a high-protein animal feed ingredient with 18-20% protein content.
8. Palm Oil Refining
Crude palm oil is refined through degumming, bleaching with activated earth, and deodorization under high vacuum steam distillation. The result is RBD palm oil with free fatty acid below 0.1% and peroxide value below 1.0 meO2/kg.
9. Fractionation
RBD palm oil is cooled gradually to crystallize higher-melting triglycerides. Membrane filter press separation yields liquid palm olein (70-75% yield) and solid palm stearin (25-30% yield) for cooking oil, margarine, and specialty fat applications.
Key Equipment Systems
Each system is designed and manufactured in-house under ISO 9001 quality management.
Sterilization & Threshing
Horizontal cylindrical sterilizer with multiple cages for batch or continuous operation, capable of 3-bar steam pressure. Rotary drum thresher with optimize flight design to achieve 98%+ threshing efficiency with minimal fruit damage.
Pressing Station
Continuous double-screw press with hard-faced screw flights and wear-resistant cage bars, designed for 5-120 TPH capacity. Achieves residual oil in fiber below 10%. Includes forced feeding system and automatic cake discharge.
Clarification & Kernel Recovery
Vibrating screen, continuous settling tank, decanter centrifuge, and vacuum dryer for crude oil clarification. Ripple mill for nut cracking with clay-bath or hydrocyclone separator system achieving 99% kernel recovery rate.
Refining & Fractionation
Continuous physical refining line for high-FFA crude palm oil, with acid degumming, bleaching, and deodorization at 250-260°C. Dry fractionation plant with crystallization tanks, membrane filter press, and automated PLC control for palm olein and stearin separation.
Kernel Oil Plant
Complete palm kernel oil plant including kernel cleaning, cracking, flaking, cooking, and screw pressing. Optional solvent extraction for residual kernel meal. Produces food-grade palm kernel oil for confectionery and cosmetics industries.
Technical Highlights
Engineering innovations that deliver superior performance and lower operating costs.
Continuous Double-Screw Pressing
Our contra-rotating double-screw press achieves up to 93% oil extraction rate from palm fruits, outperforming single-screw designs. The precision-machined cage bars handle 5-120 TPH throughput with consistent residual oil below 10% in pressed fiber.
Energy Self-Sufficient Mill Design
By utilizing empty bunches, fibers, and shells as biomass boiler fuel, our palm oil mills achieve energy self-sufficiency. Co-generation of steam and electricity reduces operating costs by 35-45% compared to grid-powered mills, with surplus power exported to the grid.
Zero-Waste Biomass Utilization
Beyond oil extraction, our plants convert all by-products into value streams: empty bunches and shells as boiler fuel, palm kernel expeller as animal feed, and palm oil mill effluent (POME) into biogas via anaerobic digestion for additional power generation.
China's Leading Grain & Oil Machinery Manufacturer
Henan Huatai Intelligent Equipment Group was founded in 1988 and has grown into one of China's major grain and oil machinery manufacturing enterprises. We integrate research and development, engineering design, equipment manufacturing, on-site installation and commissioning under one roof.
Our 100,000㎡ manufacturing campus in Hua County, Henan Province houses modern production lines with CNC machining centers, automated welding systems and comprehensive quality testing laboratories. As an ISO 9001 certified manufacturer, every piece of equipment undergoes rigorous inspection and factory acceptance testing before shipment.
We specialize in complete EPC turn-key projects covering the full spectrum of edible oil processing — from oilseed pretreatment and solvent extraction through to refining, fractionation and by-product utilization.
38+
Years of Experience
100,000 m²
Modern Factory
70+
Countries Served
22
Global Offices
Get Your Customized Palm Oil Plant Solution
Tell us your target FFB capacity and target products. Our engineers will prepare a tailored proposal within 48 hours.