In light of Covid-19 virus crisis, we came to the decision to cancel the physical meeting in Monash University Malaysia on 9 March 2020. We advise our members to join the technical talk via online webinar from your personal device at home or at work. This decision is made in the careful consideration for the health and safety of the public. This situation will remain under review and we will continue to provide regular updates.

Overview

Recycling of POME sludge and other waste streams causes severe degradation of CPO quality. Finding alternative uses for these secondary products had been difficult because of high levels of FFA and impurities.

Recently, liquid enzymes have been shown to catalyze the transesterification and esterification of glycerides and fatty acids components in these waste oils at lower temperatures of about 40°C, ambient pressure and with high rates of conversion. Laboratory and plant scale trials shown over 90% conversion of esterifiable components with 2-3% of FFA.

This conversion has been demonstrated and proven on a commercial scale and is increasingly adopted by the industry to produce high quality methyl esters that meets the EN/ASTM specification, although further distillation to remove non-esterifable residues and sulphur are required.

Speaker

Wong Wai Seng

Mr. Wong Wai Seng has 10-year experience in vegetable oil and fat processing line, particularly in enzyme technology that covers both upstream (Palm oil extraction) and downstream application (Refining, Interesterification, FFA remedial, Condensation and FAME synthesis). He has worked with Loders Croklaan for 5 years by leading the R&D team to produce OPO fat for infant formula, as well as SOS for shea stearin replacer in CBE production.

The material presented has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenter’s own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE or the Palm Oil Processing Special Interest Group. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.