Long term bulk storage of

crude palm oil with and

without antioxidants
Chong1,2, C.L., Yeoh2, C.B. and Saw2, M.H.

1Retired 2MPOB
Presentation content:

• Introduction

• Experimental set up

• Results and Observations

• Conclusion
Introduction
 Crude palm oil pressed from freshly harvested FFB
are of good quality

 Upon storage CPO quality has to be preserved with

proper storage conditions

 During periods of low CPO prices or demand, storage

of CPO over extended periods may be inevitable

 What will happen to CPO quality during these

extended storage periods?
Work outlined in this presentation is
designed to give an indication of the
trend of CPO quality during extended
storage at ambient on a model
simulation of storage in a land tank
Experimental design:

• 3 x 200L mild steel drums with open top lid used

• 2 unlined drum, 1 epoxy lined drum

• Drums two-third filled with CPO

• 1 unlined and the lined drum CPO mixed with

110/346ppm of TBHQ/citric acid antioxidant
mixture

• Drums closed and stored at ambient temperature

outside the laboratory
Sampling:

 Monthly sampling

 Specially designed sampler tube

 Sampler tube can be dismantled section by

section after sampling to give layer samples

 Core (overall) sample also obtained

Oil quality analysis

 Peroxide value (PV)

 Free fatty acid content (FFA)
 UV measurement at 233nm, 269nm and
446nm (carotene content)
 SCOPA ( core sample)
Quality characteristics of CPO used:

Iodine value: 52 wijs

FFA content: 3.6%
PV: 1.5mequivO2/Kg
Anisideine value: 1.7
A233nm: 1.05AU (1% solution)
A269nm: 0.20AU (1% solution)
Iron content: 5ppm
Copper content: 0.0015ppm
Diagram of
layer and
core sampler
Results and Observations
Peroxide value (PV):

 Control unlined drum: PV reached a maximum of

26mequivO2/kg after 500 storage days

 Unlined drum CPO with TBHQ/citric acid mixture: PV reached

a maximum PV of 5mequivO2/kg after 500 storage days

 Lined drum CPO with antioxidant mixture: reached a

maximum of 1.6mequivO2/kg after 500 storage days

 Between the lined and unlined drum CPO: beneficial effect of

lining becomes apparent after 100 days storage

 As storage period is extended the lining beneficial effect

becomes more obvious
PV continue
For layer samples:

 Most oxidation occurs within the two top olein layers (within
20 – 30cm from oil surface)

 Maximum PV of two top layers after 500days storage:

 lined drum with antioxidant: 3mequiv)2/kg
 unlined with antioxidant: 6mequivO2/kg

 In the control sample, the PV of two top olein layers is about

40mequivO2/kg compared to about 10mequivO2/kg for the
lowest stearin layer
FFA contents

 Control unlined drum: FFA higher in the top two

olein layers (5% after 500 days)than the two lower
stearin layers (about 4%)

 Core sample FFA is intermediate between the five

layered samples (parallel to the value of the middle
layer, 4.6%)

 FFA contents of layered and core samples of he

antioxidant containing oils have values similar to
that of the control
UV233nm measurement

As UV233nm is a measurement of the

primary oxidation state of the oil, the
results showed the same pattern as
that of the peroxide value results
shown earlier
UV269nm measurement (secondary oxidation)

 Control unlined drum:

 UV269nm values observed to increase up to 0.44AU after

500 days of storage

 Core sample UV269nm value after 500 days: 0.37AU

 Stearin layer UV269nm values: les than 0.33AU

 Antioxidant mixture containing oils in lined and unlined

drums after 500 days: UV269nm values less than 0.29AU
(cf 0.2AU at start of expt)
Carotene content (UV446nm)

After 500 days storage period:

 Carotene content of control in unlined drum

drops to 515ppm

 Carotene contents of antioxidant containing

oils drops to about 600ppm

 Carotene contents of two upper olein rich

layers higher than those of the two lower
stearin layers
SCOPA measurements

• For all three drum samples the SCOPA

readings are below 3R up to a storage
period of 160 days

• The SCOPA colour readings go up to about

5R after 500 storage days for the antioxidant
containing oils and to more than 5R for the
control oil in the unlined drum
Discussions

 FFA content is independent of antioxidant as expected

 FFA higher in olein layers due to lower viscosity of olein layers compared to
semi-solid stearin layers

 Carotene is more concentrated in olein layers – support observations by

other researchers

 PV increases rapidly after 150 days storage, carotene levels drop drastically
after 150 days

 The drum lining prevents contact of oil with the iron surfaces of the storage
vessel. This will reduce the catalytic effect of iron on oxidation of the oil
during storage
 Control sample drum: a core sample maximum PV value of about
26mequivO2/kg. At certain periods of PV build up, there are periods of PV
reductions

 As PV reduces there is a corresponding increase in secondary oxidation UV

269nm values. Results implies the breakdown of primary oxidation products
into secondary oxidation products

 Results between lined drum and unlined drum shows beneficial effects of a
lining between the oil and the storage vessel wall. This implies that where
CPO is to be stored for any extended period of time, the storage tank should
be coated or lined e.g. when storing for economical hedging purposes

 The effect of CPO oxidation on the refinability of CPO has been clearly
elucidated by the SCOPA results here and supports reported works of Bek-
Nielsen and S. Krishnan(1976) and J. E. Huffaker(1982) respectively
Conclusion

 FFA increased is not affected by the presence of antioxidants

in CPO

 Citric cid/TBHQ is effective in preventing oxidation of CPO

 Tank lining is effective in slowing down oxidation of CPO

through a reduction of catalytic effect of iron on the reaction

 Refinability of CPO is dependent on its oxidative quality

evidenced by SCOPA results

 Carotene protect CPO by itself being oxidised first