Pamol has two mills one in Ndian and One in Lobe.
FFB MILLING PROCESS.
Fresh Fruit Quality Control.
The quality and quantity of oil starts from the field of production and management. Fresh fruits bunches (FFB) from the field are received on the weighbridge and weighed. The fruits are taken to the Internal RAM for evaluation against hard bunhes. Hard bunches do not yield good quantity and quality oil. Quality and quantity of oil is derived from matured ripe fruits when harvesting is done every two weeks. Hard bunches are dark in colour. To determine the percentage of hard bunches in FFB quality control, requires counting or a sample of 100 bunches randomly from a truck load it minus the number of hard bunches and, find the percentage average of ripe fruits in tonnage.
Mill Laboratory.
The laboratory is responsible for the analysis of oil quality and control of oil stock. Factors to be analysed are:-
- Percentage of fatty acide
- Percentage of Moisture content
- Percentage of dirt content
Oil quality control is to prevent spoilage, ordour, maintain taste and cleaniness. Oil in storage tanks or reservoirs for sale is controlled by the mill laboratory.
Fatty Acide Determination Materials.
- Sensitive weighing machine
- Glass dish (small)
- Spirit (alcohol)
- An electrical heater
- Durex
- 5g of palm oil
- Weigh 20mls of spirit pour in the glass dish containing oil
- Place the glass dish on a heater for 5 minutes
- Remove the sample from the heater and shake for some seconds to give light red colour
- use normality of solution 0.12809
- Use factor 3.279
- Molecular wt 25.6
Use solution in the durex pipe Formular for FFA = Normality No x molecular wt = % FFA Wt of oil
Mill Plant Maintenance.
The Process Clerk is responsible for machine routine maintenance of the plants. Plants are; factory milling machines, houses of the Estate etc. Plant maintenance may be done daily, weekly, monthly or after every 6 months or yearly depending on their manual system. Maintenance and job cards are established on jobs executed or to be executed.
Plant History Card.
It provides information on repairs carried out on a machine till date. Plants are usually classified to ease routine repairs. They are rank from A – H.
Group A include fruit reception plant
Group B include clearification system plant
Group C include nut section plant.
Group D include various conveyors plant
Group E include steam pipes and valves.
Group F include Heavy duty plants e.g genrators etc
Group G include Water supply system in the factory and houses
Group CP include control panel boards for verification of electrical faults and installation plant.
Mechanical Metal and Electrical Workshop.
The mechanical and metal workshop is responsible for the maintenance of the mill, production of machine spare parts for the day to day running of the machines.
The electrical department carries out repairs and installation of electrical appliances in the mill and houses. Electricity for the running of the mill is generated locally in the industry through a boiler which produces steam to generate power used in the running of the mill. The steam from the boiler is used to run the turbine which must be 200 Psi. The turbine consist of the prime mover and the alternator. The prime mover runs the alternator where it generates energy/power. The speed must be 1500 revolution per a minute for power to be generated to run the mill.
The Electrical Panel Board.
The board consist of the main circuit breakers and sub circuits for different operational units of the mill. These may include:-
- The Nut Plant
- The Process Plant
- The Clerification Plant
- The Boiler Plant
- The Domestic Areas etc
The Pamol Technical Store.
The store contains technical materials and hand tools for use in event of replacement of damaged parts in the mill.