Factory life can be boring in the whole world, except my factory
You have no system - "no system is the best system, as we can respond to changes faster than anybody" - so say me defacto boss then - he is not totally wrong, at that time that is
The sleeping giant has began to awaken - run by a bunch of enthusiastic technocrat - dedicated, hard working and do anything to meet buyers' requirement
The factory operators call them FOC committee - Free of charge, OT that is. The first shift operators saw them in the morning when they go home and the last shift still see them around when coming to work
What make them tick? I dont know but i followed through. The pay is good but not fantastic. The bonus is huge but not uncommon in Old style china man company. The only comment i can draw is RK is blessed. Later in my career in shipping, plantation, i found similar heroes there
During the management course, lecture told us that the first hour of work - the manager should close his door and plan for the day. When i drive to work every morning, I just wondering what fire need to put out today. What planning
When I first started i worked until maybe 10pm....... until one day one old timer tell me i can sit until 2 am in the morning there will be still unfinished business.....why.....because you are there
Maybe that's one of the reason i like about this job - there is no politics. The job is so taxing that you can volunteer or assume any responsibility or authority - it will be gladly presented to you
I started as QC head and normally this is the department say pass or fail and stop there. Production say it has produced the oil and up to the operation to move. Operation will say vessel is coming if no cargo it is not their responsibility
When QC take over the responsibility, there is no quarrel - it is gladly given to me. My experience outside the factory is beneficial for decision making. Of course I am young then and not afraid of decision making.
I do make mistakes sometimes but the spirit is there and everybody help to turn the tide. It was a wonderful 12 years working there until i was transfer to China - which is the second turning point of my life
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Entrepreneurship
After working for 7 years - think i am ready to run my own business. Venture out and tried it out and ended disastrously. Some year later attend a seminar on the road to entrepreneurship - i did everything they advise not to
1) Have enough capital
2) Not too many partners (or friends)
3) Study the market well - a lot of customers will said they'll support you before venturing out; but when you actually ventured out, their support vaporised
I come out with 3 other who were my better friend at that time. Think only one left who will still hug me when met outside. Maybe both of us beer drinkers have some common bonds
We joint-venture with the Japanese to form surveyor/laboratory company. Of course the Japanese suppose to deliver the customers but did not. Overhead is high with 4 managers and no business.
Inter disagreement is the biggest sore point - too much in fighting. The 1988 CNY is the most miserable time of my life. The saving is disappearing fast, 2nd daughter is just 1 year old and the company is collapsing
Then received a call from an old friend - he is looking for a laboratory manager for his factory. I recommended two of my friends to him and both declined. Well the factory at that time is indeed laughing stock of town. New boy in town and desperate to expand and hence a lot of confusion. But by then i am more desperate n the old friend call again, why don't i joined him
After i say yes, the news spread and received three calls
- one from wife's best friend - if i cannot survive in that company, call him out and he'll help me
- my drinking kaki call - he is the good friend of the ex-Chemist of the factory - "this is the hot seat and no body can sit there except me, and yet i am leaving" - my drinking kaki asked me i am sure
- then an old university mate called - laughing - when we graduate he went to the factory. Factory people are very square and boring and after working 7 yrs, he want to get out but i am getting in.
All are very encouraging calls indeed - but i have no much choice. There was a famous Chinese Movies at that time "Fu San Xing" - Journey to Tiger Moutain
"We know there are tigers in that moutain, and yet we plan our journey right across the Tiger Moutain"
Heroic? or Desperate
End up that switch is the 1st turning point of my career
1) Have enough capital
2) Not too many partners (or friends)
3) Study the market well - a lot of customers will said they'll support you before venturing out; but when you actually ventured out, their support vaporised
I come out with 3 other who were my better friend at that time. Think only one left who will still hug me when met outside. Maybe both of us beer drinkers have some common bonds
We joint-venture with the Japanese to form surveyor/laboratory company. Of course the Japanese suppose to deliver the customers but did not. Overhead is high with 4 managers and no business.
Inter disagreement is the biggest sore point - too much in fighting. The 1988 CNY is the most miserable time of my life. The saving is disappearing fast, 2nd daughter is just 1 year old and the company is collapsing
Then received a call from an old friend - he is looking for a laboratory manager for his factory. I recommended two of my friends to him and both declined. Well the factory at that time is indeed laughing stock of town. New boy in town and desperate to expand and hence a lot of confusion. But by then i am more desperate n the old friend call again, why don't i joined him
After i say yes, the news spread and received three calls
- one from wife's best friend - if i cannot survive in that company, call him out and he'll help me
- my drinking kaki call - he is the good friend of the ex-Chemist of the factory - "this is the hot seat and no body can sit there except me, and yet i am leaving" - my drinking kaki asked me i am sure
- then an old university mate called - laughing - when we graduate he went to the factory. Factory people are very square and boring and after working 7 yrs, he want to get out but i am getting in.
All are very encouraging calls indeed - but i have no much choice. There was a famous Chinese Movies at that time "Fu San Xing" - Journey to Tiger Moutain
"We know there are tigers in that moutain, and yet we plan our journey right across the Tiger Moutain"
Heroic? or Desperate
End up that switch is the 1st turning point of my career
Colour - the history and frustration in the early days
Before I joined the sugar industry - i used to complain about colour testing in oils & fats
Now I have joined the sugar industry - they have my prayer for colour testing :- take a sugar sample, dissolved in water, and take an absorptions reading reading using a spectrophotometer - a common lab instrument.
Why can's oil do the same??
The common method employed us oil is color measuring device called Lovibond tintometer. Take a sample of oil n filled into cell of length 5 1/4" cell for refined and 1" for crude. you view the color through an aperture and compare with some standard color discs in Red, Yellow, Blue
in unit 0.1, 0.2, 0.3......0.9, 1, 2 ,3, 4......9, 10, 20, 30, 40,
red disc is consider the "primary" color or main color
yellow disc is the "secondary" color or supporting color
by using red and yellow disc -- red + yellow, the method call for the naked eyes, even though trained or otherwise, to match the natural orange-color oil with artificial color slide. Of course it will not be 100% matching and subjective to operator error. The repeatability (ie within the same lab) is already high, not to mention inter-laboratory (between 2 different lab). Ever participate in AOCS Smalley cross check and an interlab reproducibility is 0.6Red is reported
As though it is not confusing enough, when palm oil industry first started in the early eighties - they bring in an Tintometer model "D" - this is a multi-purpose tintometer for all product from solid curry powder to liquid oil. This tintometer doest not correspond to the official AOCS Tintometer. Also the users observed a phenomeno - a 2.9Red oil is the same as 3.1 Red Oil - in other word 2.9 Red is darker than 3.0 Red. How come?
the industry normally used Red:yellow in 1:10 ratio, ie 2.9 Red 29 Yellow. To match this oil we used 4 disc - 0.9Red + 2Red + 9 Yellow + 20 Yellow whereas a 3Red 30Yellow oil use 2 disc ie 3 Red + 30 Yellow. The 2- disc less results in a lowering of the color being matched
Later the industry did attempt to bring in the actual aocs tintometer - called model "E" that can rectify problem with a compensating disc. However the industry discover model E give a higher color reading than model D and hence resistance
There was a period where by there is conflicting results due to model D or model E. I have not get in touch with the issue anymore and it seemed by now model D shud be obsolete and problem resolved, i think
Then the USA color come - they asking for Gardner color scale, FAC color etc..... then when Eastern Europe collapse and started to trade, we were horrified when the ex-communists buyer asking for Iodine Color???? what the hell is that
Finally going through some very very old textbook, those day when they don't even have tintometer, the oil chemists then compare color of oil with fixed amount iodine or dichromate dissolved in water. The Eastern block brethren is still using it in the 21st century. Well they are the buyers and we complied by taking our test tube and dissolved iodine with water to check the color of the oil
Of course the capitalist come to assistant again - Lovibond actually developed an Iodine Color Tintometer
having say so much bad thing about the Lovibond Tintometer, it did provide certain standard for the measuring of Refined Oil
However, the distinction stop here. In high color oil like crude palm oil, fatty acid etc the use of Lovibond is limited. Of course we can use a shorter cell to measure the color to give better matching but in the absent of any standard, it rarely used for commercial purpose - one of the problem is fixing the yellow or supporting color. The 1:10 ratio did not work here. Some lab fixed 60 yellow and start to adjust the red color to give the best match
Gardner scale is one used for high color - more for petrochemical industry
Another common scale for PFAD is the FAC color scale (FAC did not standard for Fatty Acid Color, as some trader misintepreted"
FAC color is in odd inter, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, then for some reason 11A, 11B, 11C and then 13, 15, 17........
CPKO normally around 5 - 9 but fresh PFAD 9 and deterioate very fast to 11C due to iron pick up
The blue color is only used when you have odd color like browish that you need the blue. so far i encounter only twice in my career - one from CPKO milled from burnt crude palm kernel seed, another time is the Crude Rapeseed oil from frost-damaged rapessed. Of course there is one time at our new refinery at china - the water-like refined rapeseed oil was match with Red, Yellow and Blue and nobody anything. Yours truly arrived and found the Tintometer is being assembled wrongly - not by the local but the expat "chemist" - can anyone guess who he is??
Now I have joined the sugar industry - they have my prayer for colour testing :- take a sugar sample, dissolved in water, and take an absorptions reading reading using a spectrophotometer - a common lab instrument.
Why can's oil do the same??
The common method employed us oil is color measuring device called Lovibond tintometer. Take a sample of oil n filled into cell of length 5 1/4" cell for refined and 1" for crude. you view the color through an aperture and compare with some standard color discs in Red, Yellow, Blue
in unit 0.1, 0.2, 0.3......0.9, 1, 2 ,3, 4......9, 10, 20, 30, 40,
red disc is consider the "primary" color or main color
yellow disc is the "secondary" color or supporting color
by using red and yellow disc -- red + yellow, the method call for the naked eyes, even though trained or otherwise, to match the natural orange-color oil with artificial color slide. Of course it will not be 100% matching and subjective to operator error. The repeatability (ie within the same lab) is already high, not to mention inter-laboratory (between 2 different lab). Ever participate in AOCS Smalley cross check and an interlab reproducibility is 0.6Red is reported
As though it is not confusing enough, when palm oil industry first started in the early eighties - they bring in an Tintometer model "D" - this is a multi-purpose tintometer for all product from solid curry powder to liquid oil. This tintometer doest not correspond to the official AOCS Tintometer. Also the users observed a phenomeno - a 2.9Red oil is the same as 3.1 Red Oil - in other word 2.9 Red is darker than 3.0 Red. How come?
the industry normally used Red:yellow in 1:10 ratio, ie 2.9 Red 29 Yellow. To match this oil we used 4 disc - 0.9Red + 2Red + 9 Yellow + 20 Yellow whereas a 3Red 30Yellow oil use 2 disc ie 3 Red + 30 Yellow. The 2- disc less results in a lowering of the color being matched
Later the industry did attempt to bring in the actual aocs tintometer - called model "E" that can rectify problem with a compensating disc. However the industry discover model E give a higher color reading than model D and hence resistance
There was a period where by there is conflicting results due to model D or model E. I have not get in touch with the issue anymore and it seemed by now model D shud be obsolete and problem resolved, i think
Then the USA color come - they asking for Gardner color scale, FAC color etc..... then when Eastern Europe collapse and started to trade, we were horrified when the ex-communists buyer asking for Iodine Color???? what the hell is that
Finally going through some very very old textbook, those day when they don't even have tintometer, the oil chemists then compare color of oil with fixed amount iodine or dichromate dissolved in water. The Eastern block brethren is still using it in the 21st century. Well they are the buyers and we complied by taking our test tube and dissolved iodine with water to check the color of the oil
Of course the capitalist come to assistant again - Lovibond actually developed an Iodine Color Tintometer
having say so much bad thing about the Lovibond Tintometer, it did provide certain standard for the measuring of Refined Oil
However, the distinction stop here. In high color oil like crude palm oil, fatty acid etc the use of Lovibond is limited. Of course we can use a shorter cell to measure the color to give better matching but in the absent of any standard, it rarely used for commercial purpose - one of the problem is fixing the yellow or supporting color. The 1:10 ratio did not work here. Some lab fixed 60 yellow and start to adjust the red color to give the best match
Gardner scale is one used for high color - more for petrochemical industry
Another common scale for PFAD is the FAC color scale (FAC did not standard for Fatty Acid Color, as some trader misintepreted"
FAC color is in odd inter, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, then for some reason 11A, 11B, 11C and then 13, 15, 17........
CPKO normally around 5 - 9 but fresh PFAD 9 and deterioate very fast to 11C due to iron pick up
The blue color is only used when you have odd color like browish that you need the blue. so far i encounter only twice in my career - one from CPKO milled from burnt crude palm kernel seed, another time is the Crude Rapeseed oil from frost-damaged rapessed. Of course there is one time at our new refinery at china - the water-like refined rapeseed oil was match with Red, Yellow and Blue and nobody anything. Yours truly arrived and found the Tintometer is being assembled wrongly - not by the local but the expat "chemist" - can anyone guess who he is??
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Melting Point, MP
I hate this test
The official method used is by AOCS Cc3-25
AOCS - American Oil Chemists Society - reputable
CC 3- method numer
25??? hehe stand for 1925
At this age palm oil industry is still using method formulated about 100yrs ago because at that time there is no better instrumentation for testing the plasticity.
Take a capillary tube, filled up the fat, solidified for 16 hr and melt slowly in a beaker of water and at the point where the fat is ABOUT to melt and melting, take the temperature
sound simple but there are so many factors affecting it making the reproducibility so difficult. The American couldn't be bother as they are only interested in Tallow which is high melting and easier to handle. Palm Oil, with the liquid fractio Olein 24deg C, is a nightmare
When I first joined, Madam Siew WL conducted the 1st round round-robin and give a reproducibility of 0.5 deg C. Very good indeed - bec if selected few lab run by experienced and dedicated chemists - the first generation
There I come along with a bunch new chemists and the second cross check is 1 deg C.
A lot of commercial pressure eventually chemists called each other to "cross-check" before reporting to the round-robin .....eventually ..... but life goes on...... but then we produced SuperOlein - MP 18, how to test even in air-cond lab of ambinet 24degC. Some jungle mill the lab has no air-cond and site next to the stainless tank of Crude Palm Stearin ----it's an oven.
Until today Msia lab still report 18 for SuperOlein but the Chinese Conter-part say it is 15 deg C
Years ago certain surveyor-laboratory always report mp 1 deg C than rest of the community - generally complied but producing mp around 23 so that the surveyor will report 24 which is within the Poram specs..... they live happily ever after until one day a big buyer open a spec of mp 22 max
The smart shipper who got the contract distribute the contract to 4 other shipper and of course all five are declare off-spec - So it is the surveyor vs the community
Actually both are correct. The method called for "stir slowly with agitation during melting" The Surveyor chemist - being a slow motion person, when being asked to do something slowly, stir extremely slow and results in reporting a higher mpt.
If only we can get rid of the spec especially for low melting oil
For Palm Oil it is rather useful - going back to the IV problem. Generally there is an IV-MP loose correlation. A normal cpo will have 51-52 IV and 36-37 MP. It is rather unfortunate that Poram spec give allowance for MP 33-39 & IV 50-55. Some smart Indian/Pakistan trader takes advantage of this yr ago but blending 5-10% Sterin into PO given a 50.1 IV and 38.8 MP to the sub-continent. The Indian/Pakistan fight back by imposing the melting point 37 max and IV 51 - 54.
Melting Point for Stearin is ok until you sell soft or blended Stearin of IV 42 MP 48 - its a nightmare with the Middle East market - the mt is on the so-called inflection point - highest interlab error of 2-3 deg C.
The official method used is by AOCS Cc3-25
AOCS - American Oil Chemists Society - reputable
CC 3- method numer
25??? hehe stand for 1925
At this age palm oil industry is still using method formulated about 100yrs ago because at that time there is no better instrumentation for testing the plasticity.
Take a capillary tube, filled up the fat, solidified for 16 hr and melt slowly in a beaker of water and at the point where the fat is ABOUT to melt and melting, take the temperature
sound simple but there are so many factors affecting it making the reproducibility so difficult. The American couldn't be bother as they are only interested in Tallow which is high melting and easier to handle. Palm Oil, with the liquid fractio Olein 24deg C, is a nightmare
When I first joined, Madam Siew WL conducted the 1st round round-robin and give a reproducibility of 0.5 deg C. Very good indeed - bec if selected few lab run by experienced and dedicated chemists - the first generation
There I come along with a bunch new chemists and the second cross check is 1 deg C.
A lot of commercial pressure eventually chemists called each other to "cross-check" before reporting to the round-robin .....eventually ..... but life goes on...... but then we produced SuperOlein - MP 18, how to test even in air-cond lab of ambinet 24degC. Some jungle mill the lab has no air-cond and site next to the stainless tank of Crude Palm Stearin ----it's an oven.
Until today Msia lab still report 18 for SuperOlein but the Chinese Conter-part say it is 15 deg C
Years ago certain surveyor-laboratory always report mp 1 deg C than rest of the community - generally complied but producing mp around 23 so that the surveyor will report 24 which is within the Poram specs..... they live happily ever after until one day a big buyer open a spec of mp 22 max
The smart shipper who got the contract distribute the contract to 4 other shipper and of course all five are declare off-spec - So it is the surveyor vs the community
Actually both are correct. The method called for "stir slowly with agitation during melting" The Surveyor chemist - being a slow motion person, when being asked to do something slowly, stir extremely slow and results in reporting a higher mpt.
If only we can get rid of the spec especially for low melting oil
For Palm Oil it is rather useful - going back to the IV problem. Generally there is an IV-MP loose correlation. A normal cpo will have 51-52 IV and 36-37 MP. It is rather unfortunate that Poram spec give allowance for MP 33-39 & IV 50-55. Some smart Indian/Pakistan trader takes advantage of this yr ago but blending 5-10% Sterin into PO given a 50.1 IV and 38.8 MP to the sub-continent. The Indian/Pakistan fight back by imposing the melting point 37 max and IV 51 - 54.
Melting Point for Stearin is ok until you sell soft or blended Stearin of IV 42 MP 48 - its a nightmare with the Middle East market - the mt is on the so-called inflection point - highest interlab error of 2-3 deg C.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Iodine Value (IV)
IV is the most widely use test to identify the oil's purity and check contamination and/or adulteration
It is a measure of the unsaturated fatty acid in the oil (see oil composition)
Typical IV value
Coconut Oil - 9
Palm Kernel Oil - 18
Palm Oil - 52
Palm Olein - 56
Palm Stearin - 25 to 33
Rapeseed Oil - 110
Maize Oil - 103 - 125
Soyabean Oil - 130
Linseed Oil - 180
The test method is fast, reliable and especially useful in identifying mixing of high IV oil into loo IV. The other way round could be tricky and further test such as FAC by GLC is required (Fatty acid composition by Gas-Liquid Chromatography). Non Chemist trader just stick to GLC or GC as it is commonly understood, tough technically no correct. GLC or GC is a testing method
Some typical example of IV test for contamination
1. CPKO in CCNO
There are no standard trade specification for CCNO - range from 10.5 max to 12 max while typical value of Indonesia/Phillipine origin is around 9. In those day when there is good price disparity and when the spec is 12 max, inevitable 5-10% CPKO went into CCNO (yes - you can calculate by numerical ratio the resultant mixture IV)
2. Palm Oil IV 50 - 55 while typical is 51 - 52. Unfortunately CPO domestic spec has no IV spec - when you received IV 50.1 and complained, seller will claimed it is bottom stock cargo, or some 5% stearin is being added.
3. Maize Oil has wide range of IV due to origin - some soya oil will added in Maize Oil due to price disparity
4. Soyaoil from south america - watch out linseed contamination when yr IV is excessively high
It is a measure of the unsaturated fatty acid in the oil (see oil composition)
Typical IV value
Coconut Oil - 9
Palm Kernel Oil - 18
Palm Oil - 52
Palm Olein - 56
Palm Stearin - 25 to 33
Rapeseed Oil - 110
Maize Oil - 103 - 125
Soyabean Oil - 130
Linseed Oil - 180
The test method is fast, reliable and especially useful in identifying mixing of high IV oil into loo IV. The other way round could be tricky and further test such as FAC by GLC is required (Fatty acid composition by Gas-Liquid Chromatography). Non Chemist trader just stick to GLC or GC as it is commonly understood, tough technically no correct. GLC or GC is a testing method
Some typical example of IV test for contamination
1. CPKO in CCNO
There are no standard trade specification for CCNO - range from 10.5 max to 12 max while typical value of Indonesia/Phillipine origin is around 9. In those day when there is good price disparity and when the spec is 12 max, inevitable 5-10% CPKO went into CCNO (yes - you can calculate by numerical ratio the resultant mixture IV)
2. Palm Oil IV 50 - 55 while typical is 51 - 52. Unfortunately CPO domestic spec has no IV spec - when you received IV 50.1 and complained, seller will claimed it is bottom stock cargo, or some 5% stearin is being added.
3. Maize Oil has wide range of IV due to origin - some soya oil will added in Maize Oil due to price disparity
4. Soyaoil from south america - watch out linseed contamination when yr IV is excessively high
Sunday, June 6, 2010
MNI - Moisture & Impuriteis
All crude or refined oil carried with them some inherent moisture (water) & insoluble impurities
When MNI is too excessive, there will be water separation and sedimentation, especially in crude oil
Generally speaking, crude oil conform to commercial specification as per standard trading rules are generally homogeneous with no visible or little impurities.
Refined oil MNI spec is 0.1% but generally <0.02% - anything higher than that you will see free water droplets - likely cause sampling during raining day with small umbrella
Impurities generally is about 0.02% for crude and 0.01% for refined
Standard specification for CPO - MNI 0.25% for Malaysia domestic specs but 0.5% for Indonesian CPO
When MNI is too excessive, there will be water separation and sedimentation, especially in crude oil
Generally speaking, crude oil conform to commercial specification as per standard trading rules are generally homogeneous with no visible or little impurities.
Refined oil MNI spec is 0.1% but generally <0.02% - anything higher than that you will see free water droplets - likely cause sampling during raining day with small umbrella
Impurities generally is about 0.02% for crude and 0.01% for refined
Standard specification for CPO - MNI 0.25% for Malaysia domestic specs but 0.5% for Indonesian CPO
Saturday, June 5, 2010
FFA deterioation
FFA is the most important criteria in almost all trading contracts and always a subject of contention.
This is due to the inherent hydrolysis reaction of water on oil, converting oil to water.
FFA hydrolysis rate depend on a number of factor, such as temperature, moisture content and shipment period
Of course - sometimes people cheat.
Generally based on experience, a good crude, even cpo with heating, are relatively stable in FFA. I have ever kept 3000mt Crude Soyabean Oil for 2 years and 1000mt Crude Groundnut Oil for 1 year with no significant increase in FFA. (why i keep so long, must asked the pseudo-Japanese trader)
But I also received a shipment of Crude Soyabean Oil with FFA increase 0.1% per week. When the courier sample from loadport arrived 1 week after loading, the FFA has differ from loadport results by 0.1%. At first we thought the shipper cheated, but one week later the same sample was tested FFA increase by another 0.1%. Further analysis by Dr. Verwey lab indicate the presence of certain bacteria that catalyze the FFA deterioration. Finally vessel arrive 40 days later and FFA increase by almost 0.5%
Crude Rice-Bran Oil, if not properly treated, could have FFA increase by 1% per day. I ever received an "Rice-Bran Acid Oil" of FFA 35% - too low for Acid Oil. Later found it is Crude Rice Bran Oil that has to be downgraded
The same enzymatic action on Crude Palm Oil resulted high FFA during wet season. The fruits need to be sent to the factory as soon as possible and first step is sterilization - using steam to soften the fruits and at the same time kill the enzyme. During rainy season when there is a delay in transport of fruits to the mill, FFA increases
As a summary - A good crude (with lower FFA/Moisture) will have a better stability than a poor crude. If one is loading CPO shipment from Malaysia FFA <4%, MNI < 0.25%, you shud be at east even the destination is Europe 40 days away.
Similarly A crude Soya oil from USA of FFA <0.75
Refined Oil is however, generally unstable, despite the enzyme is killed & FFA is <0.1% and MNI <0.1%. The FFA deterioration is fastest in heating oil like stearin than non-heated oil like olein. No scientific study but speculation is
a) Hydrolysis is a naturally occurring process. Chemical reaction rate generally fasten by raise of temperature
b) naturally occurring compound in crude actually protect the oil - e.g. the crude that i have been keeping for 1-2 yrs).Refining removed all these goodies
c) during Fractionation, the unsaponifiable matter is concentrated in the Stearin. Presumably, these are the "rubbish" that hasten the hydrolysis reaction
There is even an on-board study on FFA rate of increase from Msia to Korea - I remember the rate is about 0.01% for a 7-days journey. So for the rule of thumb if you want to be safe for the Chinese Market (the official surveyor is a communist bureaucrat), the safe level to ship is 0.07% + 0.01% of increase + 0.01% of testing uncertainty = 0.09% at disport
Of course time has change some Chinese port is very liberal but in those day when CCIB issue certificate of FFA 0.11%, you have to sell at a discount to local market because the oil is "olein" and not "refined olein"
This is due to the inherent hydrolysis reaction of water on oil, converting oil to water.
FFA hydrolysis rate depend on a number of factor, such as temperature, moisture content and shipment period
Of course - sometimes people cheat.
Generally based on experience, a good crude, even cpo with heating, are relatively stable in FFA. I have ever kept 3000mt Crude Soyabean Oil for 2 years and 1000mt Crude Groundnut Oil for 1 year with no significant increase in FFA. (why i keep so long, must asked the pseudo-Japanese trader)
But I also received a shipment of Crude Soyabean Oil with FFA increase 0.1% per week. When the courier sample from loadport arrived 1 week after loading, the FFA has differ from loadport results by 0.1%. At first we thought the shipper cheated, but one week later the same sample was tested FFA increase by another 0.1%. Further analysis by Dr. Verwey lab indicate the presence of certain bacteria that catalyze the FFA deterioration. Finally vessel arrive 40 days later and FFA increase by almost 0.5%
Crude Rice-Bran Oil, if not properly treated, could have FFA increase by 1% per day. I ever received an "Rice-Bran Acid Oil" of FFA 35% - too low for Acid Oil. Later found it is Crude Rice Bran Oil that has to be downgraded
The same enzymatic action on Crude Palm Oil resulted high FFA during wet season. The fruits need to be sent to the factory as soon as possible and first step is sterilization - using steam to soften the fruits and at the same time kill the enzyme. During rainy season when there is a delay in transport of fruits to the mill, FFA increases
As a summary - A good crude (with lower FFA/Moisture) will have a better stability than a poor crude. If one is loading CPO shipment from Malaysia FFA <4%, MNI < 0.25%, you shud be at east even the destination is Europe 40 days away.
Similarly A crude Soya oil from USA of FFA <0.75
Refined Oil is however, generally unstable, despite the enzyme is killed & FFA is <0.1% and MNI <0.1%. The FFA deterioration is fastest in heating oil like stearin than non-heated oil like olein. No scientific study but speculation is
a) Hydrolysis is a naturally occurring process. Chemical reaction rate generally fasten by raise of temperature
b) naturally occurring compound in crude actually protect the oil - e.g. the crude that i have been keeping for 1-2 yrs).Refining removed all these goodies
c) during Fractionation, the unsaponifiable matter is concentrated in the Stearin. Presumably, these are the "rubbish" that hasten the hydrolysis reaction
There is even an on-board study on FFA rate of increase from Msia to Korea - I remember the rate is about 0.01% for a 7-days journey. So for the rule of thumb if you want to be safe for the Chinese Market (the official surveyor is a communist bureaucrat), the safe level to ship is 0.07% + 0.01% of increase + 0.01% of testing uncertainty = 0.09% at disport
Of course time has change some Chinese port is very liberal but in those day when CCIB issue certificate of FFA 0.11%, you have to sell at a discount to local market because the oil is "olein" and not "refined olein"
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