Determination of potential chloride contaminants throughout palm oil milling by 35-Cl nuclear magnetic resonance

Abstract

The presence of polar and non-polar organochlorides, as well as inorganic chlorides, along the palm oil milling process were determined by quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR). Determination of these contaminants is important as crude edible oil feedstocks of high quality could facilitate subsequent refining process to produce good quality refined edible oils. The exact point in processing at which these contaminants were found could help in the determining strategies needed to mitigate them. The qNMR method for the determination of chlorides was found to be linear with good regression coefficient. The concentrations of organochlorides along palm milling processes were between 1.46 – 2.64 ppm in the final product while inorganic chlorides were not present although they were detected at the early stages of palm oil milling to be between 2.41 – 72.05 ppm across the mills studied. The low amount of total chlorides in the final product of palm oil milling rendered it a good feedstock for subsequent refining to produce refined palm oil of good quality.