Pre-nursery stage
In cultivation, good oil palm seeds are first chosen. The hard nuts do not germinate easily under natural conditions so a modern method is used. The seeds are soaked in water for seven days with a daily change of water. These are then put inside polythene bags and kept in special germinators where the temperature is maintained at 39 – 40 Degrees Celsius for about 80 days. Within two months after the heat treatment, germination of more than 80 per cent of the seeds may be obtained. The oil palm seeds then grow into young palms in the pre-nursery for two months.

Nursery stage
At the end of two months, the young palms are transplanted to the nursery and maintained for about a year. During this stage, the main fields are prepared. This could mean the clearing of forested areas or old rubber plantations.

Main field
After about a year, during the early part of the rainy season, healthy young palms are transplanted to the main field. Right after transplanting, cover crops such as pineapples and groundnuts are planted between rows of oil palm trees not only to protect the soil from heavy rains but also to bring in extra money for the farmers before the main crops are harvested.
Nitrogen, potassium and magnesium are the most important fertilizers needed and they must be applied in the right doses and at proper times. For instance, young plants require nitrogen for vigorous vegetative growth during during the first three years.
Weeding is also carried out five to eight times a year. Pesticides and fungicides are sprayed regularly to check the various fungal diseases.

Harvesting
Oil palm trees take about three years to mature. Production of the fresh fruit bunches increases rapidly until it reaches a constant level in the eighth and ninth year of planting.
Oil palm fruits ripen within a week and are cut from the trees using a chisel attached to a pole. Loose fruits on the ground are collected manually. Regular harvesting rounds must be made every seven or eight days to ensure that all ripe bunches are collected, otherwise the quality of the oil extracted from the oil palms will decrease.

Transport
The oil palm fruits have to be processed on the day of harvest to minimize the accumulation of fatty acids within the fruits which would cause them to spoil. Hence, the factory is located within the plantation.

Sterilisation
The harvested fruit bunches are loaded onto rail containers. They are sent to sterilizers where they are sterilized by steam at about 1400 Degrees Celsius between 75 – 90 minutes. This process prevents the accumulation of fatty acids, loosens the fruits and aids in the extraction of the oil. It also minimizes kernel breakage and gets rid of pests and insects.

Stripping
The sterilized fruits are sent to the rotary drum stripper where they are stripped and separated from the stalks. The fruits are knocked out of the bunches by the lifting and the dropping of the bunches as they pass through the stripper. The detached fruits fall through the spaces between the bars on the stripper. They are collected in a conveyor belt leading to the digester.

Digesion
The digester is a vertical cylindrical vessel fitted with a rotating shaft turning a number of stirring arms. Under the steam-heated conditions of the digester, the mesocarp is separated from the kernel and turned into a digested mash.

Oil Extraction and Purification
This mash is sent to a hydraulic press or a screw press where the oil is extracted. Hot water is sometimes added to aid the flow of oil. The crude oil is then collected in a tank and sent for purification.
The crude palm oil is pumped into a clarification tank where it is maintained at a temperature of about 900 Degrees Celsius. The impurities sink to the bottom of the tank and the purer oil is continuously skimmed off the top of the tank. This partially-purified crude oil is then passed through a high-speed centrifuge and a vacuum dryer to remove moisture. The refined palm oil is finally held in a storage tank before being sent for processing into other products.