Digesting Process-Palm Oil Digester Machine & Palm Fruit Digester Machine

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Offer 1-100 ton/h Palm Fruit Digester Machine for Palm Oil Mill

The palm oil digester design includes a heated cylindrical container equipped with a central rotating rod carrying some stirring or beating arms. It is used to crush sterilized palm fruits to fruit pulp in palm oil production. It is also known as palm oil digester, palm fruit mash machine, or digester screw press. The palm oil extraction efficiency is greatly improved after digesting process. ABC Machinery is an experienced palm oil machine manufacturer and we can supply digester machine for both small and large palm oil mill plant (capacity: 1-5ton/h, 15ton/h, and 30ton/h….). 

Digester Machine in Palm Oil Milling Plant

Generally speaking, a complete palm oil milling plant includes process of sterilizing, threshing, digesting, oil pressing, oil clarification, filter pressing, drying, bottling / filling. Digester is placed behind the palm fruit threshing machine, in front of the oil pressing machine.

Horizontal Palm Fruit Digester Vs Vertical Palm Fruit Digester

palm fruit digester machine
Horizontal Digester (left), Vertical Digester (right)

Horizontal ones and vertical ones are the two common types of digesting machine for palm oil production. The earliest digesting equipment used in palm oil processing is the horizontal masher, and it is widely used in mini palm oil processing plant and small scale oil mill. Vertical digester is an advanced design and it is more preferred in medium and large palm oil mill plant.

How Does the Palm Fruit Digester Machine Work?

The palm oil digester machine is used to release the palm oil in the fruit by breaking down the oil-bearing cells. It is designed based on the principle of rotary impact. The main part of palm fruit digester is a rotating rod with many stirring arms or digester knife. During the digesting process, sterilized palm fruits will be crushing by these stirring arms, with the injection of hot steam. The temperature can reach up to 95℃ which also help soft the fruits and make the oil easily to be expelled in oil press. The stirring speed is about 25 rpm.

What the Palm Oil Digester Machine Does?

  • It breaks open the outer covering of the palm of fruit, which is called the monocarp
  • It loosens the monocarp from nut
  • It pounds the fruit into a mash and supplies heat to the fruit to facilitate the pressing process


The digester runs optimally when it is full or at least three quarters full. It takes about 15 minutes for the palm oil digester machine to process a single batch from the thresherAfter about 15 minutes in the digester, the closing chute opens, and the fruit moves to the screw press machine. By the way, it is very important to match the capacity of the palm oil press to the palm oil digester machine. 

Why Choose Our Digester for Your Palm Oil Mill?

palm oil digesting system in palm oil mill
Digester in Large Palm Oil Mill Plant

Digesting not only helps improve the production efficiency, but also helps reduce the oil residue in palm cake, and prevent damage to palm oil press machine.

  • Automatic Control
  • High Efficient
  • Easy operation and maintenance

Choosing the right digester of high quality is very important for your palm oil processing business, so that to ensure high output, low production cost and high profit. As an experienced and reliable palm oil milling machine manufacturer and supplier, we can offer customized palm fruits processing plan to help our clients minimizing the cost and efforts for producing better palm oil. Don’t hesitate to contact us. Just tell us your needs and we can help you make the best business plan with tailor-made palm oil factory layout design and cost-effective equipment. Contact us now for the latest factory price!

How to Optimize the Performance of the Palm Oil Digester Machine?

Always make sure the palm oil digester is more than three quarters full and if possible, always full. This maximizes on the pressure and load required for the proper digestion of the fruit. Running the digester half-full produces inconsistent results as the beating arms operate at a reduced efficiency due to the additional free space left by not filling it up and requires you to adjust the holding time with each batch.

palm oil digester equipment at low cost from leading palm oil mill supplier
Large Scale Screw Press for Palm Oil Production

The temperature should be held at 85-90 degree Celsius. In the case of lower temperature, the oil-bearing cell will not break open as much as it should, and this will lead to inefficacy of the machine and reduce the amount of oil produced. The elevated temperature also heats the oil to a lighter viscosity that makes it possible to collect more. Be careful when operating at these high temperatures as this may affect the smooth running of the machine. Heating increases the elasticity of the nut systems making them prone to loosening.

High temperatures also increase the amount of metal wear from the moving parts releasing iron into the palm oil. Contamination of the palm oil from this iron coming from the metal parts adds to the risk of oil oxidation and encourages oil rancidity – two things you want to avoid. As such, it is important to have a palm oil mill digester with good heat insulation and steam injection.

Ways to Know Whether the Palm Oil Digester Machine is Full

  • First - Check that the filler flap moves to a position immediately the digester is complete.
  • Second - Ensure the ampere meter goes up to 35A and the needle stops shaking, indicating the motor has the maximum rated load.
  • Third - Look at the top of the digester for signs of steam coming out. If you see none, it means that the fruits have fully occupied the available space inside.

It is important to have a palm oil digester machine with properly designed stirring arms to produce optimum results. Too many stirring arms will lead to over digestion, and the bottom of the digester will quickly flood with oil. Stirring arms keep the palm fruits moving to prevent lumping. They push the fruit downward and apply pressure to the palm fruit surface. Then, they crush the fruit in readiness for pressing. Ensure the digester has a working drainage valve. The presence of oil in the palm oil digesting system may lower the efficiency of digestion because the oil reduces the pounding friction.


In conclusion, palm oil digester machine is very important for the quality of palm oil and the efficiency of palm oil production. We are specialized in delivering the best palm oil digester machine and palm fruit digester machine for all palm oil processing, minimizing the cost and efforts for better palm oil. The design and the construction of our palm oil digester are rated as the best among our customers for years. If you are interested in palm oil digester machine or other palm oil processing equipment, please contact us with hesitation!

  • Kindly give me a quotation for a 2TPH mini palm oil mill with the following equipment: Thresher, cooker, auger conveyor, digester, presser, clarifier and hydraulic machine that can cut big ffb to small sizes.
  • Hello, Sir/Madam,
    We have successfully set up a 2TPH Palm Oil Mill Plant in Nigeria. You can have reference. The detailed machine parameters and price list have sent to your email inbox. Please check it in time.
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