The FFA content of Crude Palm Oil is always used as an index of oil quality by the commercial oil refiners. FFA are formed when the bound fatty acid in triglyceride, diglyceride, and monoglyceride molecules are split either by chemical or enzymatic hydrolisis.
The high moisture content of palm oil fruits is favourable to the enzymed action. hence this material should be process promtly in order to yield oil with low free fatty acid (FFA) content.Palm oil fruits are susceptible to deterioration. their lipolytic enzym are so active that ever under favourable condition palm oil seldom produced with free fatty acid content less than 2%.
Crude pal oil (CPO) that have low FFA are indicating that, the oil are being processed are processed from fress, unbruissed fruits and carrefully handled during production, storage and tranportation. High FFA content must be avoided. as it will result in higher refining losses and possible blecebility problem during refining
