In palm oil production, sterilization is a vital process that can affect the quality of the extracted palm oil. The purpose of sterilization of oil palm fresh fruit bunch (OP-FFB) is to inactivate lipase activity and lipophilic microorganisms, soften the pulp of the fruits and facilitate the stripping process. The current practice of thermal sterilization in the palm oil industry, which utilizes conventional steam sterilization, is ineffective for lipase degradation and microbial inactivation in OP-FFB. The conventional steam sterilization technique operates at temperature 130 °C–160 °C, elevated pressures of 0.15–0.4 MPa, and sterilization time of 60–90 min. This sterilization method also requires huge amounts of water, which in turn demand higher energy usage and generates large quantities of palm oil mill effluent. Thus, waterless sterilization seems as a better option in yielding a high quality palm oil as well as protecting the environment. Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) has been found to be a promising sterilization technology in the inactivation of various enzymes and lipophilic microorganisms. This technology inactivates enzymes and microorganisms physico-chemically relatively low temperature (≤60 °C) and moderate pressures (8–40 MPa) without generating residual waste. Thus, the application of SC-CO₂ bears the potential to sterilize OP-FFB, as a waterless sterilization technology. The present review was conducted to assess the possible use of SC-CO₂ in OP-FFB sterilization and make comparisons to the existing OP-FFB sterilization method. This study also appraises the effectiveness of SC-CO₂ in the inactivation of enzymes and microorganisms that lessen the quality the palm oil.

在棕榈油生产中，灭菌是至关重要的过程，会影响提取的棕榈油的质量。对油棕新鲜水果束（OP-FFB）进行灭菌的目的是使脂肪酶活性和亲脂性微生物失活，软化水果的果肉并促进剥离过程。棕榈油工业中利用常规蒸汽灭菌的热灭菌的当前实践对于OP-FFB中的脂肪酶降解和微生物失活是无效的。传统的蒸汽灭菌技术在130°C–160°C的温度，0.15–0.4 MPa的高压下以及60-90分钟的灭菌时间下运行。这种灭菌方法还需要大量的水，这反过来又需要更高的能源使用率，并且会产生大量的棕榈油厂废水。因此，无水灭菌似乎是生产高质量棕榈油以及保护环境的更好选择。超临界二氧化碳（SC-CO₂）已被发现是使各种酶和亲脂性微生物失活的一种有前途的灭菌技术。这项技术可在相对较低的温度（≤60°C）和中等压力（8-40 MPa）的物理化学条件下灭活酶和微生物，而不会产生残留废物。因此，作为无水灭菌技术，SC-CO ₂的应用具有对OP-FFB进行灭菌的潜力。本综述旨在评估SC-CO ₂在OP-FFB灭菌中的可能用途，并与现有OP-FFB灭菌方法进行比较。这项研究还评估了SC-CO ₂在酶和微生物失活中的有效性，这些酶和微生物降低了棕榈油的品质。