Design Consideration and Performance Evaluation of a Coconut Oil Extracting Machine

Abstract

Abstract: Extraction of virgin coconut oil from coconut kernel is a major influential step for their commercialization. There are many extraction processes among which cold and hot extraction are conventional extraction processes. This paper focused on the design, construction and testing of a coconut extractor using fresh-dry process based on the low pressure oil extraction method production of virgin coconut oil to reduce the settling time of oil. Additionally, tests carried out on the machine were the oil quality test, yield comparison with conventional oil extractors and user experience. The drying motor of 1500hp was used for grinding and a 12V Dc motor converted to an AC drive was used for conveying to the extraction chamber. A heating element of 3KW was incorporated in the extraction chamber which was properly lagged to avoid heat losses. Results obtained showed that it takes 800 seconds of heating time at 70oC to actually extract oil from dried coconut under different parameter such as drying temperature, extraction time and moisture content. The production efficiency of machine was calculated to 69.5% and the machine performance was certified good. Oil quality was recorded at 0.46% free fatty acid. The designed extractor yielded approximately 20.7% of oil against 14.1% as recorded from traditional methods. User experience was rated an average of 8.47 on a maximum scale of 10 with ratings obtained from experts (7.5) experienced users (8.7) and non- experienced users (9.2). The production machine is novel for easier, safer and more economical extraction of virgin coconut oil over the traditional and conventional methods.