Development of a manually operated palm oil extraction machine

Abstract

The palm farmers of Bangladesh are suffering for want of an extraction machine. Therefore, a research was undertaken to design and develop a manually operated palm oil extraction machine at the department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University. It is a press type machine. A screw leads a piston manually in a perforated cylinder to press the mesocarp (pulp of palm fruit) to extract oil. The volume of the cylinder of the machine was found 0.03 m3 and maximum 20 kg fruits can be accommodated at a time. The amount of crude palm oil extraction at full capacity of the machine was found 8 kg/hr., which is higher than any manually operated extracting machine available in the market. The crude oil extraction efficiency of the machine without palm kernel was also found satisfactory. Application force on screw can be increased by increasing the length of the handle and number of persons according to filling condition of the cylinder. The machine was developed with locally available materials for having low purchase price and smooth repair and maintenance. So that, it will be easily affordable to the palm farmers of Bangladesh. The developed machine will solve the burning need of palm farmers in Bangladesh.