Design and Fabrication of a Manual Hydraulic Palm Oil Press Machine using Locally Sourced Materials

Abstract

Palm oil production in Nigeria is not fully exploited due to non-mechanization in the production process. The know means of processing palm oil in Nigeria is through the traditional method. The traditional method of extracting palm oil focuses more on the digesting and pressing of the palm fruit done by hand and leg which is inadequate to meet domestic demands. High demand in palm oil for both local and international consumption cannot be met by traditional method of extraction which does not only have low production rate, but is equally unhygienic, laborious and time consuming. For this reason, a manually operated hydraulic palm oil press machine was designed, fabricated, and tested using locally available material. This machine was aimed at
reducing time and energy consumption, low production rate, intensive labour, and eliminate unhygienic state encountered in the traditional method of pressing oil. The basic features of the palm oil press are the frame, cage, pressing plate, hydraulic jack, pressure hose, collector, jack cylinder and piston, hydraulic tank, aider, and spout. The hydraulic tank of 53 tons was operated manually and the hydraulic oil was transferred to a hydraulic jack of 5 tons through a hose, which then enabled pressing operation on the pressing plate to the digested palm fruit. The machine was designed to accommodate 36 kg of palm fruit per press. The outcome of the results showed that an average pressing time of 5.3 minutes and average efficiency of 76% was achieved.