Development and Testing of a Tappered Screw Mecahanism for Groundnut Oil Extraction

Abstract

A groundnut oil expeller having a capacity of 800kg per day was designed and fabricated as one of the equipment with which oil can be extracted from oil bearing seeds. The equipment was fabricated in Desfabeng Company Nigeria Limited, Bida-Niger State. It consists of the seed inlet unit (hopper), oil extraction unit, cake discharge outlet, oil collector, power transmission unit, covers and frames. A gear box having a turn ratio of 1:2 was fitted to the end of the worm shaft. This helps in reducing the speed of the 20Hp electric motor to the speed required to expel the oil from the oil bearing seeds. The machine was fabricated with about 90% local materials. Test results of the oil expeller using 56% at a moisture content of 6% and seed temperature of 600C. It was also found suitable for extracting oil from neem seed, sesame and other oil bearing seeds. The machine was generally found to be easy to maintain by local artisans due to its simple design features.