• How did oil palm extractors use a screw press?
  • For the really small-scale extractors in villages with small patches of oil palm farms these screw-presses gained widespread preference. Here, the traditional mortar and pestle was used to pound (digest) fruits and then the mash was taken to a press operator who extracted the oil for a fee.
  • Is pressing a bottleneck in small-scale palm oil processing?
  • It was long realised that pressing is a bottleneck in small-scale palm oil processing. The process is usually conducted slowly to avoid the huge loss of oil that might result from inadequate pressing. The economic importance of this process was therefore long recognised and has received the greatest attention for mechanisation.
  • What are the advantages of a small palm oil press?
  • The ability to simultaneously de-pulp and press is a major advantage of this type of press. Small expellers may be manually operated or motorised. These expellers have been the dominant¨Cif not the exclusive equipment¨Cused by small-scale palm oil processors in Cameroon.
  • How does a palm expeller work?
  • As the cooked palm fruit is fed into the expeller it is pushed forward by the spiral flights (worms) against the backpressure of the end cone. The oil is forced out through the perforated sides of the cage. The remaining fibre and nut are released at the end of the cage through the gap between the end cone and cage body.