Design and construction of an avocado flesh oil.

Abstract

Avocado (Parsec; Americana) is one of the important fruits grown worldwide and majorly eaten in different forms and mainly as food additives. This fruit is prized for its high nutrient. value and is added to various dishes due to its good flavor and rich texture. In addition of its importance it is grown for sale provides income to the growers and it is one of the fruits which are commercially valuable and are cultivated for sale and oil production since it containing oil in and this makes it a special fruit. Avocado oil is used for various purposes like: cooking, lubrication and some cosmetic factories used it as a raw material for the cosmetic production and Pharmaceuticals as well use the oil for medicinal production. However, the traditional methods used for avocado oil production involve the following shortcomings: high temperature which denatures the use of chemicals in form of solvents are used which is not good for human health hand squeezing of the oil yields less leaving most of the oil extracted and the existing machines are for large-scale hence expensive and cannot he obtained by the small-scale industrial sector. This has left a big gap in the small-scale sector, most of the oil wasted and denatured and human health compromised due to the practices used. The aim of this study is to design and. construct avocado flesh oil extractor to maximize the oil extraction, save time and add value to the avocado fruit to meet the financial standards of the small-scale producers and to attain a suitable product for various applications. The avocado oil extractor was designed and constructed using locally available materials and tested for oil production using the dried avocado flesh mixed with fiber. The machine consists of the machine frame, the feeder, screw shaft, barrel cage, and the drive system. Designing and constructing the avocado oil extractor involved. determining the feeder angle of repose of the avocado, determining the forces and pressure produced by the shaft to squeeze out the oil. Engineering. drawings of various components of the avocado oil extractor were developed before the machine was constructed and assembled. The performance of the avocado oil extractor after construction was evaluated taking in to consideration the capacity and the efficiency of the machine and the performance tests carried out on the developed machine showed an efficiency of 50.95% and. an actual throughput of 66.24kg/hr at the rotating speed of the shaft being 247.35 rpm.