Hello everyone, we meet again ya, in this article, I want to discuss about the processing of copra to be used as coconut oil. Why? Because coconut oil is one of the most frequent commodities and much needed by the community, a simple example is cooking oil that we often use to cook everyday it is processed from this coconut. Want to know how to process it? That's why then read it.

Making coconut oil can we do it in two ways, that is dry and wet way. Dry way we do through the making of copra, then we press until the oil out. As for the making of coconut oil in this wet way there are several ways, such as heating (traditional), how to ferment, and how to inducement. I explain it briefly yes, so the wet making is usually done there is a way of warming (traditional) through the coconut milking on the fire, so later the water will evaporate and live oil and protein remaining. Well because the way it is still traditional, so the time required to produce coconut oil is long enough, about 3-4 hours, so the possibility of changes in oil volume kelapanya bigger.

But what I want to discuss in this article is the processing of coconut oil by dry (press). So the result of making coconut oil dry or press this is a coconut oil model "klentik" which have a higher price than palm oil tablets. If we check the market yes, the price of coconut oil itself per liter ranges from Rp 13,000, well if the palm oil price per liternya about Rp 8,500. Making coconut oil has advantages of the wet, which is a faster process. In addition, tools and machines that are used are now widely available in the market such as copra dryers, coconut oil press machine, and so forth.

As we already know, the copra is dried coconut meat (endosperm). Now the process of making copra itself can be done in several ways, namely as follows:

Drying with direct sunlight (sun drying)
Drying by means of frying or fumigation on fire (smoke drying)
Drying by indirect drying (indirect drying)
Drying by using solar system (solar thermal power)

If in daily life, the first three ways above are sometimes combined by the coconut farmers, but yes the amount of copra water produced sometimes also varies. Well to be able to get good quality copra, drying copra that we should do gradually, which is as follows:

Fresh coconut water content ranging from 50-55% in the first 24% we decreased to 35%
In the second 24 period we lower again from 35% to 20%
In the next 24 hours we decrease again to 5%

Processing of Coconut Oil with Dry Method

1.) How to Pres

The way we do this by using coconut meat that is dry (copra). Yes though this process we can do quickly, but at least we need a fairly large investment for the purchase of equipment and machinery. Okay, so like this coconut oil processing by way of press:

The first step we have to do is enumerate the copra first by using the enumerator machine, then we puree into a rough powder or grater.
After we press to remove the oil. Later after the pres kan would be leaving the dregs, well the dregs that actually still contain oil, so do not immediately we throw away, but we milled until smooth, then we heat and pressed to remove the oil.
The oil that we have collected and we filter.
Oil filtering results we should first though, as follows:

Addition of alkali compounds (KOH or NaOH) to neutralization and remove free fatty acids contained in the oil.
Addition of color absorbent material, usually still using active charcoal or bentonite let me produce clear and clear oil.

The flow of hot water into the oil for the evaporation process and also to remove compounds that cause oil to rancid odor. The last step, the oil is clear, clean, and not smelly we can pack in a box of cans, plastic bottles, or glass bottles.

2.) Solvent Extraction Method

This second way we can do by using a solvent liquid that can dissolve the oil, so the oil we can take it after going through several stages. The solvents we use are low boiling point, easily evaporated, have no chemical interaction with oil, and the residue is also toxic. Yes though this way if I say it is quite simple, but rarely used because the cost is relatively expensive. But yes not wrong if we want to try. Okay, here's how to treat coconut oil with solvent extraction:

The first step we must do is still the same, that is by chopping the copra and smoothing it into a powder or grated.
We then place the copra powder on the extraction chamber, while the solvent is in the evaporation chamber. Then the solvent we heat until evaporated. Well the solvent vapor will then go up to the condensation room. The melt-soluble condensate or vapor will flow into the extraction chamber and dissolve the powdered grains of copra. If the extraction chamber is already filled with pelart, later the oil-containing solvent will flow by itself into the original evaporation chamber.
In the evaporation room, the oil-containing solvent will evaporate, while the oil remains in the evaporation room. This process will take place continuously for 3 hours. So yes we just wait aja wait.
The oil-containing solvent is evaporated. The condensate-condensed vapor will not be returned to the evaporation chamber, but will be delivered to the solvent reservoir. This solvent can be used again for extraction. Anyway, this evaporation process we do until it is estimated there is no more solvent residue on the oil.
The last step is the oil we can do again such as neutralization, bleaching, and deodorization.

Okay, so more or less like that process of coconut copra into oil with dry way that we can do. Hopefully this can be a reference for my friends if you want to make and production of coconut oil itself. Good luck and thank you.

By@saftiansyah