PITEBA: hand operated oilpress

On May 2012, we experimented the Piteba Oil Expeller from Holland, it is a low cost manual oil expeller able to make your own high quality raw nut and seed oil at home.

Another possible micro-credit projects for home industry for the poor in third world countries. Farmers can grow their own soyabeans or groundnuts. Unsold soyabeans and groundnuts can be converted into high quality oil which can also be sold.

I constructed a wooden frame made of 1 inch thick plywood for mounting the Piteba. The wooden structure is mounted securely on a table top using 2 "F" clamps.

We experimented with soyabeans and groundnuts and try to extract oil using the Piteba. We started to extract oil from peanuts. First. we weigh the peanuts to determine the amount of peanuts used and later measure the amount of oil extracted. The front end of the Piteba is heated using a kerosene lamp. Notice the blacken soot at the front end.

A one man force is required to turn the crank. As the crank turns, the oil begins to drip out of the Piteba and collected in a glass container (Brand Essense of Chicken bottle). The byproduct, the press cake of crush peanuts is collected at the front end in a metal basin.

Finally, 200g of peanuts is able to produce 70ml of peanut oil. A conversion efficiency of 35%.

Somehow, the soyabeans were not successful in extracting the oil. No oil was extracted.

After one week, the sediments managed to settle down and the groundnut oil becomes clear.