Journal of Food Engineering 43 (2000) 7582

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Development of a small capacity double stage compression screw press for oil expression
Jaswant Singh a, P.C. Bargale b,*
b a Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research (ICAR), Dilsukha, Lucknow 226 002, UP, India Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Nabi Bagh, Berasia Road, Bhopal 462 038, MP, India

Received 11 December 1998; accepted 7 September 1999

Abstract Mechanical pressing of oilseeds is the most widely used method for oil expression in the world. However, the mechanical oil expellers (screw presses) employed for this purpose leave about 814% of the expressible oil in the deoiled cake, so that a large quantity of edible oil is not available for human consumption. To improve the eciency of oil recovery, a modied oil expeller was designed and developed based on a novel principle of single feed double stage compression. An evaluation of the performance of the developed expeller with moisture conditioned rapeseed samples indicated that in two passes it recovered over 90% of the available oil at a moisture content of 7.5% (w.b.). This is in contrast to normally required 35 passes in conventional oil expellers for an oil recovery of about 80%. The throughput capacity of the expeller was 25 kg/h while its eective capacity (two passes) was found to be 15 kg/h. The maximum barrel temperature was 70.3C which assured production of a good quality oil, and the deoiled cake and the specic energy requirement was 0.05 kWh/kg of feed for the optimized pressing conditions. An economic analysis indicated that the developed screw press could protably be used for small-scale processing of rapeseed in rural areas of India. 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Mechanical pressing is the most popular method of oil separation from vegetable oilseeds in the world (Mrema & McNulty, 1985). In India, nearly 90% of the total 24 million tonnes of produced oilseeds are crushed using this method. The main reason for popularity of mechanical oil expellers in India as well as in other developing countries is that these equipments are simple and sturdy in construction, can easily be maintained and operated by semi-skilled supervisors, can be adapted quickly for processing of dierent kinds of oilseeds, and the oil expulsion process is continuous with product obtained within a few minutes of start of the processing operation. The safety and simplicity of the whole process is advantageous over the more ecient solvent extraction equipment. Furthermore, unlike the solvent extraction method, mechanical presses yield a chemicalfree protein rich meal. Screw presses are available in the
* Corresponding author. Correspondence address: 133, Malviya Nagar, Bhopal 462 003, MP, India. Tel.: +91-755-547283; fax: +91755-547482. E-mail address: pcb@ciae.mp.nic.in (P.C. Bargale).

capacities from 40 to 1000 kg/h. The smaller capacity presses have socio-economic signicance as they provide a value addition at cottage level with gainful employment. However, the mechanical screw presses (oil expellers) are relatively inecient, leaving about 814% of the available oil in the cake (Srikantha, 1980). Thus, a large quantity of precious edible oil (about 0.6 million tonnes) worth Rs. 2:4 109 (US$57 million) annually remains in the deoiled cake. An improvement in the mechanical extraction equipment and techniques through proper conditioning can raise oil recovery from 73% to 80% for rapeseed and groundnut (peanut) and from 60% to 65% for cotton seeds (Pathak, Singh, Singh & Verma, 1988). Thus, in order to reduce the demand and supply gap of vegetable oils in developing countries, there is a need to develop more ecient mechanical screw presses. Considerable eorts have been made in the past to improve the oil extraction eciency of screw presses. Most of them have focused on optimization of process variables such as applied pressure, pressing temperature and moisture conditioning of the fed samples (Ohlson, 1992). Various physical (e.g. dehulling, cracking, size reduction), thermal (e.g. preheating, dry extrusion),

0260-8774/00/$ - see front matter 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 2 6 0 - 8 7 7 4 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 1 3 4 - X

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hydrothermal (e.g. hot water soaking, steaming, blanching, aking) and chemical (enzymatic hydrolysis) pretreatments have been considered (Tindale & Hass, 1976; Ward, 1976; Bredeson, 1983; Khan & Hanna, 1983; Nelson, Wijeratne, Yeh, Wei & Wei, 1987; Ohlson, 1992; Williams, 1995; Bargale, Ford, Sosulski, Wulfson & Irudayaraj, 1999). These eorts have helped to increase oil recovery levels for various oilseeds from 50% to 80%. However, the problem of the requirement of an excessive number of passes remains. This results in increased specic energy consumption and wear and tear of the equipment. In addition, choking and jamming of the operating screw are generally encountered leading to excessive heating and burning of the cake and oil and thus loss of quality, energy and labour. Attempts to improve upon existing screw presses by developing a suitable and ecient oil expression device have remained isolated. Isobe, Zuber, Uemura and Noguchi (1992) developed a screw press based on twinscrews and reported an oil recovery of over 93% from untreated, dehulled sunower seed. The objective of the work presented in this paper was to develop an ecient modied oil expeller based on a conceptual design. The design was conceived based on the experience of investigators while testing several of the existing local as well as imported oil expellers. The developed unit was tested with rapeseed which is the second largest produced oilseed of India with a production of 6.7 million tonnes and the third largest produced oilseed in the world with an annual production of 30.5 million tonnes. 2. Theoretical considerations 2.1. Principles of screw press operation The oil, in the form of oil globules, is present in the cells of the oilseed at dierent locations along with other constituents such as proteins, globoids and nucleus. These are surrounded by a tough membrane called cell wall (Fig. 1). Oilseed medium is fed continuously into the screw press, where it is compressed under high pressure (435 MPa) which ruptures the cell walls so that the oil globules can escape, and forces oil through the slits provided along the barrel length. The compressed solids are simultaneously discharged through a choke provided at the end of the barrel. Ward (1976) and Singh, Singh, Bargale and Shukla (1990) have discussed in detail the various components of screw presses, their functions and some design criteria. 2.2. Design considerations The literature reveals that screw presses designs and modications have largely come from screw press manufacturers who have used their experience in design

Fig. 1. Micro-section of rapeseed (Singh, Singh, Bargale & Shukla, 1990).

of these expellers (Tindale & Hill-Hass, 1976; Stainsby, 1988). Mostly, the theory of Newtonian uid ow in an extruder, wherein pressure is built-up continuously along the barrel length, has been adopted. Contrary to the ow of material in the extruder, the cage bar of an expeller is not continuous and radial ow of oil takes place as the material moves forward in the barrel. Thus, the analysis and design of an expeller becomes complicated. For this reason, specic theoretical considerations for screw press designs have not been applied. Fig. 2 shows the material ow through a small section of the worm channel (Vadke, Sosulski & Shook, 1988). As the mixture of the oil and solids passes through several such sections, it is subjected to a radial pressure. This pressure is generated due to volumetric compression along the screw barrel, and is exerted by the shaft. According to Ward (1976), the maximum radial pressure is generated at the feed end and the axial pressure follows a similar trend (Fig. 3). This pressure causes ow of oil in the radial direction through the oilsolid matrix and oil ows out through the barrel slits. Such oil ow,

Fig. 2. Flow of material through a section of worm channel (Vadke, Sosulski & Shook, 1988)

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Fig. 3. Illustration of principle of single-feed double stage compression used in the developed screw press.

in turn, changes the ow rate of mixture inside the barrel in the axial direction. Expellers work on the principle of a pressure dierential applied to the incoming oilseeds versus that applied to the discharge material. The compression ratio of the screw/worm is therefore one of the most important criteria inuencing the performance of a screw press. It is dened as the ratio of volume of material displaced per revolution of the shaft at the feed section to the volume displaced at the choke section (see Fig. 3). In practice, compression ratios higher than the theoretical compression ratios of high oil content seeds are used to compensate for slip and rotation of meal with respect to the shaft. For example, a compression ratio of 10:1 is normally used for groundnut compared to a theoretically calculated ratio of 4.3:1.0 (Singh & Agarwal, 1988). As for extruder design, the following assumptions are made for design of screw press: The maceration of oilseed mass is complete in the feed section, leaving a homogeneous mixture of oil and solids in the ram section. No pressure development would take place in the feed section. The pressure development and the expression of oil starts at the beginning of the ram section. The temperature of oilseed mass remains constant in the ram section (while in reality, the temperature increases along the ram section due to shearing action of the shaft). 2.3. Design of the developed oil expeller The expeller developed in the present study is a prototype design based on the principle of single-feed

double stage compression. Since in practice, most mechanical screw presses require 35 passes to attain an oil recovery of 80% or more (depending on the oilseed, pretreatment, applied pressure, pressing temperature and pressing time), it was considered worthwhile to design a screw conguration with an additional intermediate choke. It was hypothesized that this would facilitate pressing of the fed oilseed twice rather than once prior to its exit from the barrel. In principle, for the same oil recovery, the number of passes could be reduced in half. To accommodate this concept, an increase in the length of the screw was necessary. Hence, while the screw length was increased, it was divided into two sections, viz. (i) a primary section and (ii) the secondary section (Figs. 3 and 4). The primary section was further divided into three sub-sections namely (a) feed section (b) ram section and (c) plug section, while the secondary section consisted of only two of these sections, namely the ram section and the plug section. This was necessary in order to accommodate the ve proposed sections. Further, to avoid increased choking and jamming because of provided additional length, the compression ratio of the worm conguration was changed such that it was reduced to almost half. Hence, instead of a single stage compression ratio of 10:1 typical of conventional screw presses, a compression ratio of 5:1 was used for the primary section and a ratio of 3:1 for the secondary section, for a theoretical overall eective compression ratio of 15:1 in one pass. This compression was achieved through increasing the root diameter of the worm while the pitch and helix angle of the screw and the barrel diameter were kept constant. Fig. 3 shows the volume change pattern as well as the theoretical variation of the

Fig. 4. Semi-sectional view of the screw press (oil expeller) developed based on the concept of single feed double stage compression. (1) hopper, (2) speed reduction unit, (3) frame, (4) cake collecting tray, (5) worm-shaft, (6) barrel, (7) spacers, (8) oil collection tray, (9) clearance adjustment, (10) electric motor, (11) choke mechanism.

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radial and axial pressures in various sections of the developed screw press (based on Ward, 1976). The developed screw press consisted of a screw, barrel (circular barrel rings inside which the screw rotates) and a cone mechanism for adjustment of clearance and regulation of pressure on fed oilseeds (Fig. 4). The power transmission system consisted of a motor (5.6 kW/3Ph/1440 rpm), a gear reduction unit (25:1) and two four-step pulleys selected to provide four worm speeds of 29, 58, 96 and 115 rpm. To provide a consistent uniform feeding in the screw press, a regulatory feeder was provided. This was driven through the gear reduction unit such that the feeder speed was synchronized with that of the screw press. Other components included thrust bearings, and oil and cake pan. Major specications of the developed screw press are given in Table 1. The barrel was made up of a number of single circular mild steel plates joined together using two hollow mild steel rods which went through these plates. Using a pump, water may be circulated through these rods to check the increasing barrel temperature during operation of the press. Between the plates, 0.025 mm thick spacers/shims were provided (15 in number) to facilitate the ow of expressed oil during operation of the press. A relatively large number of shims were provided in the plug section followed by the ram section. This was necessary due to maximum applied pressure in this section, a higher quantity of oil was expressed and its quicker escape was necessary through wider spaced slits to avoid its accumulation and possibility of back-ow towards the feed section. Provision of a slightly larger
Table 1 Specications of the developed oil expeller Parameters Overall length of the screw, mm Length of the primary section, mm Length of the feed section, mm Length of the ram section, mm Length of the plug section, mm Length of the secondary section, mm Length of the secondary plug section, mm Outer diameter of the barrel, mm Inner diameter of the barrel, mm Outer diameter of the screw, mm Throughput capacity, kg/h Eective capacity, kg/h Optimized screw speed, rpm (revolutions per minute) Compression ratio for Primary section Secondary section Length:Diameter (L:D) ratio Primary section Secondary section Overall Dimensions 561.0 298.0 50.0 200.0 48.0 203.5 59.5 125.0 60.0 58.4 25.0 15.0 96.0

area for these barrel plates facilitated faster dissipation of heat during operation of the screw press. 2.4. Operation mechanism As the oilseed fed through a regulated feeder enters into the feed section (refer to Fig. 3) of the primary section of the screw (1), it is conveyed to the ram section (2) where it disintegrates into small particles, thereby exposing a larger surface area to the pressure application in the forthcoming primary plug section (3). The pressure in the primary plug section is generated due to restriction created by an intermediate choke. This creates axial and thereby radial compression on the disintegrated oilseeds, rupturing the cell-walls, and facilitating removal of oil from the oilseed. The extracted oil ows through slits provided in the barrel through shims in the primary plug section. Meanwhile, as oilseed is continuously fed through the feeder, the material in the primary plug section moves forward to the secondary section where it enters the ram section directly. In this section, it is subjected to a gradually increasing pressure, which remains however, lower than that in the preceding primary plug section. This provides an all-important breather to the material which then enters the secondary plug section and is compressed to the maximum pressure designed for the press before nally exiting from the expeller. This second compression is more eective since the clearance between the barrel and screw can be reduced considerably with the help of the end cone clearance. To accomplish this, the end part of the worm is of conical form. The backward movement of the worm (i.e. movement towards the feed hopper) increases the clearance and thereby reduces the pressure on oilseed present inside while its forward movement does it otherwise. Using this mechanism, a clearance in the range of 0.80.4 mm was attainable. 3. Experimental evaluation of screw press 3.1. Materials The developed screw press was tested for its performance with rapeseed (Brassica campestris L., variety Varuna). Pretreatment of moisture conditioning by instant water sprinkling was selected since this pretreatment is simplest to practice, involves no additional cost and energy and is the most widely used pretreatment for rapeseed. Cleaned rapeseeds were sprinkled with a predetermined quantity of water so that the moisture contents of the samples were approximately 5%, 7%, 9% and 11% ( 0.5%). The calculations of quantity of water to be added were based on an initial moisture content of 6.3%

5:1 3:1 5.1:1 4.5:1 9.6:1

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(w.b.) measured in the raw rapeseed samples obtained from the Farm Section of the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal. The water sprinkled samples were then thoroughly mixed manually, packed in an air-tight metal container and stored for about 48 h for equilibration. The container was shaken at regular intervals to distribute moisture uniformly throughout the sample. Later, the moisture content of each sample was determined by the standard hot air oven method (AACC, 1995) prior to its feeding in the operating screw press by drying in an hot air oven at 105C for 24 h. For removing moisture, samples were kept in an hot air oven at 40C until the desired moisture was reached. 3.2. Experimental procedure Prior to each experiment, the screw press was warmed up to a temperature of about 50C by processing raw rapeseed kernels. Once this temperature was obtained, the experiment was started and pretreated rapeseed samples, in the batch sizes of 5 kg each, were fed to the screw press. Each experiment was replicated ve times. During the process of oil expression, barrel temperature, specic energy consumption and pressing time were measured using a digital temperature indicator (resolution 0.1C; Model-660, Omega Engineering Stamford, CT, USA), energy meter (Make HFD, Havells Electronics, New Delhi, 3 Phase; 30 Amp; 50 cps; 60 rev/ kWh) and a digital stop watch (resolution 0.01 s, LCD quartz watches, Smart, Japan), respectively. The expressed oil was collected in measuring cylinders (resolution 1 ml). The cake was collected in a weighing pan connected to a digital balance (resolution 0.1 g, Make Avery, India). For the rst pass, the clearance was set at 0.8 mm while for the second pass it was reduced to 0.4 mm. The feed rate to the screw press feed section was controlled and regulated through a feeder. A screw speed of 96 rpm was used based on the preliminary tests to ensure least choking/jamming of the screw press. For long-term test, the press was operated ve times continuously for 16 h duration to evaluate its suitability for longer durations without choking/jamming and excessive heating. The collected oil also contained small fractions of solid particles (`foots') in suspension. These particles which are known as foots that had owed out through the barrel slits along with the oil. The oil was allowed to settle for 24 h. In most of the cases, half of the weight of the settled foots was found to be oil when separated in a centrifuge. Hence, this quantity was added to the oil expressed from the oil outlet for the purpose of percent oil recovery, dened for the purpose of this study as the ratio of amount of oil expressed to the amount of oil initially present in the pressed samples. Oil content of each of the sample was expressed on a moisture free basis. This was to ensure uniformity in oil recovery

calculations from samples having dierent initial oil content because of dierent moisture contents. Initial oil content for the sample was determined using the laboratory scale solvent extraction method. The soxhlet apparatus (Make Tecator, Sweden, Model-1020) and the standard procedure (AACC, 1995) were used for this purpose. 4. Results and discussion 4.1. Performance of the developed screw press Table 2 summarizes the results of the performance of the developed screw press (oil expeller) with rapeseed samples at dierent moisture contents. Results are presented on a mass basis, per kilogram of fed samples pressed at selected moisture contents. The residual oil content in the cake after the rst pass (Table 2; column 9) was calculated as the ratio of quantity of the oil remaining in the cake (Table 2, column 4, pass-II) to the total weight of the sample after removal of net oil (column 7). For this purpose, one-half of the weight of the foots was added to the weight of the deoiled cake that exited from the cake outlet. The maximum oil recovery was obtained at a moisture content of 7.5% (w.b.) when a total of 90.2% of the available oil in the sample could be recovered (Table 2). The throughput and the eective capacity of the screw press were found to be the maximum for this moisture content. The values of the throughput capacities at 7.5% moisture content were 28.2 kg of feed/h for rst pass and 23.9 kg of feed/h for the second pass, for an overall effective capacity of 15 kg of feed/h in two passes. The quantity of foots was also minimum (22.4 g) at this moisture content. The specic energy consumption did not vary much with moisture contents with values from 0.048 to 0.056 kWh/kg of feed, although specic energy consumption did decrease with increasing moisture content. This may be due to the plasticizing eect of water which decreases the frictional coecient of the material. The measured values of maximum temperature recorded also decreased with increasing moisture contents from 5.1% to 11.1% (w.b.). The maximum barrel temperature was 70.3C at a moisture content of 5.1% and decreased to 61.4C at a moisture content of 11.1% (w.b.). The developed screw press operated smoothly throughout these experiments without any observed choking or jamming. This may also be reected in the recorded range of maximum barrel temperatures (61.4 70.3C) during the operation of the press. During the long-term tests of 16 h duration, it was found that the press capacity was relatively higher than that reported for shorter duration tests of about 2-h duration. This may be due to reduction in loss of time for larger

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Table 2 Performance of the developed screw press with rapeseed based on mass per kg of fed material:initial oil content of seed 41.4% (moisture free basis): Pretreatment moisture conditioning Initial quantity of oil in feed (moisture free basis) (g) Total recovery (oil + foots) (g) Foots after 24 h (g) Net oil recovery (total half foots) (g) Net oil recovery (%) Residual oil content in cake (%) 392.9 151.3 392.9 382.9 135.4 382.9 376.3 155.5 376.3 368.0 154.7 368.0 299.9 32.8 284.5 328.8 221.2 79.7 41.6 15.8 17.0 307.9 213.3 71.2 356.5 230.3 98.5 22.4 18.9 22.7 345.3 220.8 87.1 90.2 58.7 56.0 81.8 58.0 46.0 77.3 354.2 251.3 105.2 54.1 7.6 14.8 327.1 247.5 97.8 83.2 64.6 66.8 250.9 103.3 18.5 35.6 241.6 85.5 61.5 56.5 19.9 9.78 9.78 18.0 5.74 5.74 20.0 9.88 9.88 19.7 11.7 11.7 61.6 70.3 70.3 54.2 67.6 67.6 51.4 66.3 66.3 48.9 61.4 61.4 Maximum barrel temperature (o C) Specic energy consumption (kWh/kg feed) 0.034 0.022 0.056 0.033 0.018 0.051 0.030 0.019 0.049 0.033 0.015 0.048 Press capacity (kg feed/h)

Moisture content of the feed (% w.b.)

Pass (No.)

Clearance (mm)

5.1

I II

0.8 0.4

24.4 23.9 13.8 28.2 23.9 15.0 25.6 25.4 14.5 24.6 26.6 14.1

Cumulative 7.5

2 I II

0.8 0.4

Cumulative 9.1

2 I II

0.8 0.4

Cumulative 11.1

2 I II

0.8 0.4

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samples and an eective capacity of up to 20 kg of feed/h was observed. The expeller design exhibited additional benets as follows: A marginally reduced applied pressure which did not adversely aect the oil recovery rate, but helped in eliminating the most prevalent problem namely choking/jamming found in oil expellers. This, in turn, considerably reduced energy losses, man-hours of operation and the wear and tear of the barrel components when compared with operation of a conventional screw press under similar conditions of operation. Elimination of choking/jamming reduced frictional heat so that the screw and the barrel temperature remained lower than the 90C, despite the longer barrel as well as duration of operations. This is important because barrel temperatures above 90C have been reported to adversely aect the cake and oil quality (Ohlson, 1976).

4.2. Economic feasibility of the developed press Table 3 presents a result of an economic feasibility analysis of the developed screw press, if operated as a small scale industry at the rural level in developing countries such as India. In this analysis, It is assumed that the miller would procure the rapeseed at the time of harvest at the lowest possible rate, store it until next season and express oil using the double stage compression screw press. Several other important assumptions included 240 number of days of operation per year with 8 h of press operation per day, 10 yr of press life with an annual maintenance cost at a rate of 10% of initial cost of the machine. Besides this, the insurance cost (2.5% of the machine cost), interest on capital (14% per annum), labour wages per day (Rs. 30), cost of the electricity as Rs. 2.00 per kWh , cost of oilseed at a rate of Rs. 7.00 per kg and its storage and an averaged annual sale price of the produced oil and the deoiled cake were assumed

Table 3 Economic feasibility analysis for the developed screw press for a small scale mechanical oil mill for rapeseed (based on costs in year 1998)a Operating parameters/costs Machine parameters Cost of machines (oil expeller, lter press, lter pump, prime mover), Rs. Eective capacity of oil expeller, kg of rapeseed per h Life of machine, yr Hours of operation per day Days of operation per yr Annual processing capacity for the raw material (rapeseed), kg Costs Fixed costs Machine depriciation (salvage value of @ 10% of initial cost), Rs. Interest on cost of the machine @ 14% per annum Insurance @ 2.5% of the cost of the machines, Rs. per annum Housing @ 10% of the inital cost of machines per yr Annual xed cost, Rs. Variable costs Annual repair and maintenance cost @ 10% of machine cost, Rs. Annual wages of two labours @ Rs. 30 per labour per day Cost of electrical energy @ Rs. 2.00 per kWh Cost of rapeseed @ Rs. 7.00 per kg for 28,800 kg Interest on cost of procured rapeseed @ 14% per annum Annual cost of storage/losses of rapeseed @ 10% of cost of rapeseed Annual variable cost Rs. Returns Average oil content of rapeseed, % Annual production of rapeseed oil at 90% extraction eciency, kg Annual production of deoiled cake produced per kg of rapeseed, kg Revenue from sale of produced rapeseed oil @ Rs. 50 per kg, Rs. Revenue from sale of deoiled cake @ Rs. 7 per kg, Rs. Total annual revenue, Rs. Annual net prot from milling of rapeseed, Rs. Benet-Cost-Ratio Return on Investment, % Pay-Back Period, Yr Employment generated, Man-days
a

Values 50,000 (US$1190) 15 10 8 240 28,800

4500 (US$107) 7000 (US$167) 1250 (US$30) 5000 (US$119) 17,750 (US423) 5000 (US$119) 14,400 (US$343) 2880(US$69) 201,600 (US$4800) 28,224 (US$672) 20,000 (US$476) 272,104 (US$6479) 40 10,368 18,432 518,400 129,024 647,424 307,320 1.23 146 0.83 480

(US$12,343) (US$3072) (US$15,415) (US$8936)

US$1.00 is equivalent to approximately 42.00 Indian Rupees.

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J. Singh, P.C. Bargale / Journal of Food Engineering 43 (2000) 7582 Khan, L. M., & Hanna, M. A. (1983). Expression of oil from oilseeds a review. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research, 28 (6), 495 503. Mrema, G. C., & McNulty, P. B. (1985). Mathematical model of mechanical oil expression from oilseeds. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research, 31 (5), 361370. Nelson, A. I., Wijeratne, W. B., Yeh, S. W., Wei, L. S., & Wei, T. M. (1987). Dry extrusion as an aid to mechanical expelling of oil from soybeans. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 64, 1341 1347. Ohlson, I. S. R. (1976). Processing eects on oil quality. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 53, 299301. Ohlson, I. S. R. (1992). Modern processing of rapeseed. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 69, 195198. Pandey, I. M. (1979). Financial management. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. Pathak, B. S., Singh, A., Singh, D., & Verma, R. N. (1988). Performance of oil milling technologies in India. Agricultural Mechanism in Asia, Africa and Latin America, 19 (4), 6872. Singh, B. P. N., & Agarwal, Y. C. (1988). Mechanical deoiling of soybean: status of technology, approach and issues. In Proceedings of the national seminar on soybean processing and utilization in India (pp. 414423). Bhopal, India: Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering. Singh, J., Singh, B. P. N., Bargale, P. C., & Shukla, B. D. (1990). An analysis of an oil expeller expression. Journal of Oilseeds Research, 7 (2), 4150. Srikantha, P. V. R. (1980). A search for an appropriate technology for village oil industry. AIDA: Lucknow (India) Publications. Srivastava, U. K. (1981). Project planning, nancing, implementation and evaluation. CMA Monograph No. 95, Indian Institute of Management, Ahamadabad, India. Stainsby, M. A. (1988). Developments in screw pressing. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 65 (9), 14131416. Tindale, L. H., & Hill-Hass, S. R. (1976). Current equipment for mechanical oil extraction. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 53, 265270. Vadke, V. S., Sosulski, F. W., & Shook, C. A. (1988). Mathematical simulation of an oilseed press. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 65 (10), 16101616. Ward, J. A. (1976). Processing high oil content seeds in continuous screw presses. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 53 (6), 261264. Williams, M. A. (1995). Extrusion preparation for oil extraction. Information on Fat and Oil Related Materials, 6 (3), 289293.

based on the market values in India for these items. The values of these parameters used in economic analysis are given in Table 3. The data were analyzed following the standard formula and procedure for calculating the Benet-Cost-Ratio, Pay-Back Period and Return-OnInvestment (Pandey, 1979; Srivastava, 1981; Kachru, Srivastava, Bisht & Ojha, 1986; Chouhan, 1991). Table 3 presents the calculated values of xed and variable costs, the values of the revenue generated and the annually earned prot. Analysis indicated that a net annual prot of Rs. 357,570 (US$ 8514) can be earned providing a Benet-Cost-Ratio of 1.23:1, a Return on Investment (ROI) of 146% with a Pay-Back Period of 0.83 yr. In addition, the unit would generate an employment of 480 man-days at rural level. Hence, installation of such an enterprise could be a protable proposition for the poor rural population of developing countries including India. References
AACC (1995). Approved methods of the American association of cereal chemists (eighth ed.). St. Paul, MN: American Association of Cereal Chemists. Bargale, P. C., Ford, R. J., Sosulski, F. W., Wulfsohn, D., & Irudayaraj, J. I. (1999). Mechanical oil expression from extruded soybean. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 76 (2), 223 229. Chouhan, P. M. (1991). Mini oil expellers: new direction to rural oil milling industry economic feasibility study. Agricultural Engineering Today, 15 (1), 7176. Bredeson, D. K. (1983). Mechanical oil extraction. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 60, 211213. Isobe, S., Zuber, F., Uemura, K., & Noguchi, A. (1992). A twin-screw press design for oil extraction of dehulled sunower seeds. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 69, 884889. Kachru, R. P., Srivastava, P. K. Bisht, B. S., & Ojha, T. P. (1986). One hundred bankable post harvest equipments developed in India (pp. 245252). Bhopal, India: Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering.