Thesis Abstract

Oilseeds are an important source of edible oils and their production has been increasing steadily in India. However, traditional methods of oil extraction from oilseeds are inefficient and lead to wastage of oil. The objective of this project was to design low-cost equipment for processing of major oilseeds like soybean, groundnut and mustard, and extraction of oil. Various unit operations involved in oilseed processing like cleaning, size reduction, oil extraction and oil recovery were studied. A prototype oil expeller machine was designed and fabricated using locally available materials. Performance evaluation of the prototype was done and process parameters were optimized. The designed equipment was found to extract 30-35% oil from oilseeds, which is 10- optimized. The designed equipment was found to extract 30-35% oil from oilseeds, which is 10-15% higher than traditional methods. It can help small and marginal farmers to extract oil from oilseeds efficiently and increase their income.

Thesis Overview