The Germans were keen on introducing European methods of improvement.
At the Agu plantation in Togoland, for example, the process employed
there extracted the best palm oil obtainable, containing only 5 to 6 per
cent, of fatty acid. And only as late as July 4th, 1914, Direktor
Hupfield, of Togoland, told the Third International Congress of Tropical
Agriculture that increase in exportation might be attained by (1) an
extension of the districts capable of exporting by improvements in the
means of transport ; (2) a more intensive utilisation of the existing
palms through better methods of cultivation ; (3) a better utilisation
of the crops obtained through improved methods of prepara-tion ; (4) an
increase in the existing number of palms by increased activity of the
present producers or the introduction of fresh producers ; and (5) methods of preparing the crop by machinery which have been elaborated within the last decade.
Both British and French are now taking up the matter more seriously,
and several British firms, notably Lever Bros, and the Co-operative
Wholesale Society, have taken up large concessions under European
management.
Several important organised efforts have now been made to supplant
the wasteful native method for recovering the yellow oil from the
pericarp, by establishing modern plants within the area in which the oil
palm flourishes. These modern plants offer one of the most favourable
opportunities for the investment of capital, as the native labourer will
soon find that the collection of fruit for these establishments is
easier and more profitable than attempting to extract the oil himself.
At the same time, users of palm oil in Europe will be furnished with a
product which, on account of the large proportion of glycerine it
contains and better average condition, will be of greater value than the
variable and uncertain product that is now shipped by the West African
native.
The cost of extraction by the native methods is from £10 to £12 a
ton. Half that estimate should cover the cost by machinery under
European management.
The problem of the mechanical extraction of palm oil has been
approached from two standpoints- (1) the construction of small, cheap,
portable machines capable of being worked by hand and of being
transported from place to place as required ; (2) the erection of
central factories dealing with large quantities of palm fruit by means
of heavy, power-driven machines.
At least two hand-operated machines, very similar in principle, have
been patented for the preparation of palm oil, in both of which the palm
fruits are placed in a cylinder with hot water and submitted to the
action of beaters, the oil and water being afterwards run off through a
grid or sieve. The " Gwira " machine patented by Eglen (English Pat.
3357/1909) has been experimented with on the Gold Coast. The other
machine, in which the palm fruit is beaten in hot water for extraction
of the oil, is that of Phillips, a native of Lagos ; an early model of
this machine was patented in 1907 (English Pat. 9733), and an improved
form in 1912 (English Pat. 18370). It consists of a smooth cylinder
mounted inside a cylindrical casing and around a shaft bearing beaters.
The outer cylinder carries a water tank with a valve to control the flow
of water, while the inner cylinder carries on the lower side a sliding
sieve to separate the oil and water from the nuts and fibrous waste ;
this arrangement of the sieve allows its removal so that the exhausted
material can be discharged through a space in the inner cylinder. This
machine was exhibited at the International Rubber and Tropical Products
Exhibition held in London in 1914, and according to the advertisements
issued at that time, it cost £5. Although little is known with regard to
the efficiency of oil extraction by this machine, it should prove
useful in econo-mising time and labour in the preparation of palm oil on
a small scale by natives.
The first power-driven machinery for cracking palm nuts is believed
to have been introduced into West Africa in 1877 by Mr. C. A. Moore, of
Liverpool, and was devised by Messrs. Mather & Piatt, Ltd., of
Salford. Hand machines were introduced about 15 or 20 years later.
In 1901 a prize offered by the Kolonial Wirtschaft-lichen Kommittee
of the German Kolonialgesellschaft (Verhand. Kol. Wirt. Kom., 1909, No.
1, p. 54) was awarded for a complete set of small machines constructed
by the firm of F. Haake in Berlin and designed to extract palm oil from
the fruit and also to crack the nuts and liberate the kernels. Plant
made by this firm was exhibited in 1909 in Berlin, and afterwards
erected at Mamfe on the Cross River (Cameroons). Similar plant was also
erected at Victoria in the Cameroons, and at about the same time a
French firm erected a plant of French make at Cotonou in Dahomey. These
early factories were all on a small scale, working about 5 tons of palm
fruit per day.
Subsequent power machinery falls into two classes-(1) those in which
the whole fruit is pressed without removal of the nuts, and (2) those in
which the fruit pulp is removed from the nuts and pressed alone.
Noteworthy among the former are (a) the machines devised by Poisson and constructed by Louis Labarre, of Marseilles ; (b) the mill devised by Hupfeld and constructed by Messrs. Humboldt, of Cologne ; (c) the machine patented by Hawkins.
The most prominent of the second class was, before the war, that of Haake, of Berlin. Other machines have been patented by Buchanan and Tyrell, and by Dyer and Innes-Ward.
Complete plant for the preparation of palm oil in which the pulp is removed from the nuts and then pressed is made by A. F. Craig & Co., Ltd., Paisley, Scotland ; A. Olier et Cie., Argenteuil, France ; and Louis Labarre, Marseilles. The plant constructed by the first-mentioned firm is known as the Caledonia dry plant, and differs in method of working from most of the existing processes in not steaming or boiling the fruit or pulp with water before expression of oil. It is claimed for this process that neither the fruit nor the oil comes in contact with water, so that even if fatty acid and glycerine occur in over-ripe fruit no glycerine is lost. The process of depericarping is effected by a machine patented by H. G. Fairfax (English Pat. 18050/1914).
The oil, after being boiled, yields a pleasant and yellow-coloured fat, which is sometimes eaten and relished by Europeans residing in West Africa. Most of it, however, is exported to Europe and used for various purposes by the soap-maker and the chandler, not to speak of war purposes. Some oil is harder than others, notably that from thin pericarps; the softer oil is of two qualities, (a) Lagos and (b) ordinary soft oil, both of these oils fetching from £3 to £4 per ton more than the harder quality.
Soap-makers and other users of palm oil are now demanding a contract for their requirements, based on purity and on the first grade of oil containing not more than 18 per cent of free fatty acids. Many of the inferior grades will thus become unmarketable, except at a seriously depreciated price.
The softer the oil and the more glycerine therein (which varies in inverse proportion with the acidity) the greater its value.
The chemical and physical constants of the palm oil of commerce are: -
The kernels or seeds contained in the nuts or "stones" of the oil palm are obtained by cracking the nuts by hand or by the aid of a nut-cracking machine, after the orange coloured palm oil has been extracted from the outer pulpy portion of the fruit. In Sierra Leone, this is, principally, the work of thousands of small farmers in the Colony and Hinterland, who, with wives and families, work at this industry during the season. Their produce is collected by agents and sub-agents representing the large trading firms.
The kernels are exported, and the expression of the kernel oil carried out in Europe. Palm kernel oil is white in colour and of rather softer consistence than palm oil. The kernel, when it reaches the mills, is treated either by the crushing or chemical extraction processes to obtain this oil. The oil forms about 50 per cent, of its contents, and has a very high commercial value, being sold at about £40 per ton in peace time, and at a much higher figure during war. Formerly employed solely in the manufacture of soap, candles, etc., palm kernel oil has latterly been more and more in demand among the makers of edible products, such as " nut-butter," chocolate fats, etc. Before the great World War, most of our supplies of this oil were imported from the Continent. Now that the question of the people's food supplies has become one of vital moment to the country, the production of large quantities of wholesome nut-butter, sold at almost one-third the price of ordinary butter, and manufactured entirely within our own borders from produce supplied by British Colonies, may be regarded as a factor of no small importance in furthering the national policy by facilitating domestic economy.
Before the war the Germans imported kernels from Liverpool, and then sent the oil back to that port and undersold the Liverpool crushers.
Noteworthy among the former are (a) the machines devised by Poisson and constructed by Louis Labarre, of Marseilles ; (b) the mill devised by Hupfeld and constructed by Messrs. Humboldt, of Cologne ; (c) the machine patented by Hawkins.
The most prominent of the second class was, before the war, that of Haake, of Berlin. Other machines have been patented by Buchanan and Tyrell, and by Dyer and Innes-Ward.
Complete plant for the preparation of palm oil in which the pulp is removed from the nuts and then pressed is made by A. F. Craig & Co., Ltd., Paisley, Scotland ; A. Olier et Cie., Argenteuil, France ; and Louis Labarre, Marseilles. The plant constructed by the first-mentioned firm is known as the Caledonia dry plant, and differs in method of working from most of the existing processes in not steaming or boiling the fruit or pulp with water before expression of oil. It is claimed for this process that neither the fruit nor the oil comes in contact with water, so that even if fatty acid and glycerine occur in over-ripe fruit no glycerine is lost. The process of depericarping is effected by a machine patented by H. G. Fairfax (English Pat. 18050/1914).
The oil, after being boiled, yields a pleasant and yellow-coloured fat, which is sometimes eaten and relished by Europeans residing in West Africa. Most of it, however, is exported to Europe and used for various purposes by the soap-maker and the chandler, not to speak of war purposes. Some oil is harder than others, notably that from thin pericarps; the softer oil is of two qualities, (a) Lagos and (b) ordinary soft oil, both of these oils fetching from £3 to £4 per ton more than the harder quality.
Soap-makers and other users of palm oil are now demanding a contract for their requirements, based on purity and on the first grade of oil containing not more than 18 per cent of free fatty acids. Many of the inferior grades will thus become unmarketable, except at a seriously depreciated price.
The softer the oil and the more glycerine therein (which varies in inverse proportion with the acidity) the greater its value.
The chemical and physical constants of the palm oil of commerce are: -
|
Specific gravity at - |
• • • |
0.9209 to 0.9245 |
|
|
|
24° to 42.5° C. |
|
Saponification value, |
■ • • |
196.3 to 205.5 |
|
Iodine value, |
|
53 to 57.4 |
|
Reichert-Meissl value, |
• |
0.86 to 1.87 |
|
|
|
94.2 to 97 |
|
Solidifying point of fatty acids varies from 35.8° to 464° C, usually |
||
|
44.5° to 45.0° C. |
|
|
The kernels or seeds contained in the nuts or "stones" of the oil palm are obtained by cracking the nuts by hand or by the aid of a nut-cracking machine, after the orange coloured palm oil has been extracted from the outer pulpy portion of the fruit. In Sierra Leone, this is, principally, the work of thousands of small farmers in the Colony and Hinterland, who, with wives and families, work at this industry during the season. Their produce is collected by agents and sub-agents representing the large trading firms.
The kernels are exported, and the expression of the kernel oil carried out in Europe. Palm kernel oil is white in colour and of rather softer consistence than palm oil. The kernel, when it reaches the mills, is treated either by the crushing or chemical extraction processes to obtain this oil. The oil forms about 50 per cent, of its contents, and has a very high commercial value, being sold at about £40 per ton in peace time, and at a much higher figure during war. Formerly employed solely in the manufacture of soap, candles, etc., palm kernel oil has latterly been more and more in demand among the makers of edible products, such as " nut-butter," chocolate fats, etc. Before the great World War, most of our supplies of this oil were imported from the Continent. Now that the question of the people's food supplies has become one of vital moment to the country, the production of large quantities of wholesome nut-butter, sold at almost one-third the price of ordinary butter, and manufactured entirely within our own borders from produce supplied by British Colonies, may be regarded as a factor of no small importance in furthering the national policy by facilitating domestic economy.
Before the war the Germans imported kernels from Liverpool, and then sent the oil back to that port and undersold the Liverpool crushers.
