An economic analysis of small-scale technologies for palm oil extraction in Central and West Africa

Artisanal production of palm oil meets a significant and growing portion of the domestic demand in Central and West Africa. The traditional technology of pressing palm fruits is laborious and has a low yield of oil. In some areas, service pressing is available using manual Colin expellers, which are aging and no longer imported. Recently, commercial manufacturing of small-scale, Caltech expellers began in Cameroon in manual and motorized versions. The economic viability of these expellers and of two screw-operated batch presses used elsewhere in Africa are compared. Other types of screw-operated batch presses, hydraulic presses, and phase separation extractors are also discussed.