The milling plant

Hello friends, I hope our day is moving on as planned. I am enjoying mine too. I am writing on how we process palm fruits into red oil.

Introduction

As you all know, the palm tree is a tree that is multi purpose in nature. There is no unused product or by-product from the palm tree. The palm fruit can be processed to get palm oil which is used at home and for industrial purposes too. The nuts are cracked to get the kernel, which we all know some of its uses. The rafia or leaves can be used to make thatched roofs or even brooms, the stem can also bring out palm wine in the long run. In fact, time will fail me to continue listing them and their uses.

Palm Oil Processing

Usually, processing and getting red oil from its fruit is usually a very hard job.

First you palm tree climbers climbs and cut down the palm fruit bunches from the palm tree. This is really a risky affair since some have lost their lives by falling down or have even been paralyzed. It really requires an expert to do so. Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see men who still plies the trade.

After cutting down from the tree, you have to carry it home or to a mill from the Bush. This is another back breaking work, since most of the places are just track roads that are not motorable.

Once they are home or at the mill, you allow it for two weeks so that the palm fruit can easily be removed from the bunch.

Removing the palmfruits rrom the bunch.

Later on, you have to cut off the palm fruits from the bunch, and then pick the palm fruits putting them in two big drums.

Picking the fruits for transfer to the boiling drum.

This is usually very risky and painful considering the fact that the fruit bunch has dangerous spikes that will hurt and wound you severely.

After that, the drums will be filled with water, placed on top of fire and cooked. The boiling last between 3- 5 hours. The cooking softens the palm fruit making it easier to mill.

Boiling the palmfruit.

Then the palmfruits are removed from the drum and transferred to the first machine, where the nuts will be separated from the fiber and succulent parts of the fruits.

The milling taking place, you can see the red oil in the bowl.

The fiber and the chaff are also squeezed bring out whatever remaining oil is in them.

The succulent part and the fiber will then be transferred to another machine that will then extract the oil from it.

These are some nuts and chaff mixed together after the oil is squeezed out from them.

The nuts are then taken to another machine for cracking to bring out the palm kernel, normally used for making palm kernel oil which is used industrially and for health reasons. Some times the palm Kernel oil is referred to as the crude oil of our land hahahaha.

Because of the use of these milling machines, some difficulties in palm oil processing have been reduced to an extent.

However, some are still unresolved, like climbing the tall palm trees which is a very risky venture and most people are not doing that any more.
Another problem is that of boiling which normally needs so much work of lighting fire to it, before the fruits will cook and soften.

Conclusion

Despite these prevailing problems, I still appreciate the milling machines already on ground.

So whenever you are using the palm oil, always remember thr painstaking process taken to mill it and be grateful for the peoples hardwork.

Thank you all for going thru my post.