Abstract:
It is estimated that there are more than 250 cotton seed crushing mills producing about 50, 000 tons of oil and 300,000 tons of oil cakes in West Pakistan. About 70-75% of the total cotton seed is being crushed in 68 crushing mills of Karachi. The crushing mills, in general, are small, uneconomical and poorly managed and the cottonseeds are not properly stored due to which 25% of the oil content is lost. The analysis of the samples collected from different mills indicate the following results: (1) The linter percentage of cottonseed samples varies from 5 to 12%. This result justifies the installation of delintering units in West Pakistan. (2) The oil content of cottonseed cake samples ranges from 5 to 10%. This indicates a loss of about 10,000 to 15, 000 tons of crude oil on all-Pakistan basis. To overcome this loss, it is suggested that the seeds should be delinted and decorticated before crushing; this method would give an additional net income of Rs. 3,000 per 1, 000 ton of seeds. (3) In most cases free fatty acids percentage in crude oil ranged from 2% to 5%, which results in high refining losses, ranging between 10-25%, and thus increases the cost of the finished product. To overcome these losses and to obtain quality product, it is necessary to adopt solvent extraction method instead of expeller method' of oil extraction, and to develop a standardized refining technique.
Page(s):
83-92
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Pakistan Cotton, Volume: 7, Issue: 2, Year: 1962