DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF JOJOBA OIL EXPELLING MACHINE

Biodiesel is a type of biofuel that is appropriate for use in diesel engines. The non-edible vegetarian oil of the jojoba tree (Simmondsia Chinensis) is cultivated in tropical and subtropical climates worldwide and has the potential for use as a commercially applicable alternative to diesel. Jojoba oil is a renewable fuel that is environmentally friendly and can be readily produced. The main aim of this study is design and the performance evaluation of a expelling machine for extracting the oil jojoba as an alternative energy resource in terms to reduce the required pressure and power consumption and obtain significant productivity improvements. The press screw was designed square-shaped threads to obtain flexible motion with high transmission efficiency compared with that of the other threads. The effective stroke length of the press screw was gradually decreased from the feed port to the discharge end by increasing the screw depth to conform the requisite amount of jojoba seeds. Based on this design, can be used a planetary transmission system to transfer the largest torque during extraction process that ensure lower energy consumption at lower speeds in comparison with the conventional power transmission systems. The performance of the oil expelling machine was studied under the rotation screw speed and press clearance between screw and press barrel. Performance evaluation of the machine was carried out in terms of the throughput capacity, extraction efficiency and specific energy. The jojoba oil expelling machine has been manufactured with a throughput capacity of 135.85 kg.h^-1 and a machine efficiency of 88.55% furthermore the lowest value of energy requirement was 40.48 kW.h.Mg^-1 by decrease of 18.47% by operating the oil expelling machine at rotation speed of 65 rpm with 2 mm press clearance.