Copra oil is pressed from dried coconut meat. Harvesting coconuts for copra is a labor-intensive process. Farmers and plantation workers manually remove the fibrous outer husk, then split open the coconut shell to drain the liquid.
How is copra pressed?
After grinding, cracking, and flaking, copra can be pressed like other oilseeds to extract the valuable oil. Copra drying process. Traditionally, processors feed flaked copra into stacked cooking and drying vessels, which reduce the moisture levels down to about 3 or 4% by weight.
How does a copra extruder work?
This multifunctional machine breaks down copra with heat and high pressure to maximize the extraction process. Instead of drying copra to 3% moisture for an expeller, the material can be fed into the extruder with moisture levels between 6-8%.
Can coconut meat be processed into copra oil?
While it’s possible to process these raw kernels into virgin coconut oil, the meat is often dried to obtain copra, which is then processed into copra oil. Fresh coconut meat contains about 50% moisture and 34% oil by weight, so it must be dried before processing.