1. Production Process
Avocado oil for industrial use consists of the following unit operations:
a) Sorting out of ripe avocado fruit
b) Washing
c) Scalding
d) Peeling
e) Pressing
f) Refining
g) Filling, packing and dispatching to market
Ripe avocado fruit harvested from farm in first properly sorted out and is prepared for processing. The damaged cenes are avoided from being processed. The sorted out fruit is then washed to remove any foreign material that might have passed from farm area to this stage. The washed avocado fruit is then dried and scalded by hot water produced by a boiler. This action further removes unwanted particles that might have possibly remained attached to the fruit.
The next operation is peeling. This is carried out by a machine, where the upper skin of the fruit is carefully removed and discharged as waste. The inner part is directly charged into a pressing machine where the oil is separated from the non-oil part. The crude oil is then refined by a refinery unit. The output of the refinery is then charged into a filling machine, where the industrial avocado oil is filled into metallic containers for final dispatch into market.
The plant has no any adverse impact on environment. The soap stock that will be generated in the refining process will be used by soap producers. The other waste that could be generated is the peel and solid waste after regeneration. This is also used for essential oil extraction and fertilizer or animal feed, respectively.