Conceptual Design of the Production of Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) Using Low-Pressure Oil Extraction That Employs Centrifugation Method | Chapter 3 | Challenges and Advances in Chemical Science Vol. 9

Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) is a product made from fresh coconut that is well-known in the market for its numerous applications. The goal of the study is to look into VCO production technologies that use low-pressure oil extraction and centrifugation, determine the percent recovery by weight of all recovered materials and wastes in the processing of VCO, and develop a conceptual design for VCO production that applies to a village-scale coconut community or farm in San Pablo, Laguna, Philippines. Splitting and shredding coconut meat are part of the raw material preparation process. The oil may be recovered from the dried grated coconut meat with 11 percent moisture content at a low pressure of 460 psi. However, the unrefined coconut oil will take at least two weeks to settle using this approach alone. The centrifugation process can significantly reduce the settling time. Based on the investigation of VCO processing technologies, a conceptual design for the combined method that is applicable to a village-scale setting was developed by applying the shortest drying time for the comminuted coconut meat to reach the desired moisture content in a tray dryer at 29.07 minutes at a drying temperature of 70°C as predicted by the Laplace Transform Model in a tray dryer. Low pressure, 2700 RPM, and 60 minutes of centrifugation can be used to extract oil from dried meat, yielding the purest oil with a yield of 92.84 percent v/v and a recovery of 18.43 percent. The VCO generated is supposed to meet the VCO Standards of the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC). The mass balance method was used to account for the weight of all recovered materials and wastes in the VCO processing technology.

Author (s) Details

Lola Domnina Pestaño
Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines. Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines.


Jolina Danielle Bautista
Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines.


Lans Sayson
Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines.


Joshua Ladd Siat
Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines.


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