US1454705A - Method of extracting oil - Google Patents

Description

Patented May 8, 1923.

FRANK P. CROFT, F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF EXTRACTING OIL No Drawing. Application filed June 25, 1917, Serial No. 176,836. Renewed. September 12, 1922. Serial No. 587,847.

I '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK P. Cnor'r, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented .a Method of Extracting Oil, of which the following is a specification.

One object of my invention is to provide a process or method whereby it shall be possible to extract a maximum quantity 1 of oil from bodies in which it is contained and at the same time obtain such oil in the purest form ;it being particularly desired that the process shall be of such a nature as to result in the production of oil free from substances tending to oncapable of producing a condition of rancidlty.

It is further desired to provide a process having the above characteristics, which shall involve the treatment of the oil bearing material at relatively high temperatures and pressures with a view to facilitate the subsequent complete separation of the oil from the solid material in whose cells it had been confined.

In carrying out my invention I first wash the material, for example, cocoanut meat or copra, from which the oil is to be extracted, with a view to freeing it of dirt or foreign material with which it may be mixed, and thereafter grind it into grains or pieces preferably varying in size from about a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch. The washed and coarsely ground material is then placed in an open kettle evaporator where it is heated to a temperature of about 212 F., for a time sufiicient to completely drive out of it all water or moisture which it may hold or contain, care being taken to prevent burning.

As an indication of the completion of this step in the process, small amounts of oil are freed from the material, and while it is still at a temperature in the neighborhood of 200 to 212 F., it is transferred to steel tanks or receptacles havin preferably a capacity of about one ton 0 said material, and in these it is allowed to cool to a temperature of about 110 F. On reaching this temperature, the material is ground in a series 50 of mills to such a fineness that approximately 90% of it will pass through a #100 mesh sieve. Being in the form of a semiliquld, oily mass, it is then pumped to an extracting or filter press where it is subjected to a relatively high pressure, such for example as 2 tons to the square inch and the expressed oil collected in a suitable manner.

The oil delivered as a result of this operation is of a light amber color and of a hlgh'degree of purity. It is then subjected to the action of a second filter press in order to remove from it any vegetable material which may possibly be held in suspension and the final product is a practically colorless, pure oil having little if any tendency to become rancid.

By the above described process I am enabled to obtain a maximum quantity of oil from a given body of material and this desirable result appears to be due largely to the absolute elimination of moisture before the oil bearing material is subjected to the action of the extracting press as Well as to the fine grinding and relatively high pressure at which said press is operated. The escape of the moisture is materially aided by reason of the original coarse grinding, for it is thus put in a condition best suited to permit of the escape of the water vapor.

lVhile the high temperature employed renders the oil in the individual cells of the raw material highly fluid, the subsequent fine grinding efl'ectually breaks down the partitions or walls of thev various cells in which the oil is confined, so that when the resulting semi-liquid mass is subjected to the high pressure above indicated, practically all of the contained oil is expressed.

Obviously the above described method of operation is particularly applicable to the kernels of nuts, seeds and other bodies of vegetable origin, although it may be advantageously applied to other liquid-containing solid bodies, and I have found by practical experiment and use that the oil obtained by its use is of the highest quality.

I claim 1. The method which consists incoarsely grinding oil-bearing material; heating said material to remove practically all of the moisture therein; grinding said material to a relatively fine form; and then subjecting said material to a relatively high pressure to express the oil therefrom.

2. The method which consists in coarsely 5 grinding a body of oil-bearing material;

heatin said material to a temperature in the nelghborhood of 212 F until practically all of the moisture has been eliminated and until small amounts of oil are relatively high pressure to express the oil therefrom.

In Witness whereof I aflix my signature.

FRANK P. CROFT.