What's Virgin Coconut Oil ?

Extracting coconut oil from it's kernel without destroying it's natural form and with no impurities but only pure coconut oil.
The color  ranges from pale yellow to colorless with a distinct taste and scent.This depends on the method of drying and processing.Some may have a smoky flavor/ slight yellowish color.However the high quality product is colorless and residue free.They do not differ in composition except that the availability of few poly phenols,vitamins and minerals contributing to fragrance.It's also rich in Medium Chain Fatty Acids (MCPA),good cholesterol and no Trans Fatty Acids.

Uses of Byproducts

The coconut folds which are oil free , after obtaining virgin coconut oil , is mixed with hot water and coconut milk is obtained to prepare curries .

These can be used to prepare other food items like rotti , biscuits and sweets.

The coconut scrapings is used as animal  feed  and can be used to prepare sambol.

These coconut scrapings are again processed in mill to obtain yellow coloured coconut oil.

Effect to environment;

The coconut shells removed after obtaining meat/kernel causes environment pollution.But it can be used to make ornaments or use as a fuel.

The coconut water may also cause soil pollution.

Carbonmonoxide is also added to the environment ,but it does not  result  in serious environment problems.

As  a whole , the virgin coconut oil industry does not cause any considerable damage to environment and can be called an environment friendly industry

For Beauticulture;

Virgin coconut oil helps for beautiful skin and hair.That is it act as the best treatment for skin care as other creams and lotions usually have chemicals  and  lasting benefits can not be gained by those.Unlike temporary treatments . virgin coconut oil has fatty acid ; MCFA ,lauric,capric,caprylic are normal components of skin and this is advantageous in replacing lipids lost in the skin.

Virgin coconut oil helps to improve the skin conditions by healing skin diseases.Virgin coconut oil is also a perfect moisturizer which can be used to make dry and scaly skin softened.

It can also be used as a cure for head lice ,pimples ,and as lip balm.

                                                              It also helps to prevent wrinkling and sagging as it strengthens the connective tissues giving a younger appearance which makes the body glow due to removal of dead cells.

The virgin coconut oil helps to minimize sun’s damaging effect, due to it’s antioxidant property.Thus it is used in sun tan lotions and thus eye spots and cancers are prevented.

Virgin coconut oil also has antimicrobial properties ; when broken to fatty acid MCFA, bacteria,virus and fungus can be killed.

Virgin coconut oil is also a suitable oil for relaxation as its property as a massage oil due to its ability of taking away heat , skin absorption,improving blood circulation and its therapeutic property relieves aches in muscles and is easily absorbed.

For; MEDICINE

* It is proved  by recent tests that virgin coconut oil can be used  as a cure for  HIV.

In 1980 it was discovered  that ,MCFA  like capric and lauric has the ability of fighting HIV .

But, the antiviral drugs  introduced  caused side effects and was resistant to virus .MCFA  had the ability of breaking the virus and not the genetic matter .Studies of Dr.Canrad Daynt, proved the effect of monolaurin and white coconut oil where he gave 4g of monolaurin to four ,7.2g to five and the last group being given 3.5 table spoons  of virgin coconut oil which improved the health of victim.

*Virgin coconut oil can also be used as a cure for digestive disorders .The use of antibiotics and antacids worsen the bacteria development and resist strains to them and also causes side effects .When virgin coconut oil is added to the diet ,it results in healthy diets intestines and increase the number of favorable  bacteria  .

MCFA  in virgin coconut oil , heals the infected tissues and also strengthens the intestinal wall.

*For cancers , virgin coconut oil builds up a strong immune system. The skin cancers can be cured by this and tumor  development is stopped.

Virgin coconut oil alter the composition of tumor tissue and inhibit the tumor growth.

Effect on Health.

Virgin  coconut oil is a natural antibiotic and thus can be used as a drug.It is also a nutraceutical and can be included in the food and at the same time minimizes and cures numerous health problems.The MCFA and monoglycerides  found are equal to breast milk and thus can be called “The Medicine of Future Generation.”

It is also an efficient energy saver and is included in powdered sports drinks and energy bars.That is because an ,MCFA in virgin coconut oil goes directly to liver and immeadetly convert to energy  The metabolism increases and it is easily absorbed by energy producing organelles in cells .Thus it can be included in daily diet or a table spoon in tea or added as flavor.

Virgin coconut oil is also an ayurvedic medicine.Some people drink a glass of it every day and it gives a speed recovery to diseases and it can be used as a health tonic .It is also a medicine for teething baby’s pains,burns,cuts,bruises.It can also be massaged into aching joints and muscles.

Production Stages

 

•   SCRAPING OF COCONUTS.

          Shown above is an improved coconut scraping machine used for medium or large manufacturing process

•   DRYING OF SCRAPED COCONUT.

• SCRAPED COCONUTS ARE  DRIED  . Moisture of coconuts is removed and oil should be felt  when pressing by finger tip .

• EXTRACTING OF VIRGIN COCONUT  OIL.

        Above method is suitable for domestic extraction of virgin coconut oil.However  more improved machinary   is used for medium and large scale production.

Special Scientific Processes.

There are several scientific processes involved with manufacture of white coconut oil.

DEHYDRATION ; It is the process of removal of moisture from shred coconut .If coconut scrapings are not well or properly dehydrated the oil become rancid .It is done by sending steam through scrapings. The moisture content should be 0.5% maximum.

DOUBLE BOIL METHOD ; Water is filled to the vessel. Then oil is added and temperature is kept at 60 degrees maximum  using a thermometer .Then it is heated for 10-15 minutes .

Scientific Explanation-The moisture particles in the oil sample is evaporated.

LABORATORY TESTINGS- There are 10 lab tests .Some of them are;

1. Moisture Content  Test

2.  FFA Content Value

 FFA content the free fatty acid content .It should be 0.2% maximum. For any oil the free fatty acid content value should be of low value. The fats and oil or the triglycerides are digested in to the simplest form of fatty acid and glycerol. But in virgin coconut fatty acid are found freely. Our stomach can not digest fatty acid and thus digested in small intestine and liver. If the content of fatty acid is high, the acidity in digestive cavity can cause irritations. But in virgin coconut oil the Free Fatty Acid content is very low, thus reducing the above risk.

   3. IV  Value test(Iodine Value Test)

  4.   Refractive Index test.

  For this test special equipment called Spectrophotometer is used. Using this experiment, a gas sample is placed on the device and a light ray is passed through it and refractive index is measured.

Process.

There are several methods of production of virgin coconut oil .They are ;

·          

C  COLD PRESS METHOD

·       CENTRIFUGAL  SYSTEM

·   FERMENTATION SYSTEM

Virgin coconut oil can be manufactured at room temperature.

COLD PRESS METHOD

1.       Coconuts are selected .The factors concerned in selecting coconut is the age of coconut. Coconuts should be 3 weeks older after plucking.

2.     The coconuts are husked ,scraped  or shred in to tiny particles.When scraping , only the kernel should be shred and the bran should not be added.

3.    Then the coconuts are dried for 1- 2 hours.For this, dryers can be used .For small scale industries , sun drying can be done for domestic purpose and also dehydration should be done as soon as possible. If not  Salmonella develops on folds , colour changesand begin to sting.If they are dried up to suitable extent , if a coconut particle is pressed from finger tips, oil should  be released.

4.     Then the moisture of coconut scrapings is reduced to 8-10% by placing 3 hours in dryer or in sun and moisture meter is used for measuring the moisture while an oven can be used for domestic industry.

5.    Press the dried coconut oil using the machines ( a modified string hopper mould can also be used.)

6.    Filter the coconut oil.Still the coconut oil is having colour and is yellowish due to suspension of protein.For filtering

·          Filter paper

·         Blotting paper(according to size of coconut folds can be used)

·         a clean cloth        are  suitable.                                                                                                                                                       

* Advantages of Cold Press Method is 300ml of virgin coconut oil can be obtained from 1kg of coconut.

* Cold Press Method is also beneficial as it has no high moisture content like fermented oil and doesn’t become rancid early.

                                                                                   

Machinary

1.SCRAPERS –Either manual or electric scrapers are used  in domestic level while  electric scrapers are used in medium or large scale industries .The function is scraping coconut to very minute shreds without addition of bran.

2.DEHYDRATORS-  Drum Type Rotary Dehydrator.

         Fuel is saw dust and combustion occur here.Water is sent through  a pipe system in the boiler and saw dust is packed inside and subjected to combustion.Then water inside is boiled with no direct contact with saw dust preventing addition of impurities.Then the steam produced is sent  through drum shaped rotary and coconut scraping are made to agitate and moisture is removed. Then remnant coconut scraping is obtained separately.

3.OIL EXTRACTING MACHINARY-      There  are of two sizes of 3 manual equipments.

• ·         Domestic Machine-It can extract oil of only one coconut per once.Thus  it is not efficient.

• ·         Medium Scale Machine 1-It can extract oil of 5/6 coconuts at once.It is suitable for medium scale industries.It is worth Rs 19 000.00 Capacity  is 750g of scraped coconut.

• ·         Medium Scale Machine 2 –It can extract oil of 18 coconuts ,(2.2kg).It also is suitable for  medium scale industry.It is Rs 85000.00 worth.It can be operatd by a hydrolic jak.

  

 4.INDUSTRIAL LEVEL EXTRACTING MACHINE-

                 It runs by single phase current.It can extract oil of capacity of 700 coconuts a day.It needs  an input of  15 kg scraped coconuts a day. It  is operated by a motor.

4.DOUBLE  BOILER-This is used for heating the scraped for 10-15 minutes.

OTHER MATERIALS NEEDED-         Filter papers
                                                    Blotting papers or cotton wool for   
                                                    filtering.       

All the above equipments are unique  innovations of

         NERDC,

           Ekala,

          Ja Ela, 

          Sri Lanka.

                                                          

 

Types of Virgin coconut oil

1. 1.       Organic Virgin Coconut Oil

              This is high  grade ,unrefined ,premium nutritional oil from first cold pressing of coconut.One or two  table spoons a day with meals and salad dressings and as a source of essential fatty acids, free of Trans Fatty Acids and MCFA is high.

1. 2.       Extra Virgin Coconut oil

Cold pressed from young coconut within hours of harvest maintaining freshness,sweetness,

Flavor and scent.

Oil is then filtered and regularly passed generating heat to 180 degree Farenheit

MCFA in virgin coconut oil.

Virgin coconut oil and human breast milk are rich  sources of MCFA.

Percentage composition	Composition	Percentage
Caproic acid	6 : 0	Non detectable-0.7
Caprylic acid	8 : 0	4.6-10.0
Capric  acid	10: 0	5.0-8.0
Lauric acid	12: 0	45.1-53.2
Mysristric acid	14: 0	16.8-21
Palmitic acid	16: 0	7.5-10.2
Palmitoleic acid	16: 1	2-4
Staeric acid	18: 0	5-10
Oleic acid	18: 1	1-2.5
Linoleic acid	18: 3	Non detectable-0.2
Lonolenic acid	24	Non detectable.