Coconut Press

Coconut Press

Thanks for visiting our coconut press page. Our press is located at the Bali Appropriate Technology Institute (BATI) in a small village in Tabanan, Bali, called Sangketan.

We employ five people who would otherwise be unemployed, on a casual basis to run this operation . We hope to find a reliable market for our great product to ensure their continued employment. Young families have returned to their villages of origin primarily due to unemployment and the higher cost of living in town. A huge plus for this project is that it's independent of the tourist industry which has been seriously impacted by the Bali bombing in 2002. The local government is very interested in the success of our endeavor and would like us to start more of these coconut oil projects.

The process begins with the dehusking and splitting of the nut. The nut is then shredded into meal. It takes about eight nuts to produce one liter of oil.

The process continues with the gentle drying of the meal at approximately 60 degrees Celsius. This is still considered cold pressed due to this low temperature, unlike other processes which use superheated steam, lye, bleaches and detergents.

After about 15 minutes the meal water content has been reduced to 10%. The meal is then packed into a stainless steel cylinder which is then loaded into the mechanical press. The remaining water in the meal refuses to compress and forces out the oil but remains in the coconut meal.

The process is very environmentally friendly. The press is located near a good source of coconuts reducing the cost of transportation and green house emissions. The husks and shells are burnt cleanly in the dryer and and at the moment the meal is being given to those who keep pigs.

Flow on projects would be keeping more livestock at BATI and feeding them the meal, also utilizing the resultant manure for biogas units and organic fertilizers. We have just filled a pond with shrimp to see how they fare.

The meal is also great in cooking for curries, mueslis, biscuits and cakes. We have also producing our own natural soap with the cold pressed oil. This is being done in the frame below.