132 THE STERILISATION OF COPRA 



in pressing and refining oil are the separation of 

 the free fatty acid and the removal of any colour 

 which may naturally exist or have been artificially 

 produced in drying the raw material. 



It stands to reason that any process which 

 permits of the extraction of oil whereby its original 

 clarity and colour are preserved would be of 

 immense value to the oil refiner, as it would enable 

 him to eliminate to a considerable extent plant 

 for clarification and decolorisation. These two 

 aims have in several methods been attained for all 

 practical purposes, but the principal problem still 

 awaiting solution is that of preparing, by one 

 definite process, a special grade of copra in which 

 the percentage of free fatty acid present shall be 

 reduced to a minimum. To get a better view of 

 the problem involved, it is only necessary to realise 

 that if an oil after being extracted contains 10 per 

 cent, of free fatty acid, which costs money to 

 separate, and is then only worth, say, 35 per ton, 

 the remaining 90 per cent, realising considerably 

 higher values, the process which would give a 

 minimum of free fatty acid, say, of half or one per 

 cent, only, would possess the considerable advan- 

 tage of bringing the cost of separation to a very 

 low point, reducing the amount of low-grade oil 

 pro rata, and increasing the quantity of higher 

 grade oil, for which a better price could be obtained 

 in like proportion. It is from this standpoint that 



