96 COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



During the season 1911/12 the Alexandrian mills treated 450,000 

 ardebs, the mills of the interior dealing with 330,000 ardebs. 



The manufacture of cotton seed oil in Egypt is usually carried 

 on in a ridiculously secret manner, and it was only with the assis- 

 tance of special recommendations that I was permitted to. visit the 

 factory of the Egyptian Salt and Soda Company in Kafr-el-Zayat. 



This factory works during about 1\ to 9 months of the year, and 

 deals daily with about 1,000 ardebs of cotton seed on the 32 presses, 

 the factory working without cessation during the whole 24 hours of the 

 day. The machinery plant has been made by Greenwood & Batley, 

 Leeds, and the Egyptian seed, which is in good condition and fairly 

 free from fibre, is neither cleared of fibre nor shelled, but first broken 

 between steel rollers 48in. long and 16in. thick, then pressed between 

 powerful stone wheels, which revolve in pairs, and finally heated in 

 a patent steam boiler to 60 C., and during this process as little water 

 as possible is used. The thick fluidy pulp thus obtained, in which 

 the shells remain, is run into wooden frames, which are lined with 

 camel-hair cloth, and put in the press-boxes. Each press- 

 stand has 16 press-boxes, measuring 14in. by 36in. Three men 

 fill five press-boxes in 20 minutes. A pressure of 6001bs., then ot 

 4,4801bs. 2 tons per square inch is used in the press. After a 

 lapse of 20 minutes the reddish crude oil has run out at the sides, 

 the oil cakes remaining in the boxes are then taken out, their rims, 

 which are rich in oil, are cut away and subjected a second time to the 

 process of cooking and pressing. 



This factory treated 200,000 ardebs of seed in the cotton season 

 of 1911/12. 



A " large " kantar of seed cotton of 315 Rottls contains about 

 204 Rottls of seed. 76 ardebs of seed are reckoned for each 100 

 kantars of lint, of the total weight of seed the shells represent 40 per 

 cent, and the kernels 60 per cent. According to chemical composi- 

 tion, 100 kg. of seed should yield at least 20 kg. of crude oil, but, 

 in fact, only 18 kg. to 18^ kg. are generally obtained. The yield 

 fluctuates in different years, and varies by 1 kg. to 1^ kg., and 

 more. In Kafr-el-Zayat the yield fluctuates, according to the years, 

 between 18 and 20, and reached 19^ per cent, in 1911/12. Com- 

 pared with American cotton seed Egyptian is, undoubtedly, 

 on account of the more plentiful watering of the plantations, richer, 

 for a ton of Egyptian seed yields about 3601bs. =48 gallons of crude 

 oil, against 40 gallons extracted from one ton of American seed. 



The crude oil which runs from the press-stands flows first into 

 underground tanks, under the press-room, and is then pumped into 

 storage tanks of a capacity of 50 tons each, which are placed in 

 special warehouses. 



All the Egyptian oil mills probably refine the crude oil. With 

 respect to the process of refining, which is carried out in three 

 stages, much greater secrecy still is practised than in the pressing. I 

 was conducted, on my request, through the various rooms, but very 

 hurriedly, and with as few explanations as possible. But as far as I 

 was able to observe, the process carried out here corresponds in most 

 respects to that practised in North America, which I have described 

 in my article, "Cotton in the U.S.A." (see International Congress 

 Report, Paris, 1908). 



