90 The Philippine Journal of Science im 



order to free the oil, and this imparts the burnt odor and taste. 

 The centrifugal cream separator suggests itself as a means of 

 removing the water, and while it separates the water very nicely 

 on a small scale, the solid particles of the emulsion rapidly pack 

 into the separating bowl, and the operation must be interrupted 

 while the accumulated fiber is removed. A modified centrifuge 

 might be constructed that would not be subject to this disad- 

 vantage. 



It was noticed that a large part of the water separated from 

 the emulsion upon standing, and if allowed to stand for a 

 sufficient length of time, microorganisms attack the emulsion, 

 breaking down the tissue with liberation of the oil. The length 

 of time required, together with the high rancidity and acidity 

 of the oil produced, does not commend the process. Attempts 

 were made to liberate the oil from the emulsion by heating 

 with (1) salt, (2) acids, and (3) alkalies, but in all cases the 

 oil was impaired in quality and the separation was not facilitated. 

 Freshly grated coconut meat was heated in an autoclave at from 

 120-130° C. for as long as four hours, both with and without 

 the addition of water, but did not permit of a greater degree of 

 expression than where live steam was used under ordinary pres- 

 sure. Similar experiments were made, using an amount of 10 

 per cent sodium sulphite solution equal to the volume of the 

 meat on the assumption that the coconut meat would be disin- 

 tegrated as in the making of paper from wood pulp with the 

 sulphite process. This treatment might be used for the manu- 

 facture of soap stock oils, as it facilitates the removal of the oil, 

 but the quality of the oil is impaired in both color and taste. 



As a result of these preliminary experiments we have deter- 

 mined methods that work successfully in laboratory practice and 

 contain no points which could not be duplicated on a factory 

 scale. The process which was found to yield the best results is 

 outlined as follows : 



The meat may be removed from the shells and ground into 

 a fine state of division by either of two methods: 



a. The process employed in the small oil mills throughout the 

 provinces, which consists in grating out the meat from the half 

 nuts by means of a revolving burr, manipulated . with a pedal 

 attachment. One man can grate the meat at the rate of 100 

 nuts per hour. 



b. A more modern method for dealing with large quantities 

 of nuts divides the process into two parts. The meat is first 

 freed from the shell by treating the nuts with live steam for a 

 period of from fifteen to thirty minutes. It is convenient to use 



