Method for continuous extraction of extra-virgin argan oil for multiple uses

A process for continuously extracting extra virgin Argan oil from a plurality of fruit, comprising the following steps:

• a. Reception/Screening, where raw material from the plurality of fruit is freshly processed without any treatment or dehydration and the process depends on a moisture level which varies from 8 to 15%, wherein a plurality of operating parameters including speed, power of motors, frequency, flow rate, voltage and energy consumption are adjusted according to quality of the fruit and wherein the fruit is weighed in order to control an extraction rate and to calculate losses and the fruit is sorted by a visual and manual control and then by a sieve to remove dust and foreign material;
• b. Calibration, where the fruit is placed in a hopper and then channeled through a motor to be calibrated;
• c. Depulping, where the fruit is led to a pulping zone which is based on centrifugal forces applied by paddles rotating horizontally at high speed, such that the fruit is ejected or propelled by a speed and a relative proportional force on a metal wall which causes shells of the fruit to break, following which the shells are sucked by a pump to a storage zone and kernels from the fruit are drawn by gravity vertically, then undergo a double vibration;
• d. Quality Control of the pulping, where the kernel is driven on a visual and manual control mat so that overheating is controlled and the kernel comes out tempered and not hot;
• e. Crushing, where the kernel is crushed into a crushed material by a system of blows by hammers;
• f. Sieving, where the crushed material is sifted into three different-sized granules, finest-size granules, medium-sized granules, and largest-sized granules, by two sieving machines, where the finest-sized granules are the granules highest in oil content and are conveyed by a motor, the medium-sized granules are collected to be mixed with the finest-sized granules, where the largest-sized granules are taken to be separated into finest-sized granules and medium-sized granules, where the separation is carried out with an ejection system;
• g. Refining or dusting, where small light granules and by-products or waste products are recovered, where a fine granule called dust is richest in oil and another granule is shells of peeled kernels, where the granules richest in oil are transferred to a press room;
• h. Mixing, where the granules are mixed in a mixer connected to a press and fed by a pneumatic pipe system, equipped with a brake in order to not desynchronize with the press;
• i. Press feeding, wherein the press is articulated with the mixer, which is self-regulated for a precise supply rate and wherein the feeding of the raw material is controlled for quantity, moisture and grain size, and the press gives a signal to the mixer to feed the material by rotating an auger at a controlled frequency, and further wherein by-products, called oilcakes, are ejected horizontally and then propelled from a bin to a storage container;
• wherein the press comprises four vertically mounted plates and in which a temperature is regulated and controlled according to food or cosmetic needs via control of pump motors, power, frequency and energy;
• wherein the press further comprises a press screw made of galvanized steel and enamel with an alloy;
• j. Pre-filtration, wherein oil is collected vertically below slots of the press screw and is filtered through a filter, then decanted, and supernatant is pumped by two pumps through pipes to a filtration area;
• k. Pumping of the oil, wherein the oil is pumped and channeled to the filtration area;
• l. Filtration 1, wherein the oil undergoes two filtering steps in series, a first filtering step that is hot at 40° C. and a second filtering step that is cold;
• m. Filtration 2, wherein the second filtering step passes through bio-cellulose filters;
• and
• n. Pumping and storage, where the oil is recovered by pumping into barrels.