Feasibility study: pure argan oil

Production of Argan Oil

The extraction of Argan oil is very difficult process, and requires a lot of labor hours. The extraction of one liter of Argan oil demands around thirty kilograms of Argan fruit and around fifteen hours of work. This explains the high price of this product in the market. In general, there are two techniques of extraction of Argan oil, the traditional method and the cold pressed method. Also to the technique used in the extraction process determines the type and the quality of the obtained oil.

Traditional Method of Extraction

Argan oil is obtained by using mainly manual methods. The fruit of the Argan tree is small, and round. A very hard peel covers the nut. The nut contains one to three Argan oil-rich seeds. Extraction allows from 30% to 50% of the oil in the seeds, depending on the extraction method.  Extraction is key to the production process. To extract the nuts, workers first dry Argan fruit in the open air and then remove the fleshy pulp.  The nextstep in this extraction process the women crack the Argan nut manually to obtain the Argan seeds or the kernels. There were many attempts to mechanize this process, but unfortunately they were all failed, so women still do it by hand, making it a time-consuming, labor-intensive process. Women often engage in this difficult task by sitting on the ground and use a base rock and sharp stone to crack the nut. After that they put the kernels in the traditional rock grinder and then grind it. (See Figures 1A and 1B)

Figure 1A and 1B Sorting and Grinding of Argan Fruit

Source:   Argana News (2016)

The extracted oil is allowed to rest about two weeks, until totally been filtered and all the solids suspended in the Argan oil settle to the bottom, creating a natural sediment. The clearer Argan oil is further filtered, depending on the required clarity and purity. Argan oil may contain some residues. This is a natural part of the production process and does not affect the quality. This method is usually used in order to produce the culinary Argan oil.