2024-03-12
oil press -Solar-Powered Oil Press for Sesame Seed
Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is the third largest agricultural export crop in Burkina Faso, behind ruminants and cotton (Guissou R., 2012).[1] Sesame oil production is partly established in the country, but not fully developed as energy costs for processing have always been a major challenge. In 2014, Burkina Faso had one of the highest prices for electricity with an average sale price of 126.79 FCFA/kWh (Ouedraogo, Kouame, Azoumah, & Yamegueu, 2015).[2] As a Sahelian country, solar energy, on the other hand, is the most abundant resource with around 8.3 h per day of insolation and 5.5 kWh/m2/day (Azoumah, Ramdé, Tapsoba, & Thiam, 2010).[3] Unfortunately, this energy potential is not fully used by the local industries or cooperatives, which would create a significant benefit for the local economy. In this line, the objective of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of solar-powered sesame oil production, taking into consideration real conditions of medium and small scale enterprises in rural areas of Burkina Faso.