Crude Coconut Oil (CNO) is oil extracted from the meat of matured coconuts harvested from the coconut palm (cocos nucifera).
The meat is extracted from the shell of the coconut and dried using fire, sunlight, or kiln driers to produce copra. Copra is mechanically expressed and/or dissolved with solvents (hexane) to extract CNO.
CNO is used as raw materials for soaps, cosmetics, bio-diesel and oleochemicals
CNO goes through a Refining and bleaching process to produce Cochin type coconut oil. During refining, CNO is treated with a caustic soda solution to reduce the Free Fatty Acid (FFA) content of the oil. To reduce color, the CNO undergoes bleaching, via the addition of bleaching earth and activated carbon.
Cochin is then further processed to produce edible oil, soaps, shampoo and oleochemicals.
To produce Refined, Bleached and Deodorized (RBD) Coconut Oil, Cochin is subjected to deodorization – a process of steam distillation under vacuum, to remove the compounds in the oil that cause a peculiar coconut odor and flavor. The resulting product is RBD coconut oil, or edible coconut oil.
Coconut Fatty Acid Distillate (CFAD) is a by product of the RBD process Coconut Fatty Acid Distillate (CFAD). This product is used as raw material for fatty acid producers as well as animal feed manufacturers.
The solids remaining after mechanical extraction is Copra Expeller Cake (CEC). Because of its high protein content, CEC is used primarily as an ingredient in animal feeds.