Where is shea butter extracted?

Fat from the nut of the African shea tree

For more information, please visit Qifeng.

A container of shea butter as sold in Benin

Seeds of a shea tree'raw materials for oil production

The Shea Nut. Children transporting crushed shea nuts in Jisonaayili, Ghana Wala women selling shea butter in Ghana Traditional preparation of shea butter in Mali A young woman selling shea butter in Ghana.

Shea butter ( SHEE, SHEE-ə, or SHAY; Bambara: ''''''', romanized: sìtulu[1]) is a fat (triglyceride; mainly oleic acid and stearic acid) extracted from the nut of the African shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa).[2] It is ivory in color when raw and commonly dyed yellow with borututu root or palm oil. It is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer or lotion. It is edible and is used in food preparation in some African countries.[3] It is occasionally mixed with other oils as a substitute for cocoa butter, although the taste is noticeably different.[4][5]

The English word "shea" comes from sǐ, the tree's name in Bambara.[6] It is known by many local names, such as kpakahili in the Dagbani language, taama in the Wali language, nkuto in Twi, kaɗe or kaɗanya in Hausa, òkwùmá in the Igbo language, òrí in the Yoruba language, and karité in the Wolof language of Senegal.[7] It is also known as Moo-yaa in the Acholi language.[8]

History

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The common name is shísu '''''' (lit. "shea tree") in the Bambara language of Mali. This is the origin of the English word, one pronunciation of which rhymes with "tea" , although the pronunciation (rhyming with "day") is common, and is listed second in major dictionaries. The tree is called ghariti in the Wolof language of Senegal, which is the origin of the French name of the tree and the butter, karité.

The shea tree grows naturally in the wild in the dry savannah belt of West Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, and onto the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands. It occurs in 21 countries across the African continent, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Guinea.

A testa found at the site of the medieval village of Saouga is evidence of shea butter production by the 14th century.[9] The butter was being imported into Britain by .[10]

Composition and properties

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Shea butter fatty acid profiles

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Shea butter is composed of five principal fatty acids: palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and arachidic (see Table below). About 85 to 90% of the fatty acid composition is stearic and oleic acids. The relative proportion of these two fatty acids affects shea butter consistency. The stearic acid gives it a solid consistency, while the oleic acid influences how soft or hard the shea butter is, depending on ambient temperature.

The proportions of stearic and oleic acids in the shea kernels and butter differ across the distribution range of the species. Ugandan shea butter has consistently high oleic acid content, and is liquid at warm ambient temperatures. It fractionizes into liquid and solid phases, and is the source of liquid shea oil. The fatty acid proportion of West African shea butter is much more variable than Ugandan shea butter, with an oleic content of 37 to 55%. Variability can be high even locally, and a tree that produces hard butter can grow with one that produces soft butter.

Nuts are gathered from a wide area for local production, so shea butter consistency is determined by the average fatty acid profile of the population. Within West Africa, shea butter from the Mossi Plateau region of Burkina Faso has a higher average stearic acid content, and so is usually harder than shea butter from other West African regions.[11]

Fatty acid variation

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Fatty Acid Mean Min Max 16:0 Palmitic 4.0 2.6 8.4 18:0 Stearic 41.5 25.6 50.2 18:1 Oleic 46.4 37.1 62.1 18:2 Linoleic 6.6 0.6 10.8 20:0 Arachidic 1.3 0.0 3.5

Shea butter phenolics

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A review characterized and quantified phenolic compounds in shea butter, identifying 10 phenolic compounds, eight of which are catechins.[12] This study also found that the overall concentration and relative percentages of different phenolic content in shea kernels varied from region to region.[12] The authors hypothesized that the overall concentration of phenols in shea kernels is linked to the level of environmental stress that the trees endure.[12]

Uses

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Shea butter soap

Shea butter is mainly used in the cosmetics industry for skin- and hair-related products (lip gloss, lip stick, skin moisturizer creams and emulsions, and hair conditioners for dry and brittle hair).[citation needed] It is also used by soap makers and massage oil manufacturers, typically in small amounts, because it has plenty of unsaponifiables, and higher amounts result in a softer soap that has less cleaning ability. Some artisan soap makers use shea butter in amounts to 25% ' with the European Union regulating the maximum use around 28%, but it is rarely the case in commercially produced soap due to its high cost compared to oils like palm oil or olive oil.

In some African countries such as Benin, shea butter is used for cooking oil,[13] as a waterproofing wax, for hairdressing, for candle-making, and as an ingredient in medicinal ointments. It is used by makers of traditional African percussion instruments to increase the durability of wood (such as carved djembe shells), dried calabash gourds, and leather tuning straps.[citation needed]

Classification

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The United States Agency for International Development and other companies have suggested a classification system for shea butter, separating it into five grades:

• A (raw or unrefined, extracted using water)
• B (refined)
• C (highly refined and extracted with solvents such as hexane)
• D (lowest uncontaminated grade)
• E (with contaminants)

Whipped Shea butter

Commercial grades are A, B, and C. The color of raw (grade A) butter ranges from cream (like whipped butter) to grayish yellow. It has a nutty aroma which is removed in the other grades. Grade C is pure white. While the level of vitamin content can be affected by refining, up to 95% of vitamin content can be removed from refined grades (i.e., grade C) of shea butter while reducing contamination levels to undetectable levels.

See also

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For more information, please visit Shea butter tea seed oil extraction machine factory.

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References

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Although it only grows in a limited swath of sub-Saharan African parklands, the wild shea tree supplies the entire world with enough shea nuts to meet the growing demand for both shea oil and shea butter. African civilizations have been processing shea nuts by hand for centuries, using tedious traditional methods of shea butter extraction to produce a valuable fat used to make food, skincare products, and healing ointments.

Today, the global shea market represents an estimated value of $2.75 billion, which is set to double within the next ten years to exceed $5.5 billion by . Africa produces approximately 1,760,000 metric tons (MT) of raw shea nuts a year, and historically, most of this stayed within the African continent to supply domestic demand. The shea export market traditionally traded raw shea kernels rather than shea butter or other finished products.

However, as shea applications have evolved and processing methods have improved, shea butter exports have increased as producing countries invest in more advanced equipment. As the global demand for shea products grows, new processing plants are setting up shop, searching for more efficient shea oil and shea butter extraction methods to supply the entire world.

Pre-processing shea nuts

As Africa's second most important oil crop, shea trees sustain millions of indigenous women who gather fallen fruit and prepare the nuts to be processed into shea butter. As a vital income source for these underserved populations, shea has earned the nickname 'women's gold.'

Wild shea trees take at least 20 years to reach maturity, then produce about 20 kilograms of nuts each year for 200 years. Ripe fruit fall from the trees when mature, supplying approximately 800,000 tons of nuts that local women collect and clean.

Removing the nuts from these fallen fruits and preparing the kernels for processing involves several tedious, time-consuming steps, including:

• De-pulping to remove the fleshy fruit surround surrounding the nut either by manually peeling it off or fermenting the fruit in heaps to dissolve it.
• Boiling at 212-220 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30-45 minutes to soften the nuts, releasing the oil inside and cleaning off any remaining pulp, deactivating harmful enzymes.
• Drying in the sun or in an oven for several days to reduce the moisture content and prevent mold during storage.
• De-husking to remove the shell by cracking the kernel then blowing the shells off with a fan or winnowing machine.

Dried, shelled shea nut kernels can be stored or sold at this point in the process. Or the women may process the kernels themselves using traditional shea butter extraction methods.

Also read: Capitalizing on Specialty Oils and Fats with the Anderson Super Duo

Shea butter extraction

Traditionally, African women used simple water extraction to produce shea butter in their villages. They would pound the kernels in a pestle and then add water to create a paste that they'd knead by hand for at least half an hour. Next, this paste is boiled to separate the fat from the solid seed residue, and the oil is skimmed off the top and cooled to produce natural shea butter.

The entire wet extraction process takes up to 30 hours of manual labor, but with so many uncontrollable factors, it has the lowest yields and highest variability. This inefficient, inexpensive extraction method leaves about 23% of the fat behind, only yielding about 35% of the oil. As a result, many shea producers are adopting more mechanized solutions to improve quality and yield.

Larger processors use mechanical extraction equipment to recover more oil efficiently. Screw press expellers physically crush the shea kernels to squeeze out shea oil from the solid meal, which exits the expeller as a cake. Since shea contains such high concentrations of fat (at least 40% by weight), most processors send this kernel cake through a second press to squeeze out as much oil as possible, reducing residual oil levels to about 14-16%.

However, the unique dual-press design of the Anderson Super Duo' Series Expeller® efficiently crushes the material twice in a single pass, with the torque to minimize residual oils and maximize shea oil yields.

Alternatively, some processors feed the de-oiled cake from the second press to a solvent extraction plant to chemically extract the remaining oil, leaving as little as 2% residual oil. This process uses a solvent like hexane to chemically dissolve the oil from the rest of the kernel and then process both byproducts to remove the remaining solvent.

While this method is the most effective at achieving maximum oil yields, the chemicals are expensive and potentially hazardous, raising health and environmental concerns. For these reasons, solvent extraction is generally not preferred for shea butter extraction'especially in food and cosmetic markets where consumers seek natural, organic ingredients.

What is shea oil?

Traditional water extraction, mechanical expeller pressing, and solvent extraction yield shea butter. So, what is shea oil, how is it extracted, and how does it differ from shea butter extraction?

Raw shea butter has a nutty aroma, a yellowish color, and a thick creamy consistency. After extraction, this raw shea butter is often refined, bleached, and deodorized to produce clear, odorless, refined shea butter. These refining processes may also remove some of shea's beneficial bioactive compounds and unwanted colors and odors.

Once refined, shea butter can be fractionated into two parts: a creamy fat known as shea stearin and a liquid oil called shea olein'otherwise known as shea oil.

Fractionation separates these two unique components using either a chemical reagent or physical methods like centrifugation. This process produces two distinct products with unique applications:

• Shea stearin is often used as an alternative to cocoa butter when making chocolates and other creamy confections like ice creams, sauces, and spreads.
• Shea olein, or shea oil, is used extensively in cosmetic formulations as an effective emollient and a rich source of antioxidants. Shea oil is used in personal care products formulated for both skin and hair because it nourishes, moisturizes, repairs, and protects from damage.

Crude shea butter contains a fairly balanced concentration of oleic acid (46%), a monounsaturated fatty acid, and stearic acid (43%), a saturated fat. This composition contributes to its creamy texture. However, the fractionation process alters this fat profile so that shea oil contains about 59% oleic acid and only 27% stearic acid, which makes it more liquid at ambient temperatures

Shea oil growth potential

Although the shea industry comprises a relatively smaller market than other commodity oilseeds and nuts, shea's steady popularity and unique properties are fueling its growth trajectory worldwide.

As the applications for shea oil and other byproducts continue to expand, while shea oil and shea butter extraction methods evolve, processors must continue to increase their capacity, quality, and efficiency. Processing plants can tap into massive profits in this market by optimizing methods and machinery to produce the highest quality shea products.

With over a century of experience processing unique nuts and oilseeds around the world, Anderson International can provide both the equipment and the expertise needed to succeed in this space. To learn more about the processing steps and opportunities surrounding shea oil and shea butter extraction, contact us today.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Shea butter tea seed oil extraction machine supplier. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.