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4. Recommendations
4.1 General facility
The facility, being built before the actual arrival and installation of the stills, will need some minor
changes to create a user-friendly and safe working environment, based on the findings of this
assessment it is therefore recommended that:
1. The 5KA rating electrical breaker in distillation room and in the main box needs to be upgraded to a
breaker with a 15KA rating due to the type of boiler used as it causes fluctuations in Amperage, this
change was discussed with the contractor in Opuwo,
2. The water supply system be modified to facilitate the movement of the boiler which has already
been discussed with a contractor in Opuwo,
3. Depending on the results of the water analysis a water purification unit (such as water softener to
remove lime and Reverse Osmosis to bring down the TDS) to supply the boiler with suitable quality
water needs to be installed,
4. Upgrading of water tanks from 5000 ℓ -10000ℓ for sufficient water supply for cooling as there is not
sufficient supply for a full day’s worth of operating the stills,
5. After discussions with contractor in Opuwo a suitable solution was reached to modify the floor by
cutting channels into so that the excess water (from the boiler and cleaning) can drain out of the
processing room thus creating a safer working environment,
6. Create a simple method for removing spent plant material from the facility and floor to a waste or
composting site after each distillation procedure by creating some ramps for a flat bed wheel
barrow type vehicle which can then be tipped into a waiting trailer for removal from the site, if
necessary, not withstanding that this “waste material” could also be valuable on its own. Either way
a suitable storage area or dump area will need to be identified;
7. Standard operating procedures will have to be established to produce a product of uniform quality
and to determine the cost of production in order to be able to calculate a sales price;
8. A business plan should be put together for future changes to improve productivity and for the
marketing of the oil.
4.2 Mopane distillation
The mopane distillation system seems to functioning well and only a couple of minor changes needs to
be implemented on the pre-processing and on the baskets for loading and unloading, based on the
findings of this assessment it is therefore recommended that:
1. The crushed Mopane seeds are the best for distillation in yield/weight and ease and speed of
processing, although more trials should be done with size of pre-processing,
2. Oil samples should be tested for quality and also be sent to prospective buyers,
Report on the Technical Assessment of the Stills at the Opuwo Processing Facility (April 2011) Page 7