Characterisation of oil extracted from parinari curatellifolia (hacha) nuts

Abstract

Several oils have been characterised by many researchers as a way of unravelling their usefulness. Chinweubwa Arinze Jude, 2013 extracted oil from ground Nicotiana tabacum seeds by soxhlet.The percentage oil content was 36.75%. The oil was characterised in terms of iodine value, saponification value acid value, free fatty acid content and specific gravity.The oil content of the seeds showed that processing of the oil is economical.The physiochemical properties showed that the oil was highly unsaturated and had semi-drying properties. The semi-drying nature of the oil and its saponification value made it fit for the production of hair shampoo and shoe polish. In this research, dry parinari curatellifolia seeds were crushed using a stone to obtain nuts from the kernel. 40 grams of the nuts were weighed and oil was extracted from them using soxhlet apparatus. 350 ml hexane was used as a solvent. The solvent was evaporated using a rotary evaporator to remain with the oil. The oil content was calculated based on the remaining residue and the value obtained was 36.75%. The oil was characterised by determining the acid value (AV), peroxide value (PV), iodine value (IV), saponification value (SV) and the fatty acids present using Gas chromatography. AV range was 0.477-0.532. It is an indicator of the proportion of free fatty acids in the oil (It seldom exceed 0.5 for most oils). PV range was 1.69-1.9. It gives the initial evidence of rancidity of oil. The range of values shows that parinari curatellifolia oil is less susceptible to primary oxidation. IV ranged from 70.5-81.54 showing that the oil contains fatty acids with few double bonds. The results are in agreement with fatty acids confirmed to be present in parinari curatellifolia oil by Oladimeji AO et al (2011). The fatty acids are oleic acid, gondoic acid and linoleic acid. The first two are monounsaturated and the third one is an essential fatty acid. The oil is quite edible and preferred for good health due to the presence of monounsaturated fatty acids and essential fatty acids. It can also be employed in the cosmetics industries for beauty soaps, hair and skin oil products.