Application of Rubber (Hevea Brasiliensis) Seeds Oil Extracted using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide in Cosmetics

Abstract

Synthetic oil is often the choice of commercial for use in cosmetics especially lipsticks due to the lower cost of production. Meanwhile, the natural oil in comparison with synthetic oil is non-toxic and safe to apply in cosmetic. In addition, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) play an important role in lipsticks by giving the smooth feels when apply to the lips and also help to repair the dry lips. In this study, rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) seeds which are abundant and discarded as waste in Malaysia had been discovered to contain a significant value of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). The method used to extract rubber seeds oil (RSO) is supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2), a green technique to ensure the extracted RSO is free from organic solvent with better quality and safe to be consumed. Furthermore, the effect of temperature and pressure of the extraction was studied to obtain the optimum yield of rubber seeds oil. Lastly, the experiments of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) were performed to samples of lipsticks with or without RSO. The results obtained show that the presence of polyunsaturated fatty acids is stable in the lipmoist samples after 8 weeks of storage.