Characterisation of used cooking oil (UCO) and orange peels as the medium of insect repellent

Abstract

Used cooking oil (UCO) is abundant waste oil in Malaysia, due to its daily use in frying food. The proper way to dispose UCO is yet to be found and creating awareness among Malaysians on disposing and recycling UCO required a long period of time. Therefore, alternative needs to be taken to solve this issue by transforming UCO into a value-added product such as insect repellent. Thus, the objective of this research is to investigate the presence of active functional chemical compounds in UCO and orange (Citrus sinensis) peels powder (limonene) that would help to transform UCO into a repellent. Based on GC-MS analysis, there was presence of fatty acids in UCO such as palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1), myristic acid (C14:0) and capric acid (C10:0). FTIR analysis has proven that orange (Citrus sinensis) peels powder contained limonene compound due to presence of alkene (C=C) group. The results of UCO and orange peels analysis, as well as comparison made with previous studies show that UCO and orange peels powder are potential to be the medium of insect repellent.