Abstract
This study sought to characterize the phyto-oil extracted from an unexploited seed of African star apple (Udara) using soxhlet extraction method, normal hexane was used as the solvent at 67 °C for 4 h. The percentage oil yield was 23.8%. The extracted oil was liquid at room temperature, pleasant sweet smell with honey-like colour. The oil physicochemical properties such as acid value, peroxide value and saponification value were 17.41 ± 0.43 mg/KOH/g, 57.74 ± 2.77 meq/kg−1 and 236.341 ± 6.80 mg/KOH/g, respectively. Also, free fatty acid of 8.75% and iodine value of 29 ± 0.16 mg/100g were obtained. The identified fatty acids present included n-hexadecanoic acid (7.55%), 13-hexyloxacyctri-dec-10-en-2-one (1.19%), oleic acids (30.21%), octadecanoic acid (5.28%), hexadecanoic acid (2.37%), undecylenic acid (40.33%), 9-octadecanal (7.09%), and 9, 17-octadecadienal (5.98%). The properties of oil extracted revealed that the seed is a good source of oil which could be employed for industrial purposes.
Highlights
Fats and oils are one of the important macromolecules of the living organisms
Some major oilseeds as enumerated by Ononogbu (2002) are soybeans, groundnuts, cottonseeds, sunflower, rapeseeds, oil palm, and coconut. These plants have been developed to maximize their oil production capacity, as they are traditional and economic products of most tropical and subtropical countries (Ononogbu, 2002). They are some unexploited source of phyto-oil, which could be alternative to the conventional plants
Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS-QP2010 plus Shimadzu, Japan) system, is a very efficient technique commonly used for the identification and quantification of fatty acids in substances (Fig. 1) The unknown organic compounds in the complex mixture found in the oil were matched with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) library
Summary
Fats and oils (lipids) are one of the important macromolecules of the living organisms. Some major oilseeds as enumerated by Ononogbu (2002) are soybeans, groundnuts, cottonseeds, sunflower, rapeseeds, oil palm, and coconut These plants have been developed to maximize their oil production capacity, as they are traditional and economic products of most tropical and subtropical countries (Ononogbu, 2002). They are some unexploited source of phyto-oil, which could be alternative to the conventional plants One of such plants is African star apple (Chrysophyllum albidum). African star apple (Chrysophyllum albidum) is one fruit of great economic value in tropical Africa due to its diverse medicinal and food uses (Adebayo et al, 2012). Oil was extracted from the unexploited seed of African star apple (Chrysophyllum albidum), characterized and the fatty acid profiled using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. The oil could be used in the production of biodiesel because it is rich in fatty acids
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