Determination of Fatty Acids and Minerals from Balanites aegyptiaca Fruit Kernel in Heglig Forest West Sudan

Abstract

Balanites aegyptiaca, particularly its fruit, is often used as food and in traditional medicine and herbalists throughout Africa and Asia for the treatment of many ailments. The fruit kernel has a high concentration of oil and minerals. This study aims to examine fatty acids in the oil and minerals in the fruit kernel. The Samples are collected from the Heglig forest in west Sudan for the first time, and prepared for analysis using solvent extraction and acid digestion methods. The fatty acids content is identified using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) as well and minerals are detected by adopting inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The oil contained 41.66% unsaturated fatty acids 58.33% saturated fatty acids and a variety of minerals, the highest amount belonged to Sulfur (6.9 ppm), phosphorous (2.2 ppm), and iodine (2 ppm). GC-MS analysis observed 12 different proportions of fatty acid, Linoleic acid, Stearic acid, and Oleic acid have a peak.