Ouricury palm kernel oil

Abstract

A small sample of ouricury palm fruits from Florida, as well as the oil expressed from the kernels imported from Brazil have been investigated. The fruits consisted of 47.5 per cent of pulp and 52.5 per cent of palm nut, of which the kernel amounted to 23.8 per cent. On the basis of the whole fruit, the oil in the pulp only amounted to 0.9 per cent. The kernels from Brazil contained 69.7 per cent of oil, some of the characteristics of which were as follows: Saponification value, 256.9, iodine number (Hanus), 14.69, thiocyanogen value, 12.78, Reichert-Meissl value, 5.93, Polenske number, 18.38, and unsaponifiable matter, 0.27 per cent. The percentages of fatty acids found in the oil were as follows: Caproic 1.66, caprylic 9.10, capric 7.64, lauric 42.7, myristic 8.43, palmitic 7.15, stearic 2.15, arachidic 0.96, oleic 12.18, and linoleic acid 2.04 per cent. Attention has been called to the importance of not assuming the presence in distilled ester fractions of the lower homologues of oleic acid from deductions made only from calculations using the iodine number and saponification value of the fraction without confirmation by other evidence. The present investigation has shown the danger of such assumptions.