Extraction and Characterization of Oil from Lagenaria Breviflora Seeds

Abstract

The Lagenaria breviflora seeds used for extraction of oil were collected from Okada town in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. The seeds were prepared for use by removing the seeds from fruits/pods, sun-dried and drying with oven, then, pulverized. Soxhlet extraction was used for extraction of the oil with n-hexane was recovered by simple distillation using a Rotary evaporator. The residual oil obtained was characterized by investigating physico-chemical parameters and the result shows that the extracted oils were liquid at room temperature, brown-yellow colour, and pleasant smell. Characterization of the Lagenaria breviflora oil by standard techniques suggests that it contains high levels of unsaturated fatty acids, judging by its iodine values (IV) which did exceed 88 mgI₂/g which was observed in the FTIR and GC – MS analysis. Hence, not suitable as alkyd resins for paint formulation but may, however, be used for biodiesel, bio lubricant, soap production judging by its high saponification values (SV) of 253.571 mgKOH/g.