International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 8, Issue 4, April-2017 341 ISSN 2229-5518 EXTRACTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CASTOR SEED OIL Habiba Danjuma Mohammed,Dahiru Danjuma Muhammed, Babagana Gutti ABSTRACT: Extraction and characterization of castor seed, the seeds were prepared for use by removing the endocarp, sun-drying for seven days and milled to flour. A soxhlet extraction was used for the extraction of oil, using hexane as solvent. The oil was recovered by simple distillation of the solvent. The residual oil obtained was investigated for physiochemical parameters and fatty acid composition. The physical parameters were: moisture content, specific gravity, refractive index, fire point, flash point, smoke point, viscosity, pH. For chemical parameters, were: free fatty acid (oleic acid), acid value, saponification value and iodine value. The extraction yield makes the commercialization of the seed in Nigeria possible and profitable. Also, the result of the analysis confirms the oil to be of good quality and can find application in food industry as food additives as well as industrial purposes such as cosmetics, soaps, paint and even energy generation. ———————————————————— INTRODUCTION Castor plant (Ricinuscommunis), from which castor beans and oil are native since among vegetable oils, castor oil is to the Ethiopian region of east Africa is distinguished by its high content (over now grown in tropical and warm temperate 85%) 2 of ricinoleic acid. There is no other regions throughout the world (Salunke and vegetable oil contains so high a proportion Desai, 1992). It grows naturally over a of fatty hydroxyacids and castor oil is the wide range of geographical regions and most stable viscosity of any vegetable oil may be activating under a variety of (Ogunniyi, 2006). physical and climatic regions. There are variety processes or the The VegetableIJSER fats or vegetable combination of the processes to obtain the oils have an essential function in the oils from the castor seeds. The hydrate industrial economy of a developing presses, continuous screw presses and also country as the seed oil provide a huge use solvent extraction are the common in human daily life in order to complete methods to obtain the oils from the castor and make the nowadays life more easier. seeds. However, the most satisfactory The seed oils are one of the vegetable oil approach to get the oil is hot pressing the family members. Vegetable oils or castor seeds by using a hydraulic press and vegetable fats are the lipid materials that then followed by solvent extraction been derived from the natural plants which (Ogunniyi, 2006). physically oil are in liquid state in the The leading producers of castor room temperature whereas the fat exists in seed and the countries that seriously solid state in the room temperature involve in the production of castor oils are (Ndiayeet. al., 2006). The vegetable oil is India, China, and Brazil. Together, these composed of triglycerides which lack countries account for 90% of the acreage glycerin in its structure. and production of castor beans. It is grown Several feedstocks from vegetable in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Thailand, source such as soybean, rape seed, canola, Philippines, Paraguay, Romania, Sudan, palm, corn, Japtropha and castor seeds Mexico, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. have been studied as an alternative to oil The world-wide production stood at 1, candidate. Among these sources, castor 227, 669 tonnes in 2000 (FAO). However, seeds are a potentially promising feedstock India is the world’s largest producer of IJSER © 2017 http://www.ijser.org International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 8, Issue 4, April-2017 342 ISSN 2229-5518 castor seeds and oils that meets most of that the oil has been extracted using global demand for castor oil. India solvent (Ogunniyi, 2006). contributes about 750, 000 tonnesannually, and accounting for 60% of the entire RESEARCH METHODOLOGY global production. Essentially, all the castor oil production in the U.S has been Castor Beans Process eliminated by a combination of economic factors, excessive allergenic reactions of The castor beans undergo various field and the processing workers, and the processing in the course of its preparation toxicity of the seed meal. The toxic inside for extraction. The unit operation involved the castor seed which is known as ricin, is are a very dangerous to human as it can kill 1. Clearing adults if two or three castor seeds were 2. Drying chewed (Ogunniyi, 2006). 3. Winnowing and Due to the importance of the 4. Granding vegetable oils in the industrial, pharmaceutical, food industries, and also Material and Solvent medical, there is an urgent need to produce Hexane (C6H14) is the solvent that more oil from the natural plant. In view of will be used to extract the castor oil. The this, castor oil is a promising vegetable oil mixture of diethyl ether (C2H5)2O and because it has several advantages; it is ethanol (C2H5OH) and few drop of renewable, environmental friendly and phenolphthalein with the titration process produce easily in the rural areas, where using 0.1M NaOH is used to determine the there is an acute need for modern forms of acid value of oil. After that, 0.1N ethanolic energy. The primary use of the castor oils potassium hydroxide with few drop of is as the basic ingredient in the production phenolphthalein will be used to obtain the of nylon 11, sebacic acid, plasticizers and saponification value of the oil. The carbon engine jet lubricant. Castor oil’s high tetra chloride (CCl4) will be added with lubricity which reduces the friction is Wijs solution and aqueous potassium superior to otherIJSER vegetable oils and iodide (KI) and then be titrating with 0.1M petroleum-based lubricants. It is really sodium-thiosulphate solution (Na2S2O3) to clings to metal, especially hot metal, and determine the iodine value of the oil. The the castor oils is used in production nylon starch indicator is added when the process 6-10, heavy duty automotive greases, to determine the iodide value of the oil. coating and inks, surfactants, HCl is used to active the clay in the polyurethanes, soaps, polishes, synthetic refining process of extracted castor oil. resins, fibers, paints, varnishes, dyes, NaOH and the sodium chloride are added leather treatments, hydraulic fluids and in the neutralization process of the also sealants(Ogunniyi, 2006). extracted oil. Concentrated sulphuric acid Specification for pharmaceutical use can (H2SO4) is used in the modification be found in the European Pharmocoepia. process of the oil that obtains from the The industrial type maybe divided into extraction process and then be neutralizing three types of quality. ‘First’ quality is the using sodium hydroxide (NaOH). oil that obtains from only one pressed castor oil and extracted without solvent. Apparatus This kind of oil normally produced in Europe, is virtually colorless and has very The apparatus used in this experiment are low acidity. ‘Second’ and ‘third’ quality of oven, soxhlet extractor and viscometer. castor oil is commercial names, meaning METHODS IJSER © 2017 http://www.ijser.org International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 8, Issue 4, April-2017 343 ISSN 2229-5518 Determination of acidity Operation of soxhlet extractor Procedure 300 ml of Hexane was poured into Four grammes of oil/fat were weighed a round bottom flask. 10 g of the sample according to the color and degree of acidity into a flask. Then added into was placed in the thimble and was inserted 3 in the centre of the extractor. The soxhlet another flask 50 cm of ethanol was boiled and neutralized with 0.1 M NaOH using was heated at 40-60_C. When the solvent 3 was boiling the vapour rose through the 0.5 cm of phenolphthalein as indicator. vertical tube into the condenser at the top. The neutralized ethanol was poured into The liquid condensate dripped into the the oil in the first flask and the content filter paper thimble in the centre which mixed. contained the solid sample to be extracted. Determination of iodine value The extract seeped through the pores of the Iodine value is the amount of thimble and filled the siphon tube, where it iodine measured grammes, taken up by flowed back down into the round bottom 100 g of fat/oil. It has also been defined as flask. This was allowed to continue for 30 the percentage by weight of halogen, min. It was then removed from tube, dried calculated as iodine, taken up by fat/oil. in the oven, cooled in the desiccators and weighed again to determine the amount of Iodine is only slowly absorbed for oil extracted. Further extraction was fat/oil directly, but is very rapidly taken up carried out at 30 min intervals until the from Wijs’ solution, which consist of a sample weight at further extraction and solution of Iodine monochloride (ICI) in previous weight became equal. The glacial acetic acid and carbon experiment was repeated by placing 5 g of tetrachloride. The unsaturated bodies the sample into the thimble again. The present take up iodine to saturate the weight of oil extracted was determined for double bonds; the amount of Iodine each 30 min internal. At the end of the unabsorbed being titrated by means of extraction, the resulting mixture containing sodium thiosulphate. the oil was heatedIJSER to recover solvent from the oil. Thus, iodine value is a measure of the amount of unsaturation present in fat/oil. The method employed is called Determination of saponification HANU’s method. Procedure Procedure Two grammes of the castor oil were 3 Approximately 0.5 g of oil/fat was weighed into a flask. Then 25 cm of the accurately weighed and dissolved in 10 alcoholic potassium hydroxide solution cm3 of chloroform in clean dried bottle of was added and the mixture was boiled for 500 cm3 capacity provided with a well- 1 hour gently but contained under a reflux fitted stopper.