Fatty Acid Profiling and Physiochemical Analysis of Citrus Sinensis (L) Oil

The study of the physical and chemical properties of oils plays a very vital role in determining their importance and the fields they can be judiciously applied. Many valuable materials are found in oil from orange fruits peels and so oil extracted from the peel of Citrus sinensis(sweet orange) using Soxhlet extraction method was assayed for physicochemical properties and also characterized using standard method. The physicochemical analysis was carried out according to American Organization of Analytical Chemists (AOAC)/IUPAC standard methods. The result of the analysis showed that the oil sample contains an acid value of 16.32 mg/g, iodine value(30.46 g/100g), saponification value (805.35mg/g), peroxide value (5.77mg/g), density (0.85 g) and viscosity (0.168 Pa.s.)The obtained lipid was trans esterified by a base catalyst. The methyl esters were analyzed using GC-MS. The lipid profile showed that Elaidic Acid was the most predominant fatty acid in the oil samplehaving the highest value (14.26%), followed by Heptadecanoic Acid (6.36%), while the least was Undecanoic Acid (0.03%. The oil sample contains predominantly monounsaturated fatty acids. However, 61.95% of the entire constituents of the oil sample could not be identified. The peels werefound to be potential source of valuable oil, suitable for numerous industrial applications such as soap, candles and cosmetic industries.