Proximate Composition And Physico-chemical Characteristics Of Seed And Seed Oil From Terminalia Catappa L And The Kinetics Of Degradation Of The Oil During Heating

The seeds and seed oil of Terminalia catappa were analyzed to establish their chemical compositions and nutritional properties in order to investigate the possibility of using them for human and/or animal consumption. The seed is a good source of oil and protein; these were found to be 51.80% and 23.78% respectively. The seeds were found to be good sources of minerals. Potassium (9280 ± 0.14 mg/100g) was the highest, followed in descending order by Calcium (827.20 ± 2.18 mg/100g), Magnesium (798.6 ± 0.32 mg/100g) and Sodium (27.89 ± 0.42 mg/100g).The physical properties of the oil extracts showed the state to be liquid at room temperature. The saponification value suggest the use of this oil in liquid soap, shampoo and oil based ice cream production. The moisture content is also low (4.13%) which indicates the possibility of long shelve-life. The degradation kinetic of the oil was also investigated. The thermal oxidation of the double bonds of the oil showed a first-order thermal oxidation kinetic and the Arrhenius plot yielded a straight line with a slope equivalent to activation energy of 7.752 KJ.mol-1.There is the possibility of considering the seed as feed supplement and its oil for industrial application