A study on the composition of beechnut oil

Abstract

Cold-expressed oil is yellow, viscous, with a sweetish taste, while hot-expressed oil has a bitter taste which can be removed by boiling with water. Zhe oil is a semi-drying oil, suitable for human consumption and rich in linoleic acid. Oil yield by continuous ether extraction was 22% of the whole kernels or 35% of the decorticated material. Conventional and gas chromatographic analyses of samples of varying origin yielded the following average figures: titre 23; solidification point -17; I value 109; saponification value 193; n d25 1.475; refractive index (Zeiss) 75; Reichert value 5; Polenske value 9; thiocyanogen value 79.2; unsaponifiable matter 0.4%; and % fatty acid composition: palmitic acid 9, stearic acid 1.6, oleic acid 41, linoleic acid 40.2, linoleic acid and arachidic acid 3.6. Typical UV and infrared spectra are reproduced