A Study on some Egyptian Citrus Seed Oils

Abstract

Eight Egyptian citrus seed varieties namely: sweet orange, urban orange, valencia orange, mandarin, bitter orange, grape fruit, lemon and shaddock were studied. The means of hulls contents ranged from 38- 42 % and for kernels from 58 - 62 %. The chemical constituents, oil physical characteristics and composition of the eight citrus seed varieties were varied. Oil comprises about 24.3-38.6 %, ash 2.0-2.8 %, protein 4.0 - 4.4 %, crude fiber 4.0 - 4.4 % and nitrogen free extract 51.2 - 65.1 %. The physical characteristics of citrus seed oil were: specific gravity at 25° C, 0.9163 - 0.9186, refractive index at 25° C, 1.4692 - 1.4698, iodine value (Hanus) 100.8 - 105.8, saponification value 194.2- 196.8 and unsaponifiable matter 0.64 - 0.86. The mean values for fatty acid composition were: palmitic 20.4-28.6 %, stearic 4.7- 5.4 %, oleic 20.7 - 29.9 %, linoleic 35.1 - 45.1 % and linolenic 6.4 - 7.0 %.