Chemical and Physicochemical Characteristics of Pumpkin Seeds Oil

Abstract

This study was conducted to extract oil from pumpkin seeds and determine physiochemical characteristics of the pumpkin seeds oil. Pumpkin seeds were purchased from central market in Khartoum North. The extraction of oil was conducted by solvent extraction using petroleum ether. Pumpkin seeds were subjected to proximate analysis. Moreover, the extracted oil was analyzed for physicochemical properties. The results for the proximate analysis were 38%, 6.25%, 24.6%, 2.76%, and 4.64% for fat content, moisture, protein, fiber and ash; respectively. The values obtained by determine physical properties of pumpkin seeds oil were 0.94, 48.9, 1.47 cPs, 70 and 11 for density, viscosity, refractive index, yellow color and red color; respectively. The results for the chemical properties of pumpkin seeds oil were 1.403 (mg KOH/ g oil), 6.88(meq O2/kg oil), 0.701%,191.68 (mg KOH/ g oil) and 104.36(g of I2/100 g oil) for acid value, peroxide value, free fatty acid as oleic, saponification number and iodine value; respectively. The findings from thisstudy revealed that pumpkin seed can be good source of edible oil.