Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Castor Oil

Abstract

This study was aimed to analyze castor seed and determine physicochemical characteristic of the castor oil. The seeds were cleaned and crushed for proximate analysis which include oil, protein, moisture, ash, crude fiber, and total carbohydrate and the obtained results were 46.2, 24.2, 7.25, 3.12, 2.18, and 19.14, respectively. The oil was extracted by solvents extraction, the physical properties of oil refractive index , moisture content , specific gravity and color were tested And the result were 1.4722 , 0.16 , 0.9589, Respectively, And the result colour were yellow 0.9 red 0.56. Also the chemical properties of the castor oil which are peroxide value, free fatty acids, saponification value, and iodine value were tested the results were 9.22, 0.5, 159.2, 83.7, respectively. Castor seed oil contain a good amount of oil with good physical and chemical characteristics. It could be one of the promising source of medicinal oil in Sudan