Fat Quality and Cold Saponification of Shea Nut (Vitellaria paradoxa) Fat Extract

Aims: To extract, carry out chemical analyses and saponify shea nut fat.
Study Design: Triplicate Chemical analysis using standard procedures was employed.
Place and Duration of Study: Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, Kebbi State University of Science & Technology, Aliero, Nigeria.
Methodology: Shea nut fat was extracted in a soxhlet apparatus using analytical grade hexane (n- hexane) as refluxing or extracting solvent for the work. At the completion of the extraction process the oil was recovered from the mixture by evaporating the residual extracting solvent in an oven set at 50°C and stored in the bottle. This process was repeated until a substantial quantity of oil was achieved. Each batch of extraction lasted for about 5 hours on the average. Standard reported procedures were used to carried out the chemical analyses.
Results: The powdered seed gave 38.74% oil with density of 0.96g/ cm³. The oil is yellowish in color before it solidified to fat at room temperature. Chemical analysis of the oil reveals saponification value 166.10±0.84mgKOH/g, iodine value53.54±0.39g I2/100g, acid value of 14.26±0.33mgKOH/g and free fatty acid value of 4.20±0.04. A simple cold-process alkali hydrolysis of the shea nut oil was used to produce a brown colored soap with a foam height of 31cm³. The chemical properties of the soap were 58.66 % total fatty matter , 0.57 % total alkali, 1.26 % percentage chloride, and pH of 10.7.
Conclusion: Due to the favorable chemical characteristics of the soap in comparison with literature reports, it can be used as cosmetic toilet soap especially when other ingredients such as sequesterants, silicates and glycerine are added.