Evaluating the Efficacy of Various Extraction Methods on the Yield and Quality of Balanites Aegyptiaca Oil for Food and Cosmetic Applications

Abstract

Egypt imports 2.5 million tons of oil annually as it produces less than 10% of its consumption of vegetable oil. The government should encourage farmers to grow soybean, sunflowers, corn and other new oil seed crops to be able to secure 30 per cent of its cooking oil needs by 2025. Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile a desert tree known as Hegleig and is considered a multipurpose medicinal plant distributed at southern part of the Sahara in dry land regions in Africa and Asia. In Egypt, B. aegyptiaca grows in both Eastern and Western deserts and at the borders between Egypt and Sudan. It is to be a very promising medicinal plant in near future. The wide use of the plant in folk medicine is attributed to its unique chemical composition. Different parts from B. aegyptiaca showed high contents of saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, fixed oils and phenolics. The seed kernels contain oil percentage ranges between 30 and 60%. The oil is good for cooking as it has an acceptable scent but shows little bitterness taste if it is cold pressing extracted. As the plant has wide range of varieties, we can screen the properties of the oil content to select the best for consumption. Seven varieties brought from Wadi Sabara (Marsa Alam, Red Sea) are subjected for oil extraction to be analyzed by GC-MS. The differences in oil composition between the varieties will determine which is suitable as cooking oil or to be used for cosmetics industry. A comparison between organic solvent (n-Hexane) extraction and cold pressing extraction will be carried out. By the end of this study, we will be able to produce edible cooking oil in addition to medical soap and cream as cosmetics.