Extraction and Quantification of Oil Extracted from Seeds of Underexploited Tropical Plants in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Oil was extracted from seeds of Coula edulis, Dacryodes edulis, Garcinia kola and Cola lepidota, using n-hexane, chloroform and a  fraction of n-hexane and chloroform (1:1) as extracting solvents. The extraction was carried out at a temperature of 60oC. Using n- hexane as the extracting solvent, 42.5%, 40.1%, 24.63% and 35.73% were the yields of oil extracted from C. edulis, D. edulis, G. kola and C. lepidota respectively. Values recorded for chloroform-extracted oil were 28.7%, 25.4%, 10.83% and 21.93% respectively. Using a fraction of  n-hexane and chloroform (1:1), the experimental seeds had percentage oil yield of 31.4, 27.92, 13.53 and 24.63 respectively. The results  show that C. edulis and D. edulis had high oil content, when compared with G. kola and C. lepidota. These results suggest that n-hexane  remains a veritable solvent for extraction of oil from seeds of tropical plants.