Physicochemical properties and thermal behaviour of African wild mango (Irvingia gabonensis) seed oil.

Plants belonging Dacryodes and lrvingia genus have great economic importance in Central and West Africa. lrvingia gabonensis (IG) produces a seed rich in fats, traditionally used as a soup thickener. Fruit of Dacryodes edulis (DS) contains a pulp how are also rich in fat. Its seed constitute a big waste problem in towns and village remains not exploitable by local people however that may be valued as a resource for various components. Some study shows that this seed contented a proportion of oils that would be an alternative in the substitution of diesel relevant to their physicochemical properties. Despite the potential of two different oils, theirs scientific data still lack. In this work, thermo-physical behaviour of those two oils is compared in the aim to improving knowledge about properties of those oils that will promote their valorisation in industry scale. The result of this investigation showed that IGO have a highest proportion of oil content with 72.38% compared to DSO (14.64%). IGO is rich in myristic (49.8%) and lauric fatty acid (37%) but DSO sample was found to possess a higher proportion of linoleic acid (35.13%), palmitic (32.67%), oleic (17.70%) but lower proportion of stearic (9.97%). SFC of IGO was the highest at all temperatures. IGO is solid at room temperature with a complete melting at 40°C but DSO is liquid at room temperature. The polymorphism profile of IGO and DSO shows the 13' form stable during heating and a transition to liquid state without passage at β form