Fatty Acids Composition of Three Different Vegetable Oils (Soybean Oil, Groundnut Oil and Coconut Oil) by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

Edible vegetable oil were extracted from three sources; soyabean, groundnut and coconut. These oils were processed for fatty acid analysis using high performance liquid chromatography. Three saturated fatty acid were present. Palmitic acid; (C16;O) range from 2.092% in coconut oil to 4.756% in groundnut oil, stearic acid (C16;O) range from 1.496% in soya bean oil to 12.075% in groundnut oil. Monounsaturated fatty acid was also obtained. Oleric acid (C18:1) range from 8.584% in coconut oil to 12.722% in groundnut oil. Polyunsaturated (essential) fatty acid identified was linoleic acid (C18:2 Omega-6) at concentration ranges of 5.654% in soyabean oil to 9.198% in groundnut oil. The result showed that the three samples are good sources of two essential fatty acid (lauric and palmitric acid). The predominant component of soyabean oil and coconut oil was myristic acid (C14:O) (41.039% and 33.544% respectively). The highest fatty acid component of groundnut oil is lauric acid (C12:O) at 14.567%.

Keywords: Soybean oil, Groundnut Oil, Coconut oil, Fatty acids, HPLC.