Physicochemical and thermal characteristics of Moringa oleifera seed oil

Physicochemical and thermal characteristics of Moringa oleifera seed oil were studied. The refractive index of Moringa oleifera seed oil at ambient temperature was 1.46. The acid, peroxide, saponification, and iodine values content of Moringa oleifera seed oil were 2.35 g KOH/kg oil, 7.2 meq O 2 /kg oil, 189.84 g KOH/kg oil, and 66.78 g I 2 /100 g oil, respectively. Moringa oleifera seed oil contains ten fatty acids. Among 10 kinds of fatty acids in Moringa oleifera seed oil, oleic acid is the most abundant fatty acid comprising 70.85% of total oil followed by palmitic acid (8.98%). The unsaturated fatty acids represented by oleic acid are mainly distributed in the Sn-2 position, which is as high as 95.59%. It contains a high level of unsaturated fatty acids. Moringa oleifera seed oil contains 233.29 mg/kg α-tocopherol, 9.04 mg/kg β-tocopherol, and 10.13 mg δ-tocopherol, respectively. Determination of 10 elements in Moringa oleifera seed oil by ICP-MS. Among them, calcium has the highest content. Moringa oleifera seed oil remained stable up to 305 °C with a negligible degradation. Moringa oleifera seed oil has high nutritional value and broad development prospect. This research provides a prospect for the comprehensive development and utilization of Moringa oleifera seed oil. Graphical abstract The basic physical and chemical properties and structure of Moringa oleifera seed oil was analyzed and characterized