Jatropha Oil
INCI Jatropha Curcas Seed Oil. Also: Jatropha curcas seed oil, Physic nut oil, Purging nut oil, Curcas oil, Pinhao-manso oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | 196.7 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 196.7 mg KOH/g (typical) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1402 g/g |
| Iodine value | 96–102 g I₂/100 g (typical 102) |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 95 |
| Melting point | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter | 0.4 % |
A bar made of 100 % Jatropha Oil
Conventional qualities summed from the fatty-acid groups; a single-oil bar is a reference point, not a recipe.
Fatty-acid profile
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myristic acid | C14:0 · saturated | 0.1–1.4 | 0.8 |
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 12.8–15.8 (typical 14.2) | 14.2 |
| Palmitoleic acid | C16:1 | 0.9–1.9 | 1.4 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 6.1–9.7 (typical 7.7) | 7.7 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 38.7–51.1 (typical 46.7) | 46.7 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 23.4–40.7 (typical 30.3) | 30.3 |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | ≤ 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Arachidic acid | C20:0 · saturated | ≤ 0.4 | 0.4 |
Where these numbers come from
Dataset #11177 'STUDIES ON FIXED OIL OF JATROPHA-CURCAS SEEDS' (1988; SOFA TAB_005293) for the typical profile, saponification and iodine values; #23578, #11513, #11897 and #15521 for the ranges.
Section 3 (average fatty-acid composition of the 135 accessions) and the introduction (toxicity).
Table 2, jatropha oil: iodine value 96.0 used; saponification value rejected.
Treat as a technical (soap, biodiesel) oil, not a food oil: Ovando-Medina et al. 2011 note that 'only in Mexico do domesticated genotypes exist of low or null toxicity'. Typical values and the saponification value are PlantFAdb's transcription of 'Studies on fixed oil of Jatropha curcas seeds' (1988; SOFA TAB_005293): oil content 41.5 %, iodine value 102.0, saponification value 196.7, refractive index 1.47; palmitic 14.2, linoleic 30.3, oleic 46.7, stearic 7.7 (98.9 %). The ranges add the other complete English-language datasets in the same PlantFAdb record: 2010 ('Bauhinia roxburghiana Voigt and Aphanamixis polystachya (Wall.) Parker: potential non-edible oil resources for future energy'): C14:0 1.4, C16:0 15.6, C18:2 32.1, C18:1 40.8, C18:0 9.7, C20:0 0.4; Madagascar 1982: C16:1 0.9, C16:0 15.3, C18:3 0.2, C18:2 34.9, C18:1 41.1, C18:0 7.5, C20:0 0.0; Vietnam 1971: C14:0 0.1, C16:1 1.9, C16:0 15.8, C18:2 23.4, C18:1 51.1, C18:0 7.5, unsaponifiable 0.4 %; 'Survey of seed oils for use as diesel fuels' (1996): C16:0 15.2, C18:2 35.8, C18:1 41.8, C18:0 6.1; and Ovando-Medina, Espinosa-Garcia, Nunez-Farfan & Salvador-Figueroa 2011 (J. Oleo Sci. 60(6):301-311), 135 accessions from 38 Mesoamerican sites: 'oleic (average 38.7%), linoleic (average 40.7%), palmitic (average 12.8%) and stearic (6.1% in average)', unsaturated share 74.5-83.8 % by site. Not used from PlantFAdb: a 1995 dictionary entry summing to 136 %, a 1965 'Search for new industrial oils' entry with 59 % linoleic, a 1997 entry with 69 % oleic and no linoleic, a 1973 entry summing to 90 %, a 1987 entry with only two acids, a Zaire entry with 28.4 % palmitic, an unpublished 1994 entry, and the second J. curcas record (plant 19098), mostly Chinese-language sources not checked one by one. Wagutu et al. 2009 (Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 23(3):359-370; Kenyan plantation seed, oil yield 47 %): iodine value 96.0 (Wijs), acid value 5.2, refractive index 1.4685; its saponification value of 112.2 is impossible for this oil and its methyl-ester profile (oleic 16.8 % with 13.9 % unknown) is not used. Check: the typical profile implies about 193 mg KOH/g against the 196.7 published with it.
This record is part of the open ingredient database (ODbL). Found an error or a better primary source? The dataset is on GitHub; corrections with a document link are welcome.