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Oils

Papaya Seed Oil

INCI Carica Papaya Seed Oil. Also: Carica papaya seed oil.

Calculate a 100 % Papaya Seed Oil bar

Published values

Saponification value194–196.4 mg KOH/g (typical 196.4)
Used by the calculator196.4 mg KOH/g (typical)
SAP for NaOH0.1400 g/g
Iodine value74.8–79.95 g I₂/100 g (typical 79.95)
INS (SAP − IV)116
Melting point—
Unsaponifiable matter1.35 %

A bar made of 100 % Papaya Seed Oil

Hardness 21 below 29–54
Cleansing 0 below 12–22
Conditioning 78 above 44–69
Bubbly lather 0 below 14–46
Creamy lather 21 16–48

Conventional qualities summed from the fatty-acid groups; a single-oil bar is a reference point, not a recipe.

Fatty-acid profile

Fatty acidPublished range, %Used
Myristic acid C14:0 · saturated 0.2–0.8 (typical 0.2) 0.2
Palmitic acid C16:0 · saturated 16–20.5 (typical 16.16) 16.2
Palmitoleic acid C16:1 0–0.8 (typical 0.27) 0.3
Stearic acid C18:0 · saturated 4.6–5.5 (typical 4.73) 4.7
Oleic acid C18:1 69.3–73 (typical 71.3) 71.3
Linoleic acid C18:2 3.6–6.06 (typical 6.06) 6.1
α-Linolenic acid C18:3 n-3 0.22–0.5 (typical 0.22) 0.2
Arachidic acid C20:0 · saturated 0.38–0.8 (typical 0.38) 0.4
Gadoleic acid C20:1 0.32–0.5 (typical 0.32) 0.3
Behenic acid C22:0 · saturated 0.1–0.23 (typical 0.23) 0.2

Where these numbers come from

Sociedade Brasileira de Ciencia e Tecnologia de Alimentos (Ciencia e Tecnologia de Alimentos), open access via SciELO Brazil — Malacrida C.R., Kimura M., Jorge N. Characterization of a high oleic oil extracted from papaya (Carica papaya L.) seeds. Cienc. Tecnol. Aliment., Campinas, 2011, 31(4), 929-934 (doi 10.1590/S0101-20612011000400016) · document dated 2011 · read 2026-09-24

Table 2 physicochemical characteristics and Table 3 fatty-acid composition, read from the table images on the article page; the saponification value is taken from the running text (196.40) because the Table 2 image prints '96.40'.

PlantFAdb, Michigan State University (fatplants.net); Ohlrogge et al. 2018, The Plant Journal 96:1299-1308, based on the SOFA database of the Max Rubner-Institut — PlantFAdb datasets for Carica papaya (plant 13760): #15001 'Oil-bearing plants of Zaire. II' (1976), #11180 'Lipid classes, fatty acids and triglycerides in papaya seed oil' (1995), #11306 'Composition of papaya seed oil' (1977), #12400 'Chemical composition of papaya (Carica papaya) seeds' (1986) · document dated 1976 · read 2026-09-24

Saponification value 194.0 (#15001), iodine value 74.8 (#12400); compositions used for min/max.

The 'typical' values are Malacrida, Kimura and Jorge 2011 (Cienc. Tecnol. Aliment. 31(4):929-934, SciELO, open access), crude oil Soxhlet-extracted with petroleum ether from seeds of the Formosa variety; oil 29.16 % of the seed. Table 3 (fatty acids, %, n = 3): myristic 0.20, palmitic 16.16, palmitoleic 0.27, margaric (C17:0, no key) 0.13, stearic 4.73, oleic 71.30, linoleic 6.06, alpha-linolenic 0.22, arachidic 0.38, eicosenoic 0.32, behenic 0.23 % - 100.00 % in all, with the paper's SFA 21.83, MUFA 71.89 and PUFA 6.28 reproducing. Table 2: refractive index 1.4581 (40 C), iodine value 79.95 +/- 1.25 g I2/100 g, unsaponifiable matter 1.35 +/- 0.14 %, free fatty acids 1.27 %, acid value 2.53 mg KOH/g, peroxide value 5.37 meq/kg, Rancimat 77.97 h. A TYPESETTING SLIP: the Table 2 image SciELO serves prints the saponification value as '96.40 +/- 1.37'; the running text of the same paper gives 196.40 mg KOH/g, 96 is impossible for a C16/C18 triglyceride, and the composition implies about 193, so 196.40 is used. Min/max add four seed-oil datasets from PlantFAdb (plant 13760): #15001, 'Oil-bearing plants of Zaire. II. Botanical families providing oils of medium unsaturation' (1976), saponification value 194.0, with caprylic 0.3, capric 0.6, lauric 1.0, myristic 0.8, palmitoleic 0.8, palmitic 17.4, alpha-linolenic 0.4, linoleic 3.9, oleic 69.3, stearic 4.6, eicosenoic 0.5, arachidic 0.8 %; #11180, 'Lipid classes, fatty acids and triglycerides in papaya seed oil' (1995), myristic 0.2, palmitoleic 0.0, palmitic 20.5, alpha-linolenic 0.5, linoleic 3.6, oleic 69.5, stearic 4.9, arachidic 0.6, behenic 0.2 %; #11306, 'Composition of papaya seed oil' (1977), lauric 0.2, myristic 0.4, palmitoleic 0.7, palmitic 16.0, linoleic 3.9, oleic 73.0, stearic 5.5, arachidic 0.6, behenic 0.1 %; and #12400, 'Chemical composition of papaya (Carica papaya) seeds' (1986), iodine value 74.8. The short-chain acids of the Zaire and 1977 datasets (up to 1 % lauric) appear in no other analysis and are not stored. FOR SOAP: at 69-73 % oleic this behaves much like olive oil - conditioning and slow to harden - and its low polyunsaturation (about 4-6 % linoleic) gives it good shelf life. INCI name, CAS and EC numbers are CosIng's.

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.