Abstract

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The leather industry is ranked first in foreign exchange earnings from non-oil export products in Nigeria. Unfortunately, 5-10% of fatliquor applied to the resultant leather articles are imported with attendant negative effects on value addition and job creation. It is imperative to look inward into plants that can give good yield of oil that can be converted into fatliquor. Based on this, oil from Cucurbita maxima (kabewa) seed was extracted and characterised and results presented as follows: Saponification value 198.18mgKOH/g, iodine value 68.56, acid value 6.95mgKOH/g, pH 5.5 and 50% oil yield. Heavy metal contents were analysed using AAS indicated Fe2+0.4357ppm, Ni2+ 0.0424ppm and Pb2+ 0.0021ppm. FT-IR analysis revealed –OH, -CH≡CH-, and –C=O as the functional groups present in the oil. GC-MS determination showed that the dominant fatty acids present in the oil include: palmitic acid (C16H32O2), oleic acid (C18H32O2), stearic acid (C18H36O2), palmitoleic acid (C16H30O2) and myristic acid (C14H28O2). The yield of the oil was good and can be used alone or in combination with other fatliquors after subjecting it to sulphation

Keywords: Leather, Fatliquor, Cucurbita maxima, Functional groups, oleic acid, Sulphation