The oils of Citrus sinensis and Carica papaya were extracted with soxhlet extractor apparatus using n-hexane as the solvent, they were concentrated by distillation and degummed with water and phosphoric acid which was neutralized afterward. Gas chromatography flame ionization detector (GC-FID) was used to determine fatty acid fraction (FAF). The prominent acids in Carica papaya were oleic acid (74.5 %), (75.0 %) followed by palmitic acid (12.1 %), (12.3 %), stearic acid (5.9 %),(5.6 %) and Linoleic acid (4.3 %), (4.1 %) for crude and refined oils respectively and the major fatty acids obtainable in Citrus sinensis sample were oleic acid (62.8 %), (63.4 %) followed by palmitic acid (25.3 %), (24.3 %), stearic acid (7.2 %), (7.5 %) and Linoleic acid (3.4 %), (3.6 %) for crude and refined oils respectively. The statistical test results revealed that there was no significant difference in the values for the crude and refined oils as we fail to reject the null hypothesis base on the p-value (1.000) > 0.05. Thus, the purification processes (degumming and neutralization) did not affect the percentage fatty acid fractions of the oil but only reduced the phospholipid contents.
Key words: soxhlet extractor, degumming, GC-FID, phospholipid and Fatty acid fraction.
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