Tamanu oil is pressed from nuts of either ''

Calophyllum inophyllum ''Calophyllum inophyllum'' is a large evergreen plant, commonly called tamanu, oil-nut, mastwood, beach calophyllum or beautyleaf. It is native to the Old World Tropics, from Africa through Asia to Australia and Polynesia. Due to its importance a ...

'' (usually) or ''

Calophyllum tacamahaca ''Calophyllum'' is a genus of tropical flowering plants in the family Calophyllaceae. They are mainly distributed in Asia, with some species in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, and the Pacific Islands. History Members of the genus ''Calophyllu ...

'' (''ati''), tropical trees belonging to the

Calophyllaceae Calophyllaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales and is recognized by the APG III system of classification. Most of the 14 genera and 475 species included in this family were previously recognized in the tribe Caloph ...

family. The oil originates in

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

, where it continues to play an important cultural role. Commercial uses of tamanu oil are predominantly for

skin care Skin care or skincare is the practice of maintaining and improving the health and appearance of the skin. It includes washing, moisturizing, protecting from the sun, and treating skin problems like acne and dryness. Skin care can help prevent i ...

. The oil has value and use as a fuel. Calophyllum inophyllum oil (CIO) is rich in antioxidants and contains UV-absorption properties.

Other names

It is also called ''beauty leaf oil'', ''calophyllum inophyllum seed oil'', ''calophyllum inophyllum oil'',”Da’ok”, ''kamani oil'', ''calophyllum oil'', ''calophyllum inophyllum essential oil'', ''dilo oil'', ''foraha oil'', ''Alexandrian laurel oil'', ''poon oil'', ''nyamplung oil'', ''domba oil'', ''honne oil'' (Honge is used as biodiesel), ''oil'', ''pinnai oil'', ''fetau oil'', ''punnai oil'', ''oil'', ''pinnay oil'', ''kamanu oil'', ''bitaog oil'', ''tamanu nut oil'', ''punna oil'', ''takamaka oil'' (ambiguous), ''laurelwood oil'' (ambiguous), ''tacamahac oil'' (ambiguous), ''punnaga oil'', ''fetaʻu oil'', ''palo maria oil'', ''ballnut tree oil'', ''ballnut oil'', ''btaches oil'', ''beach calophyllum oil'', or ''oil''.

Production

Harvest of fruits

Fruiting In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

takes place twice a year, in May and November. When ripe, the fruit is wrinkled and its color varies from yellow to brownish-red. Ripe and fallen fruits are collected from the bottom of the tree, by beating the limbs with a long hand stick, or hand-picked by climbing the tree. A tamanu fruit produces a single large seed. The seed consists of a kernel 1.5 cm in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the centre of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest Chord (geometry), chord of the circle. Both definitions a ...

and enclosed in a soft- and a hard seed coat. It is 43–52% of the weight of the whole dry fruit, about 4 g. Fresh kernels contain 55–73% oil and 25% moisture;SEAHand Book-2009 by The Solvent Extractors' Association of India the oil content increases to 70–75% when dry.

Seed processing and extraction

The seeds are decorticated by wooden

mallet A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. General overview The term is descriptive of the ...

s or by

decorticator A decorticator (from Latin: ''cortex'', bark) is a machine for stripping the skin, bark, or rind off nuts, wood, plant stalks, grain, etc., in preparation for further processing. History In 1933, a farmer named Bernagozzi from Bologna manufac ...

s or by pressing under planks. Usually, the kernels are pressed in wooden and stone'' ghani''.

Uses

The first neoflavone isolated in 1951 from natural sources was calophyllolide from ''C. inophyllum'' seeds. The

fatty acid methyl ester Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) are a type of fatty acid ester that are derived by transesterification of fats with methanol. The molecules in biodiesel are primarily FAME, usually obtained from vegetable oils by transesterification. They are u ...

s derived from ''C. inophyllum'' seed oil meet the major

biodiesel Biodiesel is a renewable biofuel, a form of diesel fuel, derived from biological sources like vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made from fats. The roots of bi ...

requirements in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(

ASTM ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is a standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical international standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems and s ...

D 6751), and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

( EN 14214). The average oil yield is 11.7 kg-oil/tree or 4680 kg-oil/hectare. In the northwest coastal areas of Luzon island in the Philippines, the oil was used for night lamps. This widespread use started to decline when kerosene, and later electricity, became available. It was also used as fuel to generate electricity to power radios during World War II. A farmer in

Nagappattinam Nagapattinam (''nākappaṭṭinam'', previously spelt Nagapatnam or Negapatam) is a town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Nagapattinam district. The town came to prominence during the period of Medieval ...

district of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, India, has successfully used the oil as

to run his 5-hp pumpset. In

Southern India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

, the oil may have been useful in waterproofing cloth and is used as a

varnish Varnish is a clear Transparency (optics), transparent hard protective coating or film. It is not to be confused with wood stain. It usually has a yellowish shade due to the manufacturing process and materials used, but it may also be pigmente ...

. An extract from the fruit was once used to make a brown dye to colour cloth. The oil can also be used to make

soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...

Properties and fatty acids

The oil is bluish-yellow to dark green and very viscous. It has a disagreeable

taste The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste. Taste is the perception stimulated when a substance in the mouth biochemistry, reacts chemically with taste receptor cells l ...

and

odour An odor (American English) or odour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is a smell or a scent caused by one or more volatilized ...

as it contains some

resinous A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds, predominantly terpenes. Commo ...

material that can easily be removed by

refining Refining is the process of purification of a (1) substance or a (2) form. The term is usually used of a natural resource that is almost in a usable form, but which is more useful in its pure form. For instance, most types of natural petroleum w ...

. The concentration of resinous substances in the oil varies from 10 to 30%. The main compounds of the seed oil are oleic-, linoleic-, stearic- and palmitic acids. Physical characteristics Fatty acids present in oil Another source says the oil contains the following

fatty acid In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated and unsaturated compounds#Organic chemistry, saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an ...

s: Other components include calophyllolide,

friedelin Friedelin is a triterpenoid chemical compound found in ''Azima tetracantha'', ''Orostachys japonica'', and '' Quercus stenophylla''. Friedelin is also found in the roots of the ''Cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in t ...

, inophyllums B and P, terpenic essences, benzoic and oxibenzoic acids, phospho-amino lipids,

glyceride Glycerides, also known as acylglycerols, are esters formed from glycerol and fatty acids, and are generally very hydrophobic. Glycerol has three hydroxyl functional groups, which can be esterified with one, two, or three fatty acids to form mo ...

saturated fatty acid In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, ...

s, and

4-phenylcoumarin Neoflavonoids are a class of polyphenolic compounds. While flavonoids (in the narrow sense) have the 2-phenylchromen-4-one backbone, neoflavonoids have the 4-phenylchromen backbone with no hydroxyl group substitution at position 2. Types Neoflavo ...

References

External links

Prospects and potential of fatty acid methyl esters of some non-traditional seed oils for use as biodiesel in India

International Journal Of Energy and International Environmental Engineering

Bogor Agricultural University Scientific Repository

Impact of palm, mustard, waste cooking oil and Calophyllum inophyllum biofuels on performance and emission of CI engine

Tamanu oil Botanical Data profile
{{Non-timber forest products Essential oils Vegetable oils