J Am Oil Chem Soc (2014) 91:13031312

DOI 10.1007/s11746-014-2483-5

ORIGINAL PAPER

Cooking and Sun Drying Effects on Properties of Allanblackia

stanerana Kernels Oil
Guy Bertrand Noumi Martin Pengou
Emmanuel Ngameni

Received: 22 February 2013 / Revised: 8 May 2014 / Accepted: 11 May 2014 / Published online: 28 May 2014
AOCS 2014

Abstract Previous studies have evaluated the nutritive

potential of Allanblackia oils. Oil extraction from Allanblackia is done after a pretreatment of the kernels which has
an influence on oil quality. In Cameroon, the pretreatment
consists of cooking, followed by drying of the almonds in
the sun. The oil is either edible or used as a body cream.
Because of these important applications, it is necessary to
determine treatment conditions that maximize extraction
yields and preserve its quality. This study was aimed at
finding the mathematical models that simulate the best pretreatment conditions. The use of multiple linear regression
analysis allowed developing satisfactory models and surface response plots that predict the evolution of the
extraction rate as well as the quality of the extracted oil,
depending on cooking and sun drying times. The coefficients of correlation obtained were 72.03 % for water
content; 53.06 % for extraction yield; 71.06 % for acid;
76.48 and 83.29 % for iodine and refractive values
respectively, indicating a suitable model of the experiment
according to the studied variables. The response surface
curves were superimposed to obtain a single optimal range
that satisfies all response factors. The average cooking time
of 12.5 min and the mean residence time of 8.5 days
G. B. Noumi
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of
Ngaoundere, Ngaoundere, Cameroon
M. Pengou (&)
Department of Chemistry, Higher Teachers Training College,
University of Maroua, Maroua, Cameroon
e-mail: mapesu@yahoo.fr; pengou.mapesu@gmail.com
M. Pengou  E. Ngameni
Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Inorganic
Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Yaounde I,
Yaounde, Cameroon

drying gave the following optimal values for the different

response factors studied: moisture content 21.60 %; oil
yield 70.69 %; refractive index 1.4546; iodine value 34.72;
and acid value 0.38 mg KOH/g oil. The conditions to
obtain a maximum extraction yield and low acidity were
those that gave a residual water content of about 1015 %.
The quality indicators measured in this work generally
remained within the threshold.
Keywords Allanblackia stanerana  Extraction yield 
Low acidity  Quality indicators  Sun drying and cooking
conditions

Introduction
The Allanblackia genus is a medium sized, evergreen and
dioecious tree with a height of 30 m. Its trunk is relatively
short, straight, and cylindrical, without buttresses and
sometimes showing a thickened base [1]. The Allanblackia
species grow only in wet Western, Eastern and Central
African forests and are found either in rich biodiversity
areas or in agricultural areas [2]. The Allanblackia genus
produces seed containing a fat which is solid at room
temperature. Its chemical composition [3] and its high
melting point (35 C) makes the fat a valuable raw material
that can be used without transformation to improve the
consistency of margarines, cocoa butter substitutes and
related products [4]. Previous works on the Allanblackia
genus are on the phytochemicals order [5]. The production
of Allanblackia oil in Africa remains traditional.
In 2002, the Novella partnership on Allanblackia oil
program was created to stimulate its production in Ghana,
Tanzania and Nigeria [4]. This partnership aims at
developing a sustainable (economic and social

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1304

environment) supply chain that contributes to the development of companies operating in Africa Allanblackia.
Novella is an international publicprivate partnership of a
wide range of stakeholders. Its biggest investor Unilever
buys the output of crude oil to be refined in Rotterdam in
the Netherlands. The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
conducts scientific research on the domestication of
Allanblackia so as to bring the harvest to a level of
commercial viability [4].
Having a high quality and readily available food supply
is a vital necessity. Nowadays, the need for lipids remains a
fundamental problem in developing countries. In Cameroon for instance, the coverage rate of dietary lipids is about
49 % [6]. Inadequate treatment of food can lead to nutritional losses as well as some causal diseases. Food products
can be preserved in many ways. People have always sought
to develop preservation techniques and these have been
recently improved. These conservation techniques included
either the prevention of food contamination by microorganisms or the preservation of the organoleptic and nutritional properties [7]. To meet the increasing demand for
oil, both for human consumption or for industrial purposes,
improvements have been made and several studies have
been done accordingly [814]. As a result, a large amount
of oils and fats have been obtained from plant sources that
have the ability to produce the desired quality. In recent
years, there has been an increasing interest in new oil
sources such as plant seeds that are important oil sources of
nutritional, industrial and pharmaceutical quality [15].
Given the increasing scientific and public awareness about
the nutritional and functional properties of these oils, the
evaluation of the quality and composition of nonconventional seed oils have become the concern of researchers.
Humans first used elements available in nature to keep their
foods. Sun drying is one of the oldest used processes. This
process aims at limiting or avoiding the development of
micro-organisms. However, sun-drying is not always
without consequences on the food nutritional value.
Cooking is considered to be a critical operation in the
extraction process [16], blocking seed germination [17].
This is because germination does not only reduce the
extraction yield, but also makes the oil bitter [18]. The
present work aims at evaluating the impact of cooking and
sun drying times on some properties (extraction yield,
residual water content, acid value, iodine value and
refraction value) of oil extracted from Allanblackia stanerana seeds as well as to establish the optimum conditions
for quality preservation of the extracted oil. Through this,
mathematical models that can simulate the experimental
phenomenon will be developed. The interest in modeling
the response by a polynomial is to enable the calculation of
all the responses of the study area without necessarily
repeating the experiments [19].

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J Am Oil Chem Soc (2014) 91:13031312

Materials and Methods

Plant Material and Pretreatment
The seeds from A. stanerana fruit were collected at Nkolenyeng and Ndjantom, small villages situated about 65 km
from Sangmelima in the South Region of Cameroon. Each test
consisted of cooking 200 g of A. stanerana seeds in 5 L water
in a 20-L electric pot. The cooking temperature ranged
between 90 and 100 C and is considered as suitable in terms
of oil degradation [7]. The cooking time ranged from 0 to
30 min. The sun drying time varied from 0 to 14 days until the
achievement of a relative humidity suitable for dehulling and
for oil extraction. These intervals were chosen with reference
to the treatment of other kernels such as Shea [16]. The
diameters of Allanblackia seeds ranged between 18 and
40 mm. Seeds, cooked and dried at different times were dehulled and the recovered kernels crushed in a cutter mill
(Moulinex, France). The average outdoor temperatures and
humidity during drying ranged from 25 to 30 C and 75 to
85 % respectively. The oil extraction process was performed
by maceration for 48 h in 200 mL hexane and after filtration
the filtrate was evaporated on a rotary evaporator to recover the
oil. The oil samples obtained were kept in small dark bottles.
The acid values, iodine and refractive indices were determined
using standard methods [20, 21]. The residual water content
was calculated after cooking and drying. The extraction yield
was determined from the dry matter. The experiment was
conducted in duplicate and the average value was determined.
Response Surface Methodology and Experimental
Design
The principle is to model the surface of experimental
responses, that is, the evolution of the criterion on a universe of discourse of bounded variables and find the optimum of the estimated area [2225]. Among the many types
of methods for constructing response surfaces, the center
composite experimental design (ECCP) was used. It allows
one to study and compare the effects of factors on different
responses. It has an advantage of facilitating the construction as it is built by adding measurement points to a
full factorial design [26]. Since the method for studying a
response surface is often used after the effects of the factors, it is sufficient to carry out a few additional experiments to estimate the response surface of the studied
criteria. However, the number of trials is large compared to
other methods [23], but this number would be reasonable
when the number of the studied factors is between 2 and 4
parameters [22]. Another disadvantage is that, and this type
requires five levels per factor that physically can be difficult to achieve [22]. A comprehensive presentation of the
method is given in the literature [23]. A central composite

J Am Oil Chem Soc (2014) 91:13031312

1305

design is defined by: a full factorial design 2 k, n0 replications at the center of the experimental domain, dedicated
to statistical analysis - two points per parameter and setting
p
out on the axes of each of them to a distance of a (a k)
from the domain center. These points contribute to the
evaluation of quadratic terms of the polynomial model,
giving information about the curvature of the response
surface. The number of tests to be carried out N will
depend on the number of k-factors studied and on the
number of replications in the center of the domain, n0:
N = 2k ? 2k ? n0, k is the number of factors. In this
study, k = 2 (cooking and drying times). The choice is
based on the fact that this model is well known and easy
to operate and has a particular form, based on seconddegree polynomials and is applicable to many problems.
The experimental matrix results that emerge from the
study of the effect of cooking and drying of the seeds, are
given in Table 1. The coded values were converted into
real values by the relation Xi Xi0 xi Du [27], where Xi
is the value of natural variable (or real value) Xi0 is the
central value of natural variable i, xi is the coded value
of variable i, Du is the increment that can be calculated
from the following equation: Du
Xi0

real value maxX0i

p
a

with

real value max real value min

.
2

The model chosen is that of a second degree polynomial

with interaction between the factors and governed by the
following equation:
y a0

n
X

ai x i

i1

n1
XX

aij xi xj

ji i1

n
X

Cooking
time (x1)

Real values
Drying
time (x3)

Cooking time
(min) (X1)

Drying time
(day)
(X3)

1.

15

2.

15

3.

25.6

11.95

4.

-1

26.6

2.05

5.

-1

4.4

11.95

6.

-1

-1

4.4

2.05

7.

?a

30

8.

-a

0
0

?a
-a

15
15

14
0

9.
10.

Criteria for assessing the reliability of the simulations were

the regression coefficients (R2) and/or the relative error (RE)
observed between the experimental and theoretical results.
The RE was determined by the following equation:
PN yexp ytheo 
RE % 100
i1  yexp where, yexp and ytheo are
N
respectively the experimental and the theoretical values, the
latter is calculated from the equation generated by the model
and using the coded value, N is the number of trials. The
model is considered valid for a given result, if at least one of
the following criteria is met (R2 C 70 % and/or RE B10 %).
Statistical Processing of Data
The results obtained were statistically analyzed through the
analysis of variance in order to assess the influence of the
factors on the observed responses. Multiple regression tests
and the plotting of surface response curves led to the
development of mathematical models to simulate the
experimental phenomenon. The STAGRAPHICS plus 3.0
and SIGMA PLOT 9.0 Software were used for this
purpose.

Results and Discussion

Table 1 Centre composite experimental design of the study of the

effect of cooking and sun drying of A. stanerana seeds on the quality
p
of the extracted oil, with, a 2 1:4142
Coded values

Validation of the Model

aii x2i

i1

with ai linear coefficients of the equation, xi, xj, coded

values and y the expected response.

Tests

Table 1 indicates that the seeds of A. stanerana were

cooked between 0 and 30 min and dried for between 0 and
14 days.

The coefficients of the regression equation (CR), coefficients of determination (R2) and P values of ANOVA for
expression models of water content, extraction yield, acid
value, iodine value and refractive index of A. stanerana
oils obtained from cooked and dried seeds by composite
experimental design center, are shown in Table 2.
Data in Table 2 show that the conditions for validation
of the results (R2 C 70 % and/or ER \10 %) were met by
all the results obtained. This suggests that our model
(ECCP) is therefore valid for these variable responses.
Residual Water Content (RW)
The residual water content of seeds (in g/100 g dry matter)
or any other material from which oil can be extracted is
very important. In fact, the water content in the raw
material influences both the extraction rate and the quality
of oil extracted from it [28]. The water content is a quantitative indicator of the existence of water in a food product. Its value is crucial in the food industry since it
determines the intensity of enzymatic and chemical

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Table 2 Coefficients of the regression equation (CR), coefficients of

determination (R2) and P values of ANOVA for expression models of
residual water content, extraction yield, acid, iodine and refractive

values of A. stanerana oils obtained from cooked and dried seeds by

center composite experimental design

Residual water content

Extraction yield

Acid value

CR

P value

CR

P value

CR

Iodine value

Refractive value

P value

CR

P value

CR

P value

x1 (cooking time)

-0.8908

0.6601

0.9661

0.5645

-0.0540

0.1158

1.2153

0.3471

0.00066

0.7345

x3 (drying time)

-7.9757

0.0014*

-0.1079

0.9483

-0.0730

0.0402*

0.1072

0.9327

0.00889

0.0005*

x21

-1.3888

0.6048

-7.2609

0.0051*

-0.0290

0.5053

-3.3712

0.0616

-0.00056

0.8284

x1x3

-0.3750

0.8955

-3.7450

0.1291

0.1062

0.0357*

-7.6925

0.0008*

0.00237

0.3981

x23

9.0862

0.0041*

-4.0697

0.0823

0.0609

0.1745

-3.3187

0.0652

-0.0149

0.0001*

Constant

23.0250

71.4675

0.3875

34.9700

R2 (%)

72.03

53.06

71.06

76.48

83.29

ER (%)

14.47

7.50

25.42

12.08

0.19

1.4582

* P value less than 0.05 indicates the significant effect of 095 % level of confidence

b 14

30
25
25

25

25

12

55

45
40
35

10
20

8
20
25

25

25

30

25

30
25

25
20

20

10

10
8

4
dryin
g tim
e (dy
)

co
ok
ing

12

tim
e

15

15

30

30

30

35

35

40

40

45

45

30

(m
in)

(% d. m.)
water content

50

20

drying time (dy)

15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55

35

35

40

40

45
50

50

0
0

10

45

50

15

50

20

25

30

cooking time (min)

Fig. 1 Surface plots of the residual water content of Allanblackia kernels as affected by the variable processes of cooking and drying times

reactions, and it also controls microbial growth; according

to the nature of the products, the critical threshold of the
water content is very variable [29]. Statistical analysis of
data (Table 2) on the water content showed that only the
first and second order terms of the drying time has a significant influence on the water content (P \ 0.05). The
processing of experimental data by multiple regressions led
to the development of a mathematical model to simulate
the evolution of water content accordingly as a function of
cooking (x1) and drying time (x3):
RW 23:025  0:8908x1  7:9757x3  1:3888x21
 0:375x1 x3 9; 0862x23
The model has a determination coefficient higher than
70 % (see Table 2), suitable with the experimental design.

123

The difference of about 28 % would be related to factors

such as temperature of the water used for cooking, the
diameter of the kernel and the relative humidity of air in
the studied area, which were not taken into account. The
influence of these factors had already been found by some
researchers [30] and others have taken these into account to
improve the extraction process [6, 31]. Changes in water
content depending on the factors studied are shown in
Fig. 1a and b.
It can be seen, after an analysis of the curves in Fig. 1
that, the drying time influences the water content. When the
drying time increased, the water content decreased and
after about 10 days of drying (Fig. 1a) it started to
increase. This water content varied from 55 to 15 % and
the observed increase is probably due to absorption of

J Am Oil Chem Soc (2014) 91:13031312

1307

b 14
60

75

(% d.m))
extraction yield

70
65
60
55
50

40

20

4
dryin
g tim
e (dy
.)

ing

10

50

65

70
65

60

70

65

60

70

65

55
60

55

70

60

70

65

65

50

60

55

ok

10

10

60

65

60

co

12

tim
e

15

35

(m
in)

30
25

45

12

drying time (dy.)

35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75

45

55
65

60

45

65

0
0

10

15

20

25

30

cooking time (min)

Fig. 2 Surface plots of the extraction yield oil of Allanblackia kernels as affected by the variable processes of cooking and drying times

moisture by the product from the surrounding air. We also

noted that the cooking time had practically no influence on
the water content. However, it must be cooked for at least
25 min to have an effect on residual water content or some
other parameter (Fig. 1b). A cooking time longer than
30 min predisposes the kernels to release water easily.
Afoakwa Ohene et al. [32] previously reported that a
decrease in product moisture causes a decrease in the
enzymatic degradation and a reduction in microbial and
chemical activities of the product, extending its life. A
water content of 20 % is obtained after a cooking time of at
least 30 min and a drying time of about 12 days (Fig. 1b).

cooking of the kernels reduces the affinity of the oil with

the kernels solid particles and the opening of vacuoles due
to the oil suction, resulting in oil release [33]. Conversely,
the extraction rate increases with the drying time and
becomes constant after about 9 days (Fig. 2a). Figure 2b
shows that maximum extraction is obtained for a cooking
time up to 20 min and a drying time up to 10 days.
Table 2 summarizes the results of the analyses of variance. It shows that, only the quadratic term of the cooking
time has a significant influence (P \ 0.05) on the extraction yield. The analysis of data by multiple regressions led
to the development of a model allowing one to simulate the
experimental phenomenon. The equation is as follows:

Extraction yield (EY)

EY 71:4675 0:9661x1  0:1079x3  7:2609x21

 3:745x1 x3  4:0697x23

The change in the extraction yield as a function of cooking

and drying times is shown in Fig. 2a and b.
Figure 2a shows that the combination of cooking and
drying times varied with the extraction yield within the
range of 3575 %. It clearly shows that the extraction yield
increases with cooking time up to a certain percentage
(around 65 % for a cooking time of about 20 min, Fig. 2a)
and then decreases. In fact, cooking coagulates proteins,
freeing more space for the release of oil during the
extraction process [31], hence the increase in extraction
yield with increased cooking time is the most influential
parameter. Prolonged cooking resulted in a release of oil
with time. This could explain the low extraction yield
observed. Moreover, it was observed that oil floated during
cooking. In addition, the water absorbed during the

with R2 = 53 %. Thus, the model explains only 53.06 % of

the results obtained, unless the experiment is carefully
conducted (ER \10) (see Table 2). The 47 % difference
might be due to factors that have not been taken into
account in this study. These include the water temperature
during cooking, the relative humidity of the air, the powder
size and the extraction method.
Refractive Value (RV)
The refractive indexes of oils were determined and the treatment of data by analysis of variance showed a highly significant influence of linear and quadratic terms for the drying time
(P \ 0.001). Conversely, the cooking time and the interaction

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b 14

1,44
1,44
1,45

1,47

1,45
1,44
1,43
1,42

30
25

1,41

10

1,46
1,46

6
1,45

1,45

1,45

1,44

1,44

1,44

1,43

1,43

1,43

1,42

1,42

1,44

4
dryin
g tim
e (dy
.)

tim
e

10

10

co
ok
ing

12

1,45

20
15

1,40

1,46

(m
in)

refractive index

1,46

1,45

drying time (dy.)

1,40
1,41
1,42
1,43
1,44
1,45
1,46

1,45

1,45

12

0
0

10

1,43
1,42

1,42

15

20

25

30

cooking time (min)

Fig. 3 Surface plots of the refractive values of Allanblackia oil as affected by a cooking and drying times

between the two factors had no influence (P [ 0.05)

(Table 2). The equation of the model is determined through
the treatment of results by multiple regressions:
RV 1:4582 0:00066x1 0:00889x3  0:00056x21
0:00237x1 x3  0:0149x23
With R2 = 83.2969 % [ 70 %, the experimental phenomenon is well fitted to the developed model. The difference of about 17 % might be due to factors that have not
been taken into account in this study. Table 2 summarizes
the results of the analysis of variance. The curves shown in
Fig. 3a and b allow one to visualize changes in the
refractive index as a function of cooking and drying times.
An analysis of these curves shows that the refractive index
varies from 1.40 to 1.46, independent of the cooking time.
The refractive index increases with drying time up to a
value of 1.46 (see Fig. 3a) and starts to decrease on the 8th
day of drying. This index is almost constant and suggests
the slightly saturated character of A. stanerana oil. In fact,
the refractive index varies in an interesting manner
depending on how unsaturated the oil is. It is lower in the
oils with high levels of unsaturation. A low refractive index
would be better for health. Whatever the cooking time, A.
stanerana seeds must be dried beyond 14 days to maintain
the refractive index at around 1.40 (see Fig. 3b).
Iodine Value (IV)
Results obtained for the iodine index showed good oil
quality and were comparable to those of commercial oils

123

such as palm oil and olive oil [34]. In fact, the iodine value
(35 mg of iodine/100 g oil) was significantly lower than
those of palm oil (60.27) and olive oil (83.1). In this study,
the low iodine value could be of benefit since it is always
associated with good quality and guarantees the length of
the oil conservation [35]. Falade et al. [36] reported that a
low iodine content of oil prevents oxidative degradation of
food and predisposes this oil to be used as biodiesel fuel.
This low value of iodine is probably due to its high content
of saturated fatty acids. In fact, the fatty acid profile of this
oil shows that it contains 59.17 % saturated fatty acid,
confirming the low iodine index. Interaction between
cooking and drying times had a significant influence on the
iodine value (see Table 2, P \ 0.05). The analysis of data
by multiple regressions allows the development of a simulation model based on the cooking time (x1) and drying
time (x3):
IV 34:97 1; 2153x1 0:1072x3  3:3712x21
 7:6925x1 x3  3:3187x23
Figure 4a and b below, show the evolution of the iodine
value according to cooking and drying times.
It obviously appears that a cooking time of about
30 min is necessary to dry the seeds for at least 813 days
so as to have an iodine value not exceeding 35 mg of
iodine/100 g oil (see Fig. 4a). Allanblackia stanerana oil
could be classified as a non-drying oil because of its low
iodine value. Hao et al. [37] established a link between
the low iodine value and the non-drying character of the
oil.

J Am Oil Chem Soc (2014) 91:13031312

1309

14

10
30

15

25

35

20

12

Iodine value

40

30

20

30
25

10

drying time (dy.)

0
10
20
30
40
50

50

30

8
30
35
6
35

30
25

10

25
4

4
dryin
g tim
e (dy
.)

20

tim
e

10

10

co
ok
ing

12

(m
in)

20
15

35

30

35

25

15

30

20

10
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

cooking time (min)

Fig. 4 Surface plots of the iodine values of Allanblackia oil as affected by a cooking and drying times

b 14
0,3

0,4

12

0,9
0,8

acid value

0,7
0,6
0,5

0,3

0,3

8
0,4

30
25

(m
in)

0,2

0,4

0,3
0,5

0,4
0,3

0,4

0,4

10

drying time (dy.)

0,1
0,2
0,3
0,4
0,5
0,6
0,7
0,8
0,9

0,4

0,5
0,6

20
10

10

dryin
g

co
ok
ing

12

5
4

time
(dy.)

0,3

0,7

tim
e

15

0,1

0,6
0,8

0
0

0,4

0,5

0,7

10

15

20

25

30

cooking time (min)

Fig. 5 Surface plots of the acid value of Allanblackia oil as affected by a cooking and drying times

Acid Value (AV)

This study presents an oil with an acid value of 0.3 mg
KOH/g oil or 0.168 % oleic acid, which is much lower than
that of refined oils, palm oil (0.84 mg KOH/g oil) and olive
oil (0.84 mg KOH/g oil) as reported by Azrin et al. [34].
Therefore, A. stanerana oil could be used without being
refined. The acid value found in this study clearly indicates

that A. stanerana oil may have low levels of oxidative

activity and a high content of natural antioxidants [37, 38].
In addition, these values prove the purity and stability of
this oil at room temperature and could be criteria regarding
stability and sensitivity for fruit rancidity during storage
[38]. Table 2 shows that the drying time and the interaction
between cooking and drying times have significant influence (P \ 0.05) on the evolution of the acid value. The

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J Am Oil Chem Soc (2014) 91:13031312

analysis of data by multiple regressions allows the development of a mathematical model for simulating the evolution of acid according to cooking time (x1) and drying
time (x3):

period of time [39]. The influence of methods for extracting oils [31] on the physicochemical properties of the
extracted oils has already been reported.

AV 0:3875  0:054x1  0:073x3  0:029x21

0:1062x1 x3 0:0609x23

Optimization
To optimize the process, the partial first derivatives of the
validated equations were found and equated to zero and
then resolved for optimum values x1 and x3 in coded values. These coded values were then transformed into real
values of the optimum point. As observed from Table 3 the
optimization process did not give a unique optimum for all
responses. Contour plots (Fig. 6) of the responses were
therefore superimposed in order to define a unique optimum range (shaded region in Fig. 6) that satisfies all
responses. These ranges were: cooking time 1015 min
and drying time 710 days. Substituting middle values
within these ranges (cooking time 12.5 min and drying
time 8.5 days) gave optimum responses of moisture content 21.60 %, oil yield 70.69 %, refractive index 1.4546,
iodine value 34.72 and acid value 0.38 mg/g KOH.

Factors not considered in this study have certainly

influenced the iodine and acid values. The coefficients of
determination obtained did not reach 100 %. Figure 5a and
b give an overview of the evolution of the acid value
according to cooking and drying times.
The analysis of those figures shows that the acid value
decreases with the drying time. As the drying time
increases, the acid number decreases (see Fig. 5a, b).
Cooking time of 30 min would require a drying time of
10 days for a maximum acid value of about 0.3. The oil
which is of low acidity is edible and may be used for a long

Table 3 Optimum values obtained mathematically for the responses

studied

Moisture content (%)

Cooking time (min)

Drying time (day)(d)

12.22

4.8

Yield extraction (%)

15.84

6.75

Refractive index

30.56

9.05

Iodine value
Acid value

9.674
21.78

9.96
9.69

Fig. 6 Superimposed contour

curves for the various responses

Conclusion
The surface response methodology using central composite
experimental design was used to estimate the optimum
conditions of cooking and drying of A. stanerana kernels.
All the results obtained fitted the required conditions. The

1.42
1.43
0.4
12

60

0.3
65

25

30
1.42

0.2
30 65

1.43
25

60
1.44

1.44

0.4

Drying time (h) (d)

1.45
65

1.45

60
30

25
60
1.45

35
70

65
25

30
20

30
60

35
0.3 1.45
2

40
50
15
45
45
1.44
10
0.2
50
0
0

55

25
1.46

30
0.4

0.4
30
70

35

35

40
25 1.4565
45
20 60
0.3 50
1.44
10

Refractive index
0.2
Iodine value

20
35

25

0.4
25

Yield

55

30

70
0.4

Moisture content

1.43
20
1.44 20
0.1

0.3
8

55

35
40
30

0.4

65
1.46

65

20

1.46
30
0.4
35
40 60
1.45
45

50 65
15

0.3
60
25
35

1.45
45

Cooking time (min)

123

65
20

70

1.45
70

10
25 -0.145
1.42
15
0.0 50

55

1.44 0.2
30

0.3
10

20
1.42
0.1 60
25
25
1.43

50
25

30

Acid value

J Am Oil Chem Soc (2014) 91:13031312

model yielded results that were validated by the conditions

set out. The optimum treatment conditions were found to
be; cooking time (1015 min), drying time (710 days).
The average values of these time intervals were; 12.5 min
for the cooking time and 8.5 days for the drying time.
These gave the following optimum responses: water content 21.60 %; yield extraction 70.69 %; refractive index
1.4546; iodine value 34.72; and acid value 0.38 mg/KOH.
For acid and iodine values, the model depicted interesting
values for the oil quality. These values for the quality of the
Allanblackia oil have been reported by Pengou et al. [3].
Acknowledgments This research was supported by the International Foundation for Science (Sweden), through the Research Grant
No. F/4448-1 awarded to Dr. Guy Bertrand Noumi.

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