Fatty Acid Methyl Ester Analysis of Olive Oil Degraded by Pseudomonas fluorescens

Abstract

Fatty acids are the major components of lipids; and the physical, chemical and physiological properties of a lipid class depend primarily on its fatty acid composition. Gas chromatography method can be used for the identification of microbiological degraded fatty acids in vegetable oils as methyl ester. In this work, olive oil degraded by lipase of Pseudomonas fluorescens grown in two different Mineral Salt Medium, was studied over 25 days. Olive oil was analyzed for fatty acids commonly present in olive oils which are Myristic, Palmitic, Stearic, Oleic, Linoleic, Linolenic, Behenic and Lignoceric, which have specific carbon number and their values in approximate percentage are C14:0 (0.4), C16:0 (14.0), C18:0 (5.5), C18:1 (76.4), C18:2 (3.4), C18:3 (0.1), C22:0 (0.1) and C24:0 (0.1) respectively. Oleic acid percentage is high in olive oil which contained considerable amount of 76.4%. The reduction of fatty acid by Pseudomonas fluorescens after 20 days was 8.2% in the media used. Lipase from Pseudomonas fluorescens had potential for degradation of fatty waste. It could therefore be employed in environmental cleanup of oil spill site.