FUNAAB Professor discovers paint from plant.

A Professor from the Department of Chemistry, of  Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Prof Ighodalo Eromosele, has discovered and produced paint from the seed oil of Ximenia americana plant, commonly known as Wild Olive.

Eromosele, a Polymer Chemist, said the oil paint which was produced has qualities comparable to those of the imported ones. Thus, Linseed oil, which is being imported for paint production can be substituted with Ximenia oil.

He said: “Ximenia plant grows wild in the North. The exploratory research on the oil for the purpose of establishing its potential for paint production attracted the attention and funding of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Abuja. But beyond that, we have produced paint based on the oil in a systematic study by a Masters Degree student under my supervision, thus demonstrating the potential utilisation of the oil in this regard. In my humble opinion, this is Research for Development, one of direct industrial relevance.”

Eromosele, however, underscored the need to cultivate the plant if it would meet its potential.

“It is a wild plant; it is not cultivated. So, there remains another area that we have to look at. That is, how to grow the plant particularly, here in the southern end of the country or where it is best suited to grow so that we can have a whole lot of vegetation to harvest the seed and then of course, the oil,” he said.

The don said he had not patented the oil becaue there was still a lot to be done by way of domestication of the plant, so that mass production becomes feasible.

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