Abstract
Tomato seeds represent a large waste by-product from the processing of tomatoes into products such as tomato juice, sauce and paste. One potential use for these seeds is as a source of vegetable oil. In this study, the seed oil of tomato obtained from Jordan Valley was extracted and analyzed to determine its physicochemical properties. The characteristics (iodine value, acid value, refractive index and saponification value) of the oils were determined. Tomato oil has an iodine value of 123, a refractive index of 1.467, a saponification value of 192, and an acid value of 2.3. Our alkyd resins results showed that the extracted tomato seed oil can be qualified to be used in the synthesize of alkyd resin. Three grades of tomato-based alkyd resins modified by varying the percentage of tomato seed oil contents were prepared according to the alcoholysis-polyesterification process. Fourier transform infrared, proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry were employed to identify the structure of the resulting resins.