Extraction, Optimization and Characterization Of Lemongrass Essential Oil
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Date
2021-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Herbal plant extracts are used in a variety of commercial sectors, including the
pharmaceutical, food, and chemical industries, have received renewed attention in recent
decades. The Ethiopian highlands have a suitable environment for the cultivation of essential
oil herbs. Among essential oil source plants, lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) is one of the
most widely cultivated in the country, which is readily available at the Wondogenet
agricultural research center. This study mainly covers the extraction, optimization, and
characterization of lemongrass essential oil. The extraction process was done by steam
distillation with concedrations of yield and quality of products. Three selected factors: raw
material particle size, weight of raw per batch and extraction time with constant temperature
and steam supply were employed. The optimized result of the extraction process was a raw
material particle size of 10cm, a raw material mass per batch of 1kg, an extraction time of 62
min, yield of 0.755% and the result was verified. The three lemongrass varieties, Wg lomisar
java, Wg lomisra UA, and Wg lomisar (I), were used in the experiment. Among these, Wg
Lomisar (I) was the best variety in terms of yield and quality. Physico-chemical
characterization results: specific gravity of 0.907, refractive index of 1.4824, kinematic
viscosity of 3.1643μ, functional group identification by FT-IR, and compositional analysis
was done by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopic (GC-MS) methods. Among the
major components of the GC-MS analysis were Citral (28.4227%), Beta.-Myrcene
(11.6291%), Heptadecane, 9-octyl (7.7451%), and Docosanoic acid, methyl and ester
(5.701%) respectively. These physico-chemical result attributes indicate that the product
would have a significant role in cosmetic and perfumery activities.
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Keywords
Citral, Cymbopogon citrantus, lemongrass, steam distillation, Wg lomisar (I)