Comparison of Hydrodistillation for the Extraction of Essential Oils from Fruit Peels with Other Methods

There are many essential oil extraction methods developed and emphasize yield production efficiency. However, there is lack of comparative study among these methods. In this study, reassessment of conventional hydrodistillation of essential oils extraction of California navel orange was conducted, focusing on optimization of hydro-Distillation Extraction conditions. The Response surface methodology (RSM) predicted results were validated via experiments to determine optimize process parameters, aim to achieve maximum yield. Three process parameters studied were the ratio of water to orange peel (2:1 to 8:1 mL/g), extraction time (60 to 120 min) and extraction temperature (60 to 100 °C). Both experimental and RSM results showed a maximum essential oil yield of 3.2—3.4 %, when the optimum process conditions were achieved: with a water to raw material ratio of 4.68:1 (mL/g), an extraction time of 91.28 min and an extraction temperature of 82.50 °C. The optimization study of limonene extraction was then compared with existing studies and the results showed that hydro-distillation extraction of essential oil achieving comparable essential oil yield percentage, while ensuring relatively low energy consumption and maintaining its economy value.