Lemongrass essential oil has many compounds appropriate for application in foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products. Of these, citral is a high-value compound of interest to industry. This work aims to evaluate the use of vacuum fractional distillation to separate lemongrass essential oil compounds, producing essential oil fractions containing high citral content. The effect of process parameters, namely vacuum pressure, type column, and energy input, on the fractionation time, content, and recovery of citral in the fractions, was investigated. The fractionation of lemongrass oils successfully provided five fractions, i.e., fraction 1 (F1), fraction 2 (F2), fraction 3 (F3), fraction 4 (F4), and fraction 5 (F5). GC-MS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry) spectra showed that the main compound contained in F1 and F2 fractions was β-myrcene (>70%). Meanwhile, F4 and F5 were the two main fractions for citral recovery. The optimal conditions of the fractional distillation system included a column height of 400 mm, power input of 165 W, and pressure of 15 mmHg. These conditions correspond to the highest total citral content of 95%, with a recovery of 80% at the F4 and F5 fractions. Therefore, fractional vacuum distillation may be an effective method to upgrade lemongrass essential oil.

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Amomum Longiligulare T.L. Wu fruit (A. Longiligulare) is a traditional Chinese medicine used to treat indigestion, cough and abdominal pain. In addition, it can create a nice refreshing effect in the mouth and tends to reduce body weight. In this research, A. Longiligulare fruit essential oil was successfully extracted by the hydrodistillation method. A. Longiligulare from Ninh Thuan province in Vietnam gave high extraction yield, which was about 4.6 ml/100g on weight dried basis. The optimum condition for hydrodistitllation without immersing A. Longiligulare powder at particle size smaller than 1 mm, at 1/8 material-water ratio, at water flow rate 2.7 g/min after 3 h distillation. Significantly, the high concentration of D-Camphor (46.714 %) and Bornyl acetate (31.809 %) were detected in essential oil from Ninh Thuan’s A. Longiligulare.

Coconut oil is considered the active ingredient as a moisturizer used by many people in tropical regions. At the same time, coconut oil can improve the symptoms of skin disorders by moisturizing and soothing the skin. A body washes formula that contains coconut oil based on the saponification process is formulated through an appropriate content survey. The combination of auxiliary substances such as detergent, foaming agent, moisturizing agent, preservative was also conducted to evaluate different concentrations. Products are assessed and visually observed for appearance, viscosity, pH value, stability, and durability when stored. The body wash formula was found to be white and pearl luster was visually observed. Products using 20% crude soap content, 5% detergent (SLES), 3% glycerin, etc. have all been tested to show good physico-chemical properties in terms of pH value and viscosity, as well as no irritation, upon skin contact. Research shows that coconut oil body wash formulas with good physico-chemical properties can be developed into new body wash cosmetic products.

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Present study involves to the pilot scale hydrodistillation process for production of essential oil of orange peels. The production of orange peels essential oil and the effect of several factors such as time, temperature and the ratio of solid/solvent on yield and quality were studied. In this work, we used fresh orange peels of C. sinensis (orange). The quantitative and qualitative analyses of the essential oils of orange peels were performed by GC/MS and sensory analysis. The maximum yield of orange peels essential oil was 1.2384 % (fresh matter) at distillation conditions (ground fresh material, the material-water ratio of 1:2, time of 105 min from the first drop, the temperature of 132 ºC). Kinetic studies of hydrodistillation process showed that the extraction of orange peels essential oil follows first order kinetic (R 2 > 0.95). Limonene is the dominant component of the orange peels essential oil that was identified by chromatography-mass spectrometry (94.22 %). The results of test indicated the orange peels essential oil has good qualities which were suitable to the National Standards of Vietnam.

Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) oil has been widely used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. The oil was extracted by the hydraulic press at the pilot scale. The effect of various critical factors such as the morphology of material, moisture of the neem seed, applied pressure, a number of presses turn, pressing time on the oil yield was considered. It was found that the oil yield increased with increasing applied pressure and pressing time. The moisture content of the neem seed kernel has a great influence on the oil yield, the higher the moisture content, the harder it is to recover the oil. The highest oil yield of 378mL/kg dry seed kernel was obtained at 190 MPa, 4% moisture content for 10 minutes of pressing per turn, and 3 turns of pressing. The main ingredients in neem kernel oil were oleic acid (45.9%), stearic acid (18%), palmitic acid (16.9%), and linoleic acid (15.65%). The results obtained can be used in the production of Neem oil at an industrial scale.

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