Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction of Citronella Oil From Cymbopogon Winterianus Using Taguchi Orthogonal Array Design

Abstract

Objective: Optimum condition for the extraction of citronella oil from citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus) using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) was investigated.Methods: In order to determine the optimum extraction condition, a Taguchi experiment with L9 orthogonal array design was used. Effects of pressure, temperature and dynamic extraction time on citronella oil yield were investigated at levels ranging between 10-15 MPa, 35-45 °C and 60-180 min, respectively.Results: The highest citronella oil yield (3.206%) was achieved at a factor combination of 15 MPa, 50 °C and 180 min. The obtained citronella oil yield from SC-CO2 extraction was higher than that of percolation as the solvent extraction method using ethanol, which gave a citronella oil yield of 1.4%. The experimental oil yield at optimum condition was in accordance to the values predicted by a computational process using Taguchi method. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with 95% confidence interval indicates that extraction temperature is the most significant factor in maximizing citronella oil yield, followed by dynamic extraction time and pressure.Conclusion: Optimization process for oil yield from SC-CO2extraction of citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus) was successfully performed using Taguchi L9 orthogonal array design. This study demonstrates that Taguchi method was able to simplify the experimental procedure of SC-CO2 process.

Heterogeneous Catalytic Conversion of Citronellal into Isopulegol and Menthol: Literature Review

“…The predicted annual production of citronella oil is around 2300 metric tons, and derived from many sources such as Cymbopogon nardus, Cymbopogon citronella, and Cymbopogon winterianus (Hamzah et al, 2013;Salea et al, 2018). These plants are easily cultivated with no speci c requirements, increasing the ease with which citronella oil can be produced.…”

“…The Ceylon chemotype consists of geraniol (18-20%), limonene (9-11%), methyl isoeugenol (7-11%), citronellol (6-8%), and citronellal (5-15%). The Java chemotype consists of citronellal (32-45%), geraniol (11-13%), geranyl acetate (3-8%), and limonene (1-4%) (Salea et al, 2018) .…”