The Comparison of Essential Oil Extraction from Citronella Grass (Cymbopogon nardus L.) Using Solvent-Free Microwave Extraction and Microwave Hydrodistillation Methods

Abstract

Indonesia is a country that has 40-50 types of essential oil-producing plants out of a total of 80 types of essential oils that enter the world market.There are several essential oil-producing plants that until now have not been used optimally.However, the extraction method of citronella oil in Indonesia generally uses conventional methods so that which requires high costs and take a long time.Therefore, it is necessary to develop a more effective and efficient method of citronella oil extraction.One of them uses the Microwave Hydrodistillation (MHD) and Solvent-Free Microwave Extraction (SFME) methods.Based on the results of the study, it showed that the extraction of citronella oil using the SFME method resulted in the yield of citronella oil of 1.0969% with a time of 60 min, and when compared with the MHD method with the extraction time of 90 min, the citronella oil yield is 0.8407%.The results of the analysis of electricity consumption and the environmental impact of the MHD method produced a larger amount than the SFME method.Thus, the SFME method is a more effective and efficient method for citronella oil extraction and a suitable method as a new green technique.