Obtaining the volatile oils from wormwood and tarragon plants by a new microwave hydrodistillation method

Abstract

In the present paper we describe an original installation for microwave hydrodistillation at low pressure that we constructed in order to obtain volatile oils from different plants. The results that we have obtained are encouraging meaning that the main components of these oils were found in correspondence with the data presented in literature. A novelty of this process is the fact that the hydrodistillation time was shorter than in the case of a classic process of hydrodistillation at atmospheric pressure. The aim of our research was to find a new and modern way of obtaining volatile oils from plants.