Quality Improvement of Nilam Oil (Pogostemon cablin Benth) using Combination Methode of Fermentation, Delignification and Distillation

Abstract

The traditional distillation of patchouli oil conducted in small capacity and using a simple distillation method based on differences of wide a boiling point or one component is volatile. This process results a poor quality of patchouli oils such as the acid numbers is more than 8, dark-colored oils, patchouli alcohols content is less than 30%, and high water content. In this research has been done oil distillation from patchouli plants using a combination of methods i.e. fermentation-delignification, distillation and purification to improve of patchouli oil quality. The results show that the combination of the fermentation-delignification-distillation-adsorption is better in quality of patchouli oil with the acid number, patchouli alcohol content, water content and density were 7.48, 35.60%, 0.56%, and 0.0957 respectively. Keywords