Mathematical modeling for extraction of essential oil from Aquilaria Crassna by hydrodistillation and quality of agarwood oil

Abstract

Agarwood oil is widely used in medicine, perfume and cosmetic industries due to its unique properties and high medicinal value. However, knowledge on distillation process and standard for quality of the oil are far from sufficient. In this work, agarwood oil was hydrodistilled at various temperatures in order to study the distillation kinetics and quality of the oil. Higher oil yield and better quality of the oil were obtained at higher operating temperature. The mechanism of oil hydrodistillation consisted of two stages: washing stage and diffusion stage. The diffusion stage was the controlling step of oil hydrodistillation. Both mass transfer kinetic coefficients increased with increasing distillation temperatures. The oil gain at a higher temperature had a darker color and seemed to stick longer to the human skin. The different physical properties of the oil were a result of different chemical constituents exhibited in GC-MS profiles.