Extraction of essential oils from lime (Citrus latifolia Tanaka) by hydrodistillation and supercritical carbon dioxide

Abstract

In this work lime essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation and supercritical carbon dioxide. In the case of hydrodistillation, the parameters evaluated were extraction time and characteristics of the plant material. In supercritical extraction, the parameters evaluated were temperature, pressure, CO2 flow, extraction time and material characteristics. Considering citral content, the best results for hydrodistillation were obtained with a distillation time of 3 hours using whole peels. The best results for supercritical extraction were found using 60ºC, 90 bar, at a CO2 flow rate of 1 mL/ min for 30 minutes using milled peels. The best yields of lime oil were obtained by hydrodistillation (5.45% w/w) and supercritical extraction (7.93% w/w) for milled peels.