Comparison for the Production of Essential Oil by Conventional, Novel and Biotechnology Methods

Abstract

Plant essential oils are natural and aromatic compounds that are found in small amounts in plants and have many interesting applications as flavors and fragrances in perfumery, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, food, agriculture, industry and etc. Essential oils can be produced by various techniques including conventional, novel and biotechnology methods. can be considered as a good alternative to conventional methods due to short extraction time, higher efficiency and quality, non-degradable compounds due to heat, no pollution and etc. Recently, due to the limitations and disadvantages of methods of extraction from intact plants, scientists have been trying to move their way to biotechnology methods and make a variety of plant aromatic compounds by microorganisms. In the biotechnology method, there is no any concern about factors such climate conditions, supply shortages, natural disasters, plant diseases and etc. and a product with very high efficiency and quality is obtained.

Extraction Methods and Bioactivity of Essential Oils from Kesum Leaves (Persicaria odorata): A Short Review

“…In this method, steam is always fully saturated, wet, and never overheated. Also, there is no thermal degradation of the components, and the amount of steam is adjustable [24]. The basic idea behind this technique is that the combined vapor pressure equals the ambient pressure at about 100 °C, allowing volatile components with boiling points ranging from 150 to 300 0 C to be evaporated at a temperature close to that of water [23], [25].…”

Current trends in essential oil (EO) production

“…The major disadvantage of this method is the thermal degradation caused to the heat labile compounds leading to structural alterations [59]. EOs from Pelargonium sp., Teucrium orientale, and Thymus vulgaris can be extracted by hydro-distillation and turbo distillation techniques [60]. Citronella could be extracted from lemon grass using sono hydrodistillation combining conventional and nonconventional techniques [61].…”

“…This process occurs at pressure more than the critical pressure but at temperature less than the critical temperature. For carbon dioxide, pressure is between 4.7 MPa to 5.5 MPa and temperature between 31 to 55 °C[60,99]. Water and carbon dioxide are the most widely used solvents under subcritical state.…”