Optimization of steam distillation for extracting cinnamomum cassia oil from cinnamomum cassia bark

Abstract

The aim of this work was to optimize the distillation conditions for extracting cinnamomum cassia oil from cinnamomum cassia bark by steam distillation. The orthogonal test was conducted to investigate the effects of the three main factors on cinnamomum cassia oil yield, including the solid-liquid ratio, the distillation time and the fragmentation degree of cinnamomum cassia bark. The investigation results show that the influence of the distillation conditions on extraction performance follows the sequence: fragmentation degree of cinnamomum cassia bark, the solid-liquid ratio and distillation time. And the optimum conditions are the fragmentation degree of 40 mesh, the ratio of material to liquid of 1/10 and the distillation time of 2 h. At the optimum distillation conditions, the cinnamomum cassia oil yield is about1.44%, and the extracted cinnamomum cassia oil has good quality with gold yellow color and prominent cinnamon scent.