Production of Body Perfume Using Lemongrass Essential Oil

Abstract

The aim of this study is the extraction of essential oil from lemongrass and its utilization in the production of body perfume. The lemongrass samples used in the study were collected from Eke-Awka market Anambra State, Nigeria and were oven dried, grinded into powder and the oil extraction was carried out using soxhlet extractor with Normal hexane as solvent in the extraction process while AOAC, 2010 method of Analysis was employed in the determination of the physiochemical properties of the oil. The result obtained from the analysis showed that orange peel has a light yellow oil with percentage yield of 1.67% pH of 5.5, refractive index of 1.0321, specific gravity of 0.94, Saponification value of 527.35mgKOH/g, peroxide value of 17mgKOH/kg, iodine value of 20.20gI/100g, and acid value of 33.34mgKOH. 100ml of lemongrass essential oil extracted were used in the production of perfume while 100ml of Methanol and 100ml of the Fixatives were added to the mixture (to improve the longevity of the perfume), and finally the solution were shaken, allowed to stand for 48hrs and poured into different 50ml spray bottles. The result of the comparative analysis of the lemongrass oil body perfume and commercial body perfume showed the ph as 6.8 and 6.1, and the lemongrass oil body perfume lasted for 8hrs when sprayed. Lemongrass oil body perfume competes favorably with commercial available body perfume.