Comparison of heat and mass transfer of different microwave-assisted extraction methods of essential oil from Citrus limon (Lisbon variety) peel.

Mahsa Moayyedi,Mohammad‐Taghi Golmakani

doi:10.1002/fsn3.240

Abstract

Dried and fresh peels of Citrus limon were subjected to microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) and solvent-free microwave extraction (SFME), respectively. A comparison was made between MAHD and SFME with the conventional hydrodistillation (HD) method in terms of extraction kinetic, chemical composition, and antioxidant activity. Higher yield results from higher extraction rates by microwaves and could be due to a synergy of two transfer phenomena: mass and heat acting in the same way. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis did not indicate any noticeable differences between the constituents of essential oils obtained by MAHD and SFME, in comparison with HD. Antioxidant analysis of the extracted essential oils indicated that microwave irradiation did not have adverse effects on the radical scavenging activity of the extracted essential oils. The results of this study suggest that MAHD and SFME can be termed as green technologies because of their less energy requirements per ml of essential oil extraction.

Highlights

Citrus is a genus of the Rutaceae family, and it is one of the most common tree fruit crops in the world, with an annual production of approximately 123 million tons in 2010
ΔEab of Essential Oils (EOs) extracted by microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) and solvent-free microwave extraction (SFME) were 7.65 and 3.54, respectively, relative to the HD as reference, which indicates a clear similarity in the color of EOs extracted by HD and microwave-a ssisted extraction (MAE)
The aim of this work was to confirm the efficiency of MAE methods (SFME and MAHD) and to explain how they speed up the extraction process, without causing considerable changes in the EO composition

Summary

Introduction

Citrus is a genus of the Rutaceae family, and it is one of the most common tree fruit crops in the world, with an annual production of approximately 123 million tons in 2010. Citrus is a genus comprised of several important species, the most relevant of which is orange. Oranges constitute 56% of the total Citrus crops. Tangerines, mandarins, and clementines make up 17%. Lemons (Citrus limon) and limes comprise 11%, whereas grapefruit (with pomelo) comprises only 6% of the total Citrus crops produced worldwide (Abbate et al 2012). C. limon is the third most important cultivated citrus species, after orange and mandarin, with a global production of 4,200,000 metric tons each year (Boluda-Aguilar and López-Gómez 2013). Among C. limon cultivars, “Lisbon” is a major variety (Ladaniya 2008)

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