Hydrodistillation Extraction Kinetics of Volatile Oils from Varronia curassavica and Laurus nobilis

Abstract

Volatile oils have great economic importance, mainly in the flavor and fragrance sectors, regarding their utility and application in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. In this work, volatile oils extracted by hydrodistillation from dried leaves of Varronia curassavica Jacq., Boraginaceae, and Laurus nobilis L., Lauraceae, including their chemical composition and extraction kinetics, were evaluated. β-Caryophyllene (15.2%), β-sinensal (7.9%), (Z)-α-trans-bergamotol (7%), α-humulene (5.6%), and β-bisabolene (5.5%) were V. curassavica volatile oil’s major components, while eucalyptol (19.2%), linalool (18.4%), and α-terpineol acetate (13.5%) were the major components of L. nobilis. The kinetics of volatile oil extraction showed a hyperbolic distribution for the two species: the contents of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes extracted from V. curassavica, in the time frame analyzed, showed exponential decline followed by growth, respectively, while the content of these volatiles from L. nobilis showed an individual decrease and linear increase. Monoterpene extraction was faster than sesquiterpene extraction, but both processes presented hyperbolic distributions. Extraction kinetics for eucalyptol, linalool, α-terpineol, α-humulene, and β-caryophyllene and other compounds can be found in this analytical study.