Hydrodistillation of essential oil from the whole black pepper and light berries black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) harvesting in Dak Nong, Vietnam on a pilot scale: The study on extraction process and analyses of essential components

Abstract

Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is a tropic plant with large applications due to its commercial, economic, nutritional, and medicinal value. Pepper essential oil is a valuable product from pepper with diverse applications. The extraction of essential oil from pepper is a potential option to enhance its economic value. For this study, the pilot scale hydrodistillation process was employed to extract essential oil from two types of pepper from Vietnam, including whole black pepper (570 g/l) and light berries black pepper (300 g/l). Extraction parameters such as time, temperature, rate, and the material to water ratio were optimized. The quantitative analyses of the essential oils were performed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. The optimum yield was achieved up to 2.38% for light berries black pepper when the extract conditions were set up at a material-water ratio of 1:12.5 (kg/l) for 180 minutes under the extraction temperature of 130 °C. For whole black pepper (570 g/l), the maximum yield was 1.65% at distillation conditions: material-water ratio of 1:15 (kg/l), distillation time of 210 minutes, and temperature of 140 °C. The analysis of essential oils quality showed that all the sensory criteria, physical properties, and chemical composition of the two types of black pepper essential oils satisfied the regulation of ISO 3061: 2008 and TCVN 11881: 2017 black pepper essential oil. B-caryophyllene (28.28%; 21.94%), 3-carene (23.27%; 26%), and D-limonene (14,74%; 20.96%) were the three main components with the highest content in both types of black pepper essential oil compositions.