Sandalwood (Santalum album) Oil

Abstract

Sandalwood (Santalum album) oil is an important export commodity in many countries. It is important for the industry to have a capacity for rapid and accurate determination of oil content and quality for commercial samples. The effect of extraction methods (i.e., steam-distillation, hydro-distillation, subcritical CO2 extraction and solvent extraction) on the oil yield and concentration of major components in a commercial sample was reported. The highest oil yield was obtained from subcritical CO2 (3.83 g/L) extraction followed by the solvent extraction (2.45–3.7 g/L), hydrodistillations (1.86–2.68 g/L) and steam distillation (1.60 g/L). The highest levels of α- and β-santalol were found in the oils extracted with subcritical CO2 (83%), ethyl alcohol (84%) and steam distillation (84%). Organoleptic properties were remarkable in case of subcritical CO2. FTIR analysis has shown the sharp peaks for santalol and santalene in the oil extracted by subcritical CO2. Three of the four solvent-extracted sandalwood oils were recorded as ‘less pleasant’ indicating the generally inferior note of oil derived from these methods. Given the highest yield, the highest level of santalols, it could be concluded that subcritical CO2 is the best technology for sandalwood oil extraction.