Production Optimization And Characterization Of Essential Oil From Spearmint Leaves

The national consumption of essential oils in Ethiopia is increasing very fast. Production technologyrnis an essential element to improve the overall yield and quality of essential oil. The objective of thisrnstudy was the production, optimization and characterization of oil from spearmint leaves using hydrorndistillation method. The effect of three factors, drying methods (shade, sun and oven drying), dryingrnduration (0, 3 and 7 days) and distillation time (1, 1.5 and 2 hours) on the oil yield was investigated.rnThis paper includes the physical properties of spearmint oil like, density (0.915), refractive indexrn(1.43), pH (6.06) and dynamic viscosity (0.47mPaS).And the chemical properties; saponificationrnvalue (41.83), acid value (0.045), peroxide value (0.67) and iodine value (17.8) were determined.rnDesign expert software was used to optimize the oil yield and examine the effect of the three factors.rnGeneral factorial design was chosen for the above mentioned optimization as well as for the datarnanalysis (ANOVA).Then from this study, the best operating conditions are found as drying methodrn(shade), drying time (7 days) and a distillation time of 2 hours. At this condition, a maximum yieldrnof 2.27 % oil is obtained. This research also determined the chemical composition of the oil. FromrnGC/MS result 41 components were obtained.

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