Indonesian Scholar’s International Convention (ISIC2019)

University of Nottingham, 22-23 June 2019

http://isic2019.ppiuk.org/

Separation of cymbopogon nardus oil by hydrodistillation

Azhari Muhammad Syam1,4*, Junita Adiandasari1, Zulfikar Hamid2, Bustami3

1
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Malikussaleh, Lhokseumawe, Indonesia
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Malikussaleh, Lhokseumawe, Indonesia
3
Department of Informatics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Malikussaleh, Lhokseumawe, Indonesia
4
Centre of Innovation and Agriculture Technology, Universitas Malikussaleh, Lhokseumawe, Indonesia

*Email Address: armuh@yahoo.com

Abstract
The essential oil of Cymbopogon nardus is generally used as additive compounds for cosmetics, perfumes and medicinal. In this
study, hydrodistillation process is used for oils extraction. The parameters which are applied for hydrodistillation process such as
time of extraction (3-5 hours), and temperatures (120 and 130°C). The results of this study revealed that the highest yield of
extracted oil was obtained at 5 hours (1.20%). Characterization of oils is necessary performed to confirm the quality standard.
Chemical compounds in the extracted oil is analysed by using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.

Keywords: essential oil, hydrodistillation, cymbopogon nardus oil

1. Introduction

Cymbopogon nardus is a species of clump considered as a medicinal and aromatic plant because it produces active compounds
which are often used as antibacterial and antifungal component. It belongs to Poaceae family and able to grow in drought as well
as rainy seasons areas (Naik and Lentz, 1988). Cymbopogon nardus contains a lots of aromatic compounds, organics constituents,
including hormones, vitamins, and other natural elements. These compounds are produced from leaves (Siswati et al., 2016).
Essential oil are extracted from various parts of plant such as roots, stems, buds, fruits, flowers, leaves, and barks (Asaad, 2015).
The major chemical constituents are geraniol, citral, citronellal, and citronellol as antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal activities
(Luangnarumitchai et al., 2007). Luciani et al, (2016) stated that essential oil is commonly used in perfumes, the production of
cosmetics, and as an insect repellent , and they are also applied as additive ingredients for food products (Silva et al., 2011).
Currently, there are bio insect repellents on the market that contain essential oils from the following crops such as soybean
(Neonotania wightii), peppermint (Mentha piperita), geranium (Pelargonium reniforme), neem (Azadirachta indica), Eucalyptus
(Eucalyptus maculata), Citronellal (Cymbopogon nardus), and Cedar (Juniper virginiana). Most of those bio repellents tend to give
short-lasting protection for less than two hours (Choochote et al., 2007).
There are a different methods used to extract the essential oil such as steam distillation, soaking, solvent distillation,
hydrodistillation (Munir and Hensel, 2007b), and supercritical CO2 (Silva et al., 2011). The solid liquid extraction using polar solvent
is a potential method to produce essential oil of crops such as patchouli and so on (Choochote et al., 2007). Beside, other chemical
solvents are also used as non polar solvent in extracting essential oil from crops.
The aim of this study was to produce essential oil from leaves of cymbopogon nardus, and further analysis of oil characterization.

2. Methodology

The leaves of cymbopogon nardus were collected from the local plantation. The leaves were cut off in the specified size. The polar
solvent was provided in the specified volume as the ratio of solvent to the leaves. Immerse the leaves into the polar solvent which
was poured in distill tank. Switch on the heater in order to heat the solvent at 120°C, the vapor phase flowed through the
condenser to condense the solute that mixes with solvent.

2.1. Oil Separation

The mixture of oil and solvent was separated via distillation process at low temperature ( 65°C ), the oil was vapored and then it
was condensed via graham condenser. The extracted oil was stored in the bottle storage for characterization purpose.

2.2. Oil Characterization

The physical properties analysis are performed according to the standard procedures, such as density, refractive index, and
chemical compounds.

1
2.2.1. Density of oil
The density of extracted oil was determined by using bottle density, its volume of 10 ml at atmospheric pressure and
temperature of 25°C.

2.2.2. Refractive index

Refractive index of extracted oil was measured using Abbe refractometer at temperature of 20°C.

2.2.3. Separation of chemical compounds

The chemical compounds of extracted oil were analyzed using gas chromatography (capillary column Rtx-5MS 30m x 0.25mm ID,
0.25μm with helium at 137.7 ml/minute as a carrier gas and 1:100 of split ratio) coupled to a mass spectrometry.

Figure 1. yield of essential oil and density of oil

3. Result and discussion

A total number of 10 experiments are carried out, under varying temperatures and time of extraction. The results are presented
in Table 1. The yield is affected by the time and temperature of extractions. The highest yiekd of Cympogon nardus oil is 1.19% at
130°C of extraction temperature and 5 hours of extraction time. The yield of extracted oil is proportional to the increase time of
extraction. However, at lower temperature of extraction, the yield of oil is low. As Marc et al. (2016) stated that when water was
used as extraction solvent, the extraction yield was very low due to the thermodynamic properties of sovent solubility. It is in
agreement with our results. For the similar study, Reverchon et al. (2006) carried out the essential oil extraction using a
supercritical fluid method.
As shown in Figure 1, density of the extracted oil increases proportionally with the increasing of temperature. This phenomena
has a good correlation with other researcher statement that the effect of temperature on solubility is significant, because of
pressure vapour and density combination. The vapour pressure of the solute increases with temperature, causing a slope in
solubility. However, the density decreases, thus causing a decrease in solubility (Sausa et al., 2002). In this study, the obtained
essential oil density is between 0.876-0.888 gr/ml.
Different constituent of the extracted essential oils was identified by using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) as
listed in Table 2. The important chemical compounds in the Cymbopogon nardus oil are citronellal (47.20%), limonene cyclohexane
(5.09%), neryl acetate (4.94%), β-Citronellol (14.86%), and geraniol (12.38%), while the rest compounds are at lower percentage of
which such as linalool, cyclohexanol, germacrene, and other.

Table 1 extracted mass and yield of extraction as function of temperature and times
Run of Temperature Time of extraction Mass of Yield (%) Temperature Mass of Yield (%)
experiment (°C) (h) extracted oil (°C) extracted oil
(gr) (gr)
1 120 3.0 4.80 0.96 130 4.95 0.99
2 3.5 4.85 0.97 5.11 1.02
3 4.0 4.91 0.98 5.32 1.06
4 4.5 5.75 1.15 5.91 1.18
5 5.0 5.80 1.16 5.95 1.19

Table 2 identification of chemical compounds of cymbopogon nardus oil

Peak Time (minute) Percetage (%) Name of compound
1 5.00 5.09 Limonene Cyclohexane, 1-methyl-4-(1-methylethenyl)
2 12.89 47.20 Citronellal 3,7-Dimethyl-6-octenal
3 14.94 0.97 Linalool L
4 15.44 1.67 Cyclohexanol, 5-methyl-2-(1-methylethenyl)
5 18.26 4.22 Citronellyl acetate 6-Octen-1-ol, 3,7-dimethyl-, citronellol
6 19.33 3.43 Germacrene-D
7 20.80 4.06 Delta-Cadinene naphthalene, 1,2,3,5,6,8a-hexahydro

2
8 21.02 4.94 Neryl Acetate
9 21.34 14.86 β-Citronellol 6-Octen-1-ol, 3,7-dimethyl-citronellol
10 23.80 12.38 Geraniol
11 24.45 0.31 Cubenol 1-Isopropyl-4,7-dimethyl-naphthalenol
12 28.84 0.41 1-hydroxy-1,7-dimethyl-4-isopropyl-2,7-cyclodecadiene
13 29.93 0.45 Elemol Cyclohexamethanol

4. Conclusion

The separation of Cymbopogon nardus oil by hydrodistillation is performed. The best value of yield is 1.2 % at maximum of
extraction time and temperature of extraction is at 130°C. The characteristic of oil is analysed, such as density is 0.89 g/ml and
solubility of oil in alcohol is good due to similarity of ratio concept and thermodynamic properties.

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