Extraction of essential oil from lemon grass through hydro distillation methods using solar and biomass energy

Abstract

The extraction of essential oils from medicinal plants, traditionally achieved by using conventional energy sources such as LPG, wood and others, which are costly and detrimental to the environment. This study focused on using solar and biomass energy to process five pre-treated shade-dried Lemongrass samples [fresh (S₁), 12 h (S₂), 24 h (S₃), 36 h (S₄) and 48 h (S₅)] for essential oil extraction using hydro distillation method. A complete set of distillation unit with 16 m² Scheffler solar collector is provided, which can generate temperature of between 300 and 450°C when exposed to beam radiation ranging from 800 to 850 W/m². It works efficiently only on sunny days; so a backup energy source is required hence; biomass distillation system (BDS) is utilised. The thermal energy required for a 5 kg, S₃ sample with 10 L of water was 10.32 and 10.62 kWh, and extracted oil was 43.8 and 46.4 ml, in solar distillation system (SDS) and BDS, respectively, which is the maximum oil yield. Statistical analysis was tested at the 1% significant level by central composite model. The system has been proven to be economically feasible, with the extracted oil having similar physicochemical properties as the available market oil.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Essential oil extraction
• energy
• solar
• biomass
• lemon grass
• hydro-distillation

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the financial support from ‘National Agriculture Higher Education Project’ (NAHEP) Innovation Grant, Capacity Building in Renewable Energy Technology and University of ‘Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola’ Maharashtra.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

Khemlata Soni contributed significantly to the preparation of draft manuscript preparation. Surendra Kalbande contributed to writing the manuscript and interpreting data. All authors read and approved the final paper.

Ethical statement

This manuscript has not been published before nor submitted to an- other journal for consideration of publication. All authors have been personally and actively involved in substantive work leading to the manuscript, and will hold themselves jointly and individually responsible for its content.

Data availability statement

The data has been used is confidential.