Effects of convective drying in fixed bed on content and composition of essential oils from Croton cajucara Benth. And Ocimum micranthum Willd
International Journal of Development Research
Effects of convective drying in fixed bed on content and composition of essential oils from Croton cajucara Benth. And Ocimum micranthum Willd
Received 13th March, 2020; Received in revised form 27th May, 2020; Accepted 11th June, 2020; Published online 24th July, 2020
Copyright © 2020, Nazareno de P. Braga et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This study investigated how operating conditions in convective drying in fixed bed influences affects yield and composition of the essential oils of sacaca (Croton cajucara Benth) and alfavaca (Ocimum micranthum Willd). The essential oil yields were highest (0.48% w/w for sacaca and 4.66% w/w for alfavaca) with 100 g of moist leaves, 0.47 m/s of drying air velocity and 60 °C of drying air temperature. Low temperatures and low loads of wet material (2.19 mol/L) produced the highest content of linalool, a major compound of sacaca essential oil. In contrast, high temperatures and high loads of wet material (8.94 mol/L) produced the highest value of methyl eugenol, a major compound of Amazonian basil essential oil. These results show that linalool (present in sacaca essential oils) is more susceptible to drying operating conditions (drying air temperature and wet material loading) than methyl eugenol (present in alfavaca essential oils).
