Abstract

Citrus essential oils are one of the most widely used essential oils in the world. They could be obtained by cold press, hydro-distillation etc. In this study, the effects of cold press and hydro-distillation applications on essential composition of bitter orange peel oil were investigated. Additionally changes in essential oil compositions by drying were presented. Essential oil composition was affected from extraction techniques and drying process. Limonene was determined as the main component of bitter orange essential oil (94.00-94.65%). The other highest components were β-myrcene (1.77-1.90%), linalool (0.53-0.81%), β-pinene (0.29- 0.72%) and α-pinene (0.45-0.51%) in descending order. As a result, the essential oil compositions of oil obtained by cold-press were more similar to fresh peel oil than the oils obtained by hydro distillation. On the other hand, the essential oil content of fresh sample significantly decreased during drying process. While essential oil content was 3.00% for the fresh peel, it was 2.50% for dried one. These results showed that drying process only affected essential oil content not its oil composition.

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