Page 125 - Demo

SECTION I: MOLECULAR GENETIC ENGINEERING AND BIOCHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY 129Black pepper essential oil was a natural functional compound applied widely in nutraceutical [9-11], cosmeceutical [7], ethnomedicine [12, 13], food preservation [14], insecticides and air deodorizers [15]. It can be used to prevent neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer) [12]. The common methods applied for black pepper essential oil extraction are steam distillation [2, 6], hydro-distillation [6, 7, 16], supercritical fluid extraction [17, 18], solvent extraction (liquid CO2) [19, 20], and ultrasound and/or microwave-assisted hydrodistillation [6, 8, 21]. Among the above mentioned methods, the hydro-distillation has been still one of the most popular, effective, simplest and cheapest extraction approach reported in the literature for recovery of black pepper essential oil due to its highly feasible in industrial- and commercial-scale extractions [6]. However, essential oil yields often changed depending on plant sources grown in different locations, scale and types of extraction equipment, technical parameters. Although essential oil from black pepper originating from Dak Lak province of Vietnam is well known, there has been limited information in the literature on extraction and its composition analysis. The scientific reports of black pepper essential oil in Vietnam are highly valuable and supporting for pepper essential oil market in the world. Therefore, in this laboratory-scale study, the hydro-distillation equipment with a maximum capacity of 10 L/batch was used for investigation of black pepper source, distillation time, size of material, and material to water ratio on essential oil yield from pepper seeds originated from Dak Lak province of Vietnam. The goal of study is to figure out optimal extraction conditions on laboratory scale in a pilot distillation unit, orienting up-scaling extraction at industrial scale and to evaluate the quality and composition of black pepper essential oil in Vietnam.