Effects of ultrasound and microwave pretreatments on hydrodistillation extraction of essential oils from Kumquat peel

Main objectives of this work were to investigate the influences of ultrasound pretreatment (UP) and microwave pretreatment (MP) on extraction kinetics, chemical composition, and antioxidant activity of Kumquat peel essential oil (EO) obtained by hydrodistillation extraction (HDE). The effects of ultrasound power and processing time, and microwave power and processing time were evaluated. As compared with HDE individually, UP and MP decreased the extraction time, increased the yield and DPPH radical-scavenging activity but did not noticeably affect chemical composition of the EO. For UP and MP, the highest EO yield was obtained when the ultrasonic power and processing time, and microwave power and processing time were 210 W and 30 min, 300 W and 6 min, respectively. In comparison with MP, UP gave a higher yield and DPPH radical-scavenging activity of the EO. Overall, UP and MP are promising techniques for HDE of EO from kumquat peel.

Automated summary

The study revealed that ultrasound pretreatment and microwave pretreatment can reduce extraction time, increase yield, and enhance DPPH radical-scavenging activity of kumquat peel essential oil. Compared to microwave pretreatment, ultrasound pretreatment showed higher essential oil yield and antioxidant activity.